3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/14/19
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?
Spencer Dinwiddie, PG, Brooklyn Nets
FanDuel Price: $5,700
One of the leading candidates for Sixth Man of the Year, Spencer Dinwiddie is posting career-highs in points (16.9) and threes (1.9) per game. Over his last eight games, though, the Brooklyn Nets' guard has hit a wall, averaging just 11.3 points while struggling to hit shots -- 34.7% field goal and 29.6% three-point percentage. As you would expect, his fantasy production has fallen off, posting just one game with more than 23.3 FanDuel points. He is averaging 20.0 FanDuel points per game since December 28, while collecting four games (50%) with under 18 FanDuel points.
Even as he faces a depleted Boston Celtics backcourt -- no Kyrie Irving or Marcus Smart on Monday night -- Dinwiddie’s struggles are bound to continue as he will have Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown to contend with. Rozier and Brown have held Dinwiddie to a combined 2.0 points on the 13 possessions they have defended him this season. When Dinwiddie faced the Celtics one week ago, he finished with just 17.9 FanDuel points. For the season, opposing point guards are averaging 0.86 FanDuel points per minute, the fourth-lowest rate in the NBA this year.
Jeremy Lamb, SG, Charlotte Hornets
FanDuel Price: $5,700
Since returning from a week-plus absence with a hamstring injury, Jeremy Lamb has disappointed in DFS. In the three games he has played since the injury, Lamb is averaging just 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in 27.2 minutes per game. That works out to only 22.5 FanDuel points per night. Facing off with the San Antonio Spurs with the fourth-lowest implied point total (107.0) of the day, the Charlotte Hornets and Lamb are in for a long night.
Over the last month, the Spurs’ defense has tightened up, limiting half of their opponents (9) to under 100 points in their previous 18 games played. Since December 9, they own the third-best defensive rating (103.5) in the league, while holding their opponents to 42.5% shooting from the floor and 33.5% shooting from three. Shooting guards have been limited to just 0.82 FanDuel points per minutes against San Antonio this season, the seventh-lowest rate in the league.
P.J. Tucker, PF, Houston Rockets
FanDuel Price: $5,200
Over his last 10 games, P.J. Tucker has been playing heavy minutes for the injury-ravaged Houston Rockets. The forward is playing 36.1 minutes per game. While on the court, though, Tucker has not done much.
If we take away January 9 -- where he went 7-for-11 from three for 21 points -- Tucker is averaging under 6.0 points and 19.5 FanDuel points. He has dropped sub-17.0 FanDuel point performances in half of those games. For the season, Tucker is averaging just 21.2 FanDuel points per game, leaving him overpriced against the Memphis Grizzlies in what is expected to be the lowest-scoring game (207.0) of the day.
Memphis allows the fewest points per game (102.7) in the NBA while carrying a top-six defensive rating (105.8) into the matchup with Houston. They also have held opposing power forwards in check, allowing the least FanDuel points per minute (0.85) to the position this season.
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.
