NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 11/14/18

Khris Middleton is in for a long night versus the Memphis Grizzlies. Who else are we avoiding in DFS on Wednesday?

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?

Khris Middleton, SG, Milwaukee Bucks

FanDuel Price: $7,200

Over his last five games, Khris Middleton has been a bit of a disappointment in DFS. While he is scoring 17.2 points per game, he has finished with 27 or fewer FanDuel points three times. Over his last two games, specifically, Middleton is averaging just 25.1 FanDuel points as he's posted a mediocre average stat line of 17.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 4.0 turnovers. We can chalk it up to a pair of tough matchups against the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers, but things won’t get much easier on Wednesday as the Milwaukee Bucks face the Memphis Grizzlies.

Through 12 games, Memphis has been one of the more stout defenses in the NBA, posting a top-four defensive rating (104.0). Since they run at the slowest pace in the league, points have been hard to come by against the Grizzlies. They allow just 100.7 per game, the lowest of all 30 teams. With Middleton at small forward, Kyle Anderson will be tasked to defend him. That’s bad news as Anderson has held opponents to a 37.8% field goal percentage, 7.7 percentage points lower than expected.

Harrison Barnes, SF, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $6,200

Harrison Barnes is coming off his best game of the season, as he scored a season-high 23 points with 4 steals for 40.5 FanDuel points against the Chicago Bulls. The performance was a welcome relief for the Dallas Mavericks' forward as Barnes had totaled just 25.2 FanDuel points in his previous two games. While it feels like the game against the Bulls was the start of a positive trend, unfortunately with the Utah Jazz on the schedule on Wednesday, it will likely be another long night for Barnes.

Dallas has faced the Jazz twice this season already with Barnes averaging 10.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 35.1 minutes for 17.5 FanDuel points. Barnes isn’t the only small forward who has struggled against Utah this season as the position has collected just 0.77 FanDuel points per minute, the lowest rate in the NBA this season.

With plenty of big-name options at small forward on Wednesday, no need to get cute and add Barnes to your lineup.

Mitchell Robinson, C, New York Knicks

FanDuel Price: $5,100

Last time out, Mitchell Robinson was electric, setting a New York Knicks' rookie record with 9 blocks. The center finished with a career-high 35.8 FanDuel points. While there may be a temptation to play Robinson on Wednesday, based on that performance, the game versus the Orlando Magic appears to be an anomaly for the Knicks’ big man.

Since moving into the starting lineup, nine games ago, Robinson has averaged just 6.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks in 22.1 minutes per game. That has averaged out to 22.5 FanDuel points per contest, or just over 1.0 FanDuel points per minute. Robinson has a tall order in front of him on Wednesday too as he battles Steven Adams and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

OKC has allowed just 1.0 FanDuel points per minute to centers, the second-lowest rate in the NBA this season. Over the last week, the Thunder have been stout, posting a 99.0 defensive rating, a top-five mark in the league. That leaves the Knicks with one of the lowest implied totals of the massive Wednesday slate (102.25).

Dale Redman is not a FanDuel employee. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.