NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/28/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Feb 28th, 2019
Facing the NBA's top rebounding team in Denver, Derrick Favors could be in for a long night on Thursday. Who else are we staying away from in DFS tonight?

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?

Draymond Green, PF, Golden State Warriors

FanDuel Price: $6,700

Just as they did with DeMarcus Cousins on Wednesday, the Golden State Warriors are playing the “load management” game and resting Kevin Durant on Thursday. Despite the slight uptick in usage, from 12.8 to 13.7% with KD off the court (per NBAWowy.com), Draymond Green's under-the-radar tough matchup with the Orlando Magic is scary enough to shy away from him in DFS.

The Magic limit opposing power forwards to just 0.88 FanDuel points per minute, the second-lowest rate in the NBA this season. Over their last 10 games, the Magic have been shutting it down defensively too, holding opponents to 43.1% shooting and 101.7 points per game, both the lowest marks in the league. They are also giving up a league-low 22.0 assists per game, a category that Green thrives on with 7.2 per game this season.

Even if we get past the tough matchup, Green has been an utter disappointment in DFS during February. The forward has collected more than 32 FanDuel points just 3 times in his 10 games played this month, averaging a mediocre 27.2 FanDuel points in 29.4 minutes per game. He is posting only 7.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks a night.

Derrick Favors, PF, Denver Nuggets

FanDuel Price: $6,400

Derrick Favors has been a rebounding machine lately, grabbing double-digit boards in four of his last five games. More impressive is that he pulled it off while playing fewer than 25 minutes in three of those games. In fact, Favors has been on the court for over 25 minutes in just 3 of his last 10 games. With Thursday being the second game of a back-to-back too, there seems almost zero chance Favors plays more than 25 minutes once again. He is averaging 24.4 minutes per game on zero days rest.

The Utah Jazz forward posted just 25.7 FanDuel points in 24.6 minutes last Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks, the second half of a back-to-back. Besides the limited minutes, Favors is in for a steep challenge against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.

The Nuggets lead the NBA in rebound percentage (53.0%) and hold opponents to a league-low 41.8 rebounds per game. Their effectiveness on the glass holds opposing power forwards down in DFS, limiting them to 0.94 FanDuel points per minute, a bottom-10 rate in the NBA. In his previous two meetings with Denver this season, Favors collected just seven boards and 24.9 total FanDuel points.

Dion Waiters, SG, Miami Heat

FanDuel Price: $5,700

The Miami Heat backcourt is finally getting healthy, and that spells trouble for Dion Waiters. The guard played just 23.3 minutes last night versus the Golden State Warriors after seeing 30-plus minutes per night in the previous seven games. Some of that was due to foul trouble, but with Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic nearly 100%, Waiters will likely continue to see his minutes dry up.

Playing limited minutes is one thing, but for a gunner like Waiters, the more significant drop was in his shot attempts on Wednesday. He took just six after averaging over 13 a game since February 8. He finished with only 6.6 FanDuel points against the Dubs, his second game with 21 or fewer FanDuel points in his last three contests.

With the Heat owning the lowest implied point total (105.25) of Thursday’s six-game slate), points may be even harder to come by for Waiters and that spells trouble in DFS. In the 16 games, Waiters has scored 12 or fewer points, he finished with more than 23 FanDuel points just once.


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.