NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/18/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Jan 18th, 2019
Andrew Wiggins could be in for a long night against the Spurs on Friday. Who else should we avoid in NBA 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?

Andrew Wiggins, SG, Minnesota Timberwolves

FanDuel Price: $6,700

Since dropping a season-high 40 points back on January 8 -- his third game with at least 28 points since the start of 2019 -- Andrew Wiggins has struggled to stay hot. In the three games since, the Minnesota Timberwolves star has averaged 15.7 points per game while scoring 18 or fewer points in each contest. His shot has been way off, going 18-for-52 (34.6%) from the floor. Wiggins has also been less aggressive, attempting just 11 free throws in the three games.

Wiggins’ lack of complimentary stats -- 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per this season -- leaves him reliant on big scoring nights for DFS usefulness. In those last three games, he is averaging 28.8 FanDuel points while posting more than 26 FanDuel points just one time. With the San Antonio Spurs coming to town on Friday, Wiggins may be in for a long night offensively, making him hard to put in your lineups.

The Spurs’ defense has been tough over the last 10 games, posting a top-10 defensive rating (109.9) while limiting opponents to 108 or fewer points (below league average) in 6 of their last 8 games and 16 of their previous 20. The Spurs have held shooting guards in check, too, limiting their fantasy production to the seventh-lowest rate (0.83) in the NBA this season.

Jaren Jackson Jr., PF, Memphis Grizzlies

FanDuel Price: $5,600

Most rookies are hit or miss in DFS, and Jaren Jackson Jr. is no different.

The Memphis Grizzlies' forward has collected three games with 21 or fewer FanDuel points in his last five contests. In those three flops, Jackson has averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 0.7 steals, and 0.3 blocks while playing under 22 minutes a night. Just like in two of those games (Milwaukee and San Antonio), Jackson and the Grizzlies face one of the top defensive teams in the NBA in the Boston Celtics on Friday.

The matchup projects out to be a defensive struggle -- a slate-low 206.5 over/under -- with the Grizzlies carrying by far the worst implied point total of the day (98.0) thanks to a sluggish pace. Both teams have run at a bottom-10 pace in their last 10 games. During that same 10-game stretch, the Celtics are posting a top-five defensive rating (106.8) while giving up the fourth-fewest blocks per game (3.2).

The final red flag for Jackson on Friday is the Celtics’ ability to limit power forwards' fantasy production as the position has gained just 0.88 FanDuel points per minute, the second-lowest rate in the league.

Reggie Jackson, PG, Detroit Pistons

FanDuel Price: $5,400

Reggie Jackson has had a hard time scoring lately, essentially quashing his usefulness in DFS.

The Detroit Pistons' point guard is averaging just 10.0 points on 30.4% field goal shooting in his last four games. A usually reliable three-point shooter, Jackson has sunk only 4 of his previous 19 attempts (21.0%). The downturn in scoring has produced some significant disappointments in fantasy with Jackson averaging 20.2 FanDuel points, including two sub-20 performances in his the last eight days.

Friday against the Miami Heat is poised to be another difficult challenge for Jackson as the Heat have given up the second-fewest points in the NBA over their last 10 games. Vegas has Friday’s game with the second-lowest over/under of the day (207.5) with the Pistons scoring the fourth-fewest points (104.75) of the 14 teams in action.

Add in a healthy Ish Smith starting to eat into Jackson’s playing time, and it becomes hard to justify playing the point guard on Friday night.

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.