NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 12/4/18

Jabari Parker is tough to play with an uncertain workload following his demotion. Who else are we avoiding in DFS on Tuesday?

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?

Jabari Parker, SF, Chicago Bulls

FanDuel Price: $7,400

After firing head coach Fred Hoiberg, new coach Jim Boylen’s first move was to move Jabari Parker to the second unit with Lauri Markkanen back from injury. The move is not unexpected, but will put a dent in Parker’s fantasy value. In his seven games coming off the bench this season, Parker averaged 15.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 27.1 minutes for 28.7 FanDuel points per game. Respectable numbers, but that would end up being less than 4.0 points per $1,000 with his $7,400 salary on Tuesday.

If the demotion and uncertainty on Parker’s role were not enough to scare you away on Tuesday, the matchup against the Indiana Pacers should. Indiana holds a top-four defensive rating (104.0) while limiting opponents to 102.7 points per game, the second-lowest total in the league. When the two teams played back on November 2, Parker finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists for a disappointing 18.4 FanDuel points.

Rudy Gay, SF, San Antonio Spurs

FanDuel Price: $5,500

The San Antonio Spurs' offense has been extremely inconsistent over the last week or so. In their last five games, they have scored over 129 points twice but finished with fewer than 105 three times. Just as their offensive output has been unpredictable, so has Rudy Gay’s production.

Over his last five games, Gay has reached double-figure points just twice while averaging 9.6 points per game and posting a 15.6% usage rate. Since November 24, Gay has surpassed 23 FanDuel points in only two games while averaging 21.9 FanDuel points per contest. Tuesday against the Utah Jazz, Gay will be hard to trust as has an unfavorable matchup.

Utah has been a top-10 defensive unit over their last five games, posting a 106.8 defensive rating and limiting opponents to under 46% shooting from the field. Small forwards, in particular, have struggled, averaging 0.79 FanDuel points per minutes, the fourth-lowest rate in the league.

Evan Fournier, SG, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Price: $5,200

An explosive scorer, with over 17.2 points per game the last two seasons, Evan Fournier has started off the 2018-19 campaign in a slump. The Orlando Magic sharpshooter is posting a career-low field goal (41.4%) and three-point percentage (29.2%). He is averaging his fewest points per game (15.0) since becoming a fixture in the starting lineup four years ago. Those shooting struggles have gotten worse over his last five games as Fournier is sinking just 30.9% of his shots from the floor including 21.7% of his threes. He has finished with single-digit points in four of those games. As expected, Fournier has been disappointing in DFS during the extreme downturn, posting less than 19 FanDuel points per game. Facing a surging Miami Heat defense on Tuesday, expect his struggles to continue

In three of their last five games, the Heat have held opponents to 101 or fewer points and under 30% shooting from beyond the arc. On Tuesday’s five-game slate, only the Bulls have a lower implied point total than the Magic (102.8), making Fournier hard to trust in DFS.

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.