NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/12/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Mar 12th, 2019
The Knicks aren't expected to break 100 points tonight, leaving Dennis Smith as player to avoid. Who else should you stay away from 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?

Andrew Wiggins, SG, Minnesota Timberwolves

FanDuel Price: $6,200

Andrew Wiggins enters Tuesday as a game-time decision following a two-game absence due to a quad injury. Even if the Minnesota Timberwolves' swingman suits up, it is best to steer clear of him against the Denver Nuggets.

Since the break, the Nuggets are playing top-10 defense, limiting opponents to 108.5 points per game while holding them to a 31.8% clip from three, a bottom-six rate in the league. In those last eight games, their defensive rating is the third-best in the NBA, behind only the Memphis Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets. That leaves the Timberwolves in a lousy spot Tuesday with a bottom-four implied point total and as 10.0-point underdogs.

Even before the injury, Wiggins’ game had been off, with him scoring fewer than 30 FanDuel points in four of his last six outings. His minimal contributions in categories other than scoring have left him with a low ceiling, and with the tough matchup against the Nuggets tonight, it’s best to save yourself the trouble and skip over Wiggins in DFS.

Dennis Smith, PG, New York Knicks

FanDuel Price: $5,800

Dennis Smith has been one of the few New York Knicks over the last few weeks to see consistent minutes. He has played at least 28 minutes in his previous six games and in seven of his last nine.

Despite the regular action, Smith has been up and down in DFS. The point guard has just as many games with fewer than 23 FanDuel points (three) as he does with more than 30 since the All-Star Break. He is in a mini-shooting slump, too, as he has sunk just 13 of his last 34 shots (38.2%). He is also coming off a disappointing 16.4-FanDuel-point outing on Sunday and faces a tough Indiana Pacers squad on Tuesday.

The Pacers are the best D in the NBA against point guards, for fantasy purposes, limiting the position to 0.83 Fanduel points per minute. Also hurting Smith’s chance to rack up points has been the pace Indy plays at. Since the break, they rank 28th in pace and have given up 106 or fewer points in two of their last three games. The Knicks own the lowest implied point total of all the teams in action on Tuesday.

Tim Hardaway Jr., SG, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $5,500

One of the streakiest scorers in the NBA, Tim Hardaway Jr. is in a bit of a slump. Over his last five games, the Dallas Mavericks' guard has scored 10 or fewer points three times and is averaging 11.6 points per game, a far cry from his season-long average of 18.3.

During the stretch, he is shooting just 35.9% from the field, including a dismal 22.9% on 7.0 three-point attempts per game. With his lack of contributions elsewhere -- 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game -- Hardaway has been unplayable in DFS.

During March, Hardaway has three games with 15.2 or fewer FanDuel points while has scored more than 23 FanDuel points in just one of the five games played. Limiting his chances for a bounce back on Tuesday is an unfavorable matchup with the San Antonio Spurs.

While they are not an elite defense like in years past, the Spurs hold their own. Opponents are shooting just 44.9% from the field versus San Antonio over the last 10 games, the eighth-lowest rate in the NBA. Opposing shooting guards have failed to rack up big nights against them as the Spurs limit the position to 0.85 FanDuel points per minute, a bottom-10 rate in the league.


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.