NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/8/18

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jan 8th, 2018
The Spurs have limited Pau Gasol's minutes recently on the second night of back-to-back sets, making him hard to trust on Monday.

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?

Pau Gasol, C, San Antonio Spurs

FanDuel Price: $5,600

Even though the Sacramento Kings are giving up 1.12 FanDuel points per minute to opposing centers this season, Pau Gasol and the San Antonio Spurs are coming off a tough one-point loss on Sunday, which could mean Gasol sees his playing time limited after playing 28 minutes last night.

Since the start of December, the Spurs have started limiting Gasol on the second night of back-to-back sets. Last week, Gasol played 27 minutes on the front half of a back-to-back and then played 13 minutes the next night. Against a team like the Kings, there is no reason for the Spurs to play Gasol big minutes after they played in Portland on Sunday.

Lance Stephenson, SF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $5,400

Victor Oladipo is back for the Indiana Pacers, and that limits the minutes of Lance Stephenson. Not only will Stephenson see fewer minutes, the matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks is a brutal one.

The Bucks are holding opposing small forwards to 0.75 FanDuel points per minute, which ranks third-best in the league, according to our defense-versus-position matchup chart. Stephenson could also be asked to come off the bench and defend Giannis Antetokounmpo or Khris Middleton, which might limit his offensive output.

Jae Crowder, PF, Cleveland Cavaliers

FanDuel Price: $4,000

Jae Crowder played great for a stretch right after the calendar turned to 2018, but in the first two games of this current roadtrip for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Crowder has really struggled. He is shooting 3 for 19 from the floor over his last two games, and his Monday matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves is not great.

The Wolves are holding power forwards to just 0.84 FanDuel points per minute this season. With Crowder probably being defended by Taj Gibson, who is holding players he defends to just 44.1% shooting, Crowder is not a great value despite his cheap price.


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.