NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/9/18

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jan 9th, 2018
Al-Farouq Aminu could struggle against the Oklahoma City Thunder without Damian Lillard running the point on Tuesday night. Which other NBA players should you avoid in DFS contests?

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?

Steven Adams, C, Oklahoma City Thunder

FanDuel Price: $7,100

Steven Adams is usually a player giving other centers problems, but he could be the victim of some tougher defense in a matchup he has struggled with in the past on Tuesday.

So far this season, Jusuf Nurkic and the Portland Trail Blazers have held opposing centers to just 1.01 FanDuel points per minute, which is the league's fourth-best mark. On top of that, Adams has really struggled against Nurkic -- in seven career head-to-head meetings, Adams is averaging just 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds over 27.7 minutes per game.

Tyler Johnson, PG, Miami Heat

FanDuel Price: $5,400

While Tyler Johnson has put up two nice games in a row for the Miami Heat, he'll be faced with a tough road matchup against the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors have held opposing point guards to 0.84 FanDuel points per minute this year and own a 99.9 defensive rating at home according to NBA Stats. With an implied total of just 101.25, the Heat aren't that appealing for fantasy on Tuesday.

Al-Farouq Aminu, PF, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $5,300

If Al-Farouq Aminu is knocking down shots, the Portland Trail Blazers have no trouble riding him in the lineup at power forward. However, Aminu not only has a relatively tough matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight, but being without Damian Lillard might also hurt his upside.

The Thunder are holding power forwards to just 0.92 FanDuel points per minute, and without Lillard on the court this season, Aminu actually sees his efficiency drop according to NBA Wowy. With the Blazers owning thelowest implied total of the slate, Portland's power forward has minimal appeal from a DFS standpoint.


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.