NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/3/18

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jan 3rd, 2018
Three players you should fade tonight in NBA DFS, including Wizards center Marcin Gortat.

In daily fantasy basketball, finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about guys you may want to lessen your exposure to, or even fade altogether?

Avoiding players whose matchups or situations aren't as great as they seem can often be just as important as finding the best targets. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference between winning and losing your contests. Which players should we avoid tonight?

Jrue Holiday, SG, New Orleans Pelicans

FanDuel Price: $6,900

Despite his usage rate of 22.0 percent sitting at a six-year low, Jrue Holiday is currently averaging a career-best 18.1 points per game, thanks to a career-high 54.9 effective field goal percentage.

However, there are certain matchups that are worth fading regardless of how good of a season a player is having, and Holiday's game against the Utah Jazz qualifies as one of them.

The Jazz are holding opposing shooting guards to just 0.75 FanDuel points per minute this season, and Utah owns a league-best 98.6 defensive rating when they play at Vivint Smart Home Arena. This makes Holiday tough to target tonight.

Bojan Bogdanovic, SF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $4,900

Bojan Bogdanovic has struggled over his last four games and it has coincided with the absence of Victor Oladipo for the Indiana Pacers.

With Oladipo on the court this season, Bogdanovic is shooting and impressive 60.4 effective field goal percentage according to NBAWowy, compared to a 48.4 effective field goal percentage with Oladipo off the court.

On top of the dip in efficiency when Oladipo sits out, Bogdanovic is also dealing with a tough matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, who are holding opposing small forwards to just 0.75 FanDuel points per minute.

Marcin Gortat, C, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $4,100

Marcin Gortat was a hot fantasy commodity for a brief period in mid-December, but over the last few weeks he's seen his minutes decreased thanks to the return of Ian Mahinmi.

Gortat has played more than 24 minutes only once in his last six games, and in those six, Mahinmi is averaging nearly 14 minutes per game. Our models project Gortat for less than 20 FanDuel points tonight, which makes him a player worth fading entirely on this large slate.


Jordan Sharp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jordan Sharp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TEHSHARP. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.