NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 11/29/18

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Nov 29th, 2018
Willie Cauley-Stein faces a big challenge against the Clippers on Thursday. Who else are we avoiding in DFS today?

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?

Willie Cauley-Stein, C, Sacramento Kings

FanDuel Price: $6,800

So far, the 2018-19 has been a success for Willie Cauley-Stein. He is posting career-highs in points and rebounds while averaging over 30 FanDuel points per game. However, over the last two weeks, the Sacramento Kings' center has hit a wall. In three of his last five games, WCS has been an absolute bust, posting minimal stat lines of 5.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks for 16.5 Fanduel points per game. In those games, he shot a combined 6-for-24 (25%) from the floor and ended up logging fewer than 23 minutes in each contest. Thursday may be another short night as he faces the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers lead the league in personal fouls drawn and with Cauley-Stein averaging 3.3 per game, he might find himself in trouble early. Not the most prolific rebounder (10.0% rebound rate the last three games), WCS also faces a daunting challenge with Boban Marjanovic possibly making another start. The Clippers' big man grabbed 12 boards in 19 minutes on Thursday as he limited Deandre Ayton to just 4 points and 9 rebounds.

Lonzo Ball, PG, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $6,700

Lonzo Ball suffered a sprained ankle in the Los Angeles Lakers' last game. He was limited to just 18 minutes against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday and is questionable to play on Thursday. Even if he does suit up against the Indiana Pacers, it is best to look away from Ball on the short three-game slate as he may be limited and has been inconsistent in DFS lately.

In five of his last seven games, Ball has failed to score more than 23 FanDuel points. Since November 14, the Lakers point guard is averaging just 7.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while posting a sub-40% field goal percentage. That ends up being just 22.5 FanDuel points per game. Matching up against a slogging Pacers squad without Victor Oladipo will do nothing to help Ball’s numbers either.

Against point guards, Indy ranks second in the NBA in allowing them to collect just 0.85 FanDuel points per minute. In the last five games, without Dipo, the Pacers own a top-eight defensive rating (106.5) while playing at the seventh-slowest pace in the league.

Tyreke Evans, SF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $5,100

Tyreke Evans may seem like a nice value option on a three-game slate as he is poised to make his sixth consecutive start on Thursday. In his previous five starts, though, the Pacers wing has not done much.

Evans is averaging just 8.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 23.8 minutes. He is shooting 30.8% from the floor and turned the ball over five times his last time out. During the stretch, Evans has posted 20.9 FanDuel points per game while failing to crack 19.2 in his last two games. The matchup for Indiana is a bad one as well with the Lakers playing some tough defense as of late.

Over their last five games, the Lakers rank fourth in the NBA with a 102.4 defensive rating. They are giving up just 102.0 points per game while holding opponents to a bottom-three field goal percentage (42.2%). Shooting guards (where Evans has been filling in) have bombed out recently against L.A. too. Last Sunday, they held Evan Fournier to 6 points and a 26.5% true shooting percentage. The night before that, it was Donovan Mitchell who was shut down, scoring 4 points on 2-for-9 shooting.

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.