NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 10/27/16

Rudy Gay should see a lot of Kawhi Leonard tonight, making him a scary option for DFS. Which other players are in a tough spot?

Welcome back to another season of daily fantasy basketball! In DFS, 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 tonight in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about some 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 each night. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup.

With a smaller slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.

Rudy Gay, SF, Sacramento Kings

FanDuel Price: $6900

Rudy Gay has been the source of some trade rumors, and it appears the likelihood of him being with the Sacramento Kings past the trade deadline is pretty low. However, that just means he is basically trying out for a half-dozen teams that might want to take a stab at adding the versatile scorer. However, tonight he has to try and score against Kawhi Leonard in the second game of a back-to-back set from last night.

Squaring off with Leonard is usually a recipe for disaster. Last season, the San Antonio Spurs allowed a meager 0.7 FanDuel points per minute to small forwards, and players who Leonard was defending averaged only 39.2% shooting from the floor a year ago.

In their last four games against one another, Gay is hitting just 36% of his shots and scoring 21.8 FanDuel points per game. Pass on Gay and just pay up the extra $1,300 for Leonard or Jimmy Butler in cash games.

Dwyane Wade, SG, Chicago Bulls

FanDuel Price: $7,000

Moving back home to the Chicago Bulls likely won't create a title for the Windy City, but Dwyane Wade's move to Chicago does help fill the void left by the trade of Derrick Rose. However, at $7,000 tonight on FanDuel, you can find better options at shooting guard.

Leaving out the fact that Wade needs a hefty FanDuel point total of 35 tonight to reach value, his matchup against one of the league's best wing defenders in Avery Bradley is cause for concern regardless of Wade's salary. Bradley held players he was defending to only 41.6% shooting from the floor last season, and with Wade on a new team, it's hard to see him getting the volume of shots and counting stats need to return value.

Wade has put up some nice games against Bradley in the past, but when he was with Miami Heat, Wade averaged 17.3 shot attempts per game in his 12 games against Bradley. Assuming the Bulls manage the veteran's minutes early in the season, it's hard to see Wade getting 30 minutes tonight. In six preseason games, Wade averaged about a shot attempt every two minutes. With Jimmy Butler leading the way for Chicago, even if Wade posts 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists tonight, he still won't hit value on FanDuel.

Allen Crabbe, SG, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $4,300

Allen Crabbe had a nice game on opening night against the Utah Jazz, dropping 18 points and totaling 24.1 FanDuel points. Now the Portland Trail Blazers go up against the Los Angeles Clippers in another tough matchup. Crabbe got a huge deal in the offseason, so you know Portland believes in him. On a short slate without a lot of options, people are going to be flocking to the first whiff of value. That could turn people onto Crabbe if folks insert him into their lineups because of his cheap salary and what he did two nights ago.

However, that is one of the big red flags when it comes to landmines. If you remember in last year's playoffs, Crabbe played well, but he was extremely scoring dependent. This was true two nights ago, and it will remain true with Crabbe going forward, Sure, he will get a few assists and rebounds, but he needs over 20 FanDuel points to reach value tonight. In last year's playoffs, he went over 20 FanDuel points only once in the six games versus the Clippers.

The Clippers don't have many wing defenders, but Crabbe's floor is still very low regardless. He's not worth the risk in cash games, even on the short slate.