NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 12/20/17

Carmelo Anthony is averaging just 21.4 FanDuel points over his last five games, and draws a tough matchup on Wednesday with Utah.

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.

Carmelo Anthony, PF, Oklahoma City Thunder

FanDuel Price: $6,400

Carmelo Anthony has been in a nose dive offensively, and it's really hurting his fantasy impact for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Anthony is averaging just 21.4 FanDuel points over his last five games, and Wednesday's matchup is not going to help improve that number.

The Utah Jazz are coming in to town to make for one of the lowest Vegas over/under totals on the night at 198 points. The Thunder own an implied total of just 103.25, which ranks 15th on our Matchup Heat Map for Wednesday.

On top of that, the Jazz have been pretty good at slowing down opposing power forwards this season. Power forwards are averaging just 0.89 FanDuel points per minute against Utah.

Dennis Smith Jr., PG, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $5,700

After sitting out the last six games with a hip injury, Dennis Smith is probable to make his return Wednesday night for the Dallas Mavericks. However, that doesn't necessarily mean he's in play on a large DFS slate.

According to at least one Mavs' beat writer, Smith could be on a minutes restriction coming off the long layoff. On top of that, his matchup against the Detroit Pistons isn't great either.

Detroit is holding point guards to 0.83 FanDuel points per minute this season, so with the possibility of a tapered workload, Smith is not a great DFS option tonight.

Al-Farouq Aminu, PF, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $5,200

Al-Farouq Aminu is coming off a nice performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, where he dropped 22.2 FanDuel points in 35 minutes of action. However, tonight Aminu has the tough task of defending his former teammate, LaMarcus Aldridge, who is playing in a revenge game against his old team.

That is no small order, and on the flip side, it might make offense harder to come by for Aminu. The Spurs are holding power forwards to just 0.83 FanDuel points per minute this season, so at a price tag of more than $5,000, it makes Aminu hard to roster tonight.



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.