NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/19/18

Serge Ibaka draws a tough matchup against the Spurs tonight. Who else should you fade on Friday's DFS slate?

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?

Bradley Beal, SG, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $7,800

Bradley Beal has been pretty hot in the month of January, averaging 25.4 points per game and shooting 52.1% from the floor in his last eight games. However, tonight Beal and the Washington Wizards are playing on the road against the Detroit Pistons, which presents a tough matchup for Beal especially.

Beal owns a 43.8% shooting clip on the road this season, compared to 48.1% shooting at home. He also is faced with a Pistons defense that is holding shooting guards to just 0.77 FanDuel points per minute. If Avery Bradley is playing and defending Beal, it's not a night to take a risk on the Wizards' two-guard. In 12 career regular season games against Bradley, Beal is shooting 41.6% and averaging just 14.2 points per game.

Spencer Dinwiddie, PG, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $6,000

Spencer Dinwiddie has been a nice find for the Brooklyn Nets this season, especially after D'Angelo Russell went down with injury back in November. However, Russell is reportedly probable for Friday night, and that could cut into Dinwiddie's potential fantasy production.

The Miami Heat have also been pretty good against point guards this season, limiting them to 0.83 FanDuel points per minute. With Russell coming back, and Goran Dragic holding players he defends to 41.7% shooting from the floor, Dinwiddie is too risky on Friday in DFS.

Serge Ibaka, PF, Toronto Raptors

FanDuel Price: $5,300

Serge Ibaka has not played more than 29 minutes in four straight games coming in to Friday night, and while the Toronto Raptors will need his defense tonight, the matchup for Ibaka on the other end of the court is equally as tough against LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs are holding power forwards to 0.85 FanDuel points per minute, which ranks 3rd-best in the league. Also, Ibaka is averaging 12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and just 0.8 blocks per game over his last four meetings against Aldridge. With Ibaka's minutes trending down too, don't take a chance on him tonight against San Antonio.



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.