NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/9/18

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Mar 9th, 2018
Rudy Gobert has a tough head-to-head matchup with Marc Gasol tonight. Which other NBA players should you avoid in Friday’s DFS contests?

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?

Rudy Gobert, C, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Price: $9,200

Rudy Gobert has been a monster so far in the month of March, and his price on FanDuel has gone from $7,900 to start the month to $9,200 tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies. Even though Gobert is averaging an impressive 50.8 FanDuel points over his last four games, his price and matchup against Marc Gasol could make him a huge landmine.

In 10 career matchups against Gasol in the regular season, Gobert has really struggled at times. He's racked up 5 personal fouls in three of their last five games and has never topped 45 FanDuel points.

Gobert's field goal percentage also drops more than 7 points against Gasol compared to his career average of 61.2%. The Utah Jazz big man is averaging fewer than 35 FanDuel points per game in his last eight against Gasol, so it might be time to jump off the Gobert train.

Dillon Brooks, SF, Memphis Grizzlies

FanDuel Price: $5,200

Dillon Brooks is another player who has been red hot lately, but he is also running into a tougher matchup that could derail his recent success. Brooks has been very reliant on scoring to accumulate fantasy points over his last two games, and tonight, the Grizzlies have a 94.25 implied total, which is the lowest of all 20 teams on our Matchup Heat Map.

Utah has also been very good against opposing small forwards this season, limiting them to just 0.75 FanDuel points per minute. Our models project Brooks for only 19.1 FanDuel points in just over 34 minutes.

Eric Gordon, SG, Houston Rockets

FanDuel Price: $5,600

Eric Gordon has been solid over the first four games back from his knee injury and battle with illness, but Friday brings about a tough road matchup as the Houston Rockets play the Toronto Raptors, potentially limiting his upside.

The Raptors are holding opposing shooting guards to 0.80 FanDuel points per minute this season, and Gordon has struggled some on the road, shooting just 40.8% away from the Toyota Center. On top of that, Gordon is averaging nearly 2 points fewer per game against the East overall.

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.