NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 4/1/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Apr 1st, 2019
Reduced minutes and a tough matchup make Kyle Lowry a player to avoid tonight. Who else should you fade?

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?

Kyle Lowry, PG, Toronto Raptors

FanDuel Price: $6,900

With the Toronto Raptors virtually locked into the number-two spot in the Eastern Conference for a while now, the team can afford to ease up on the workload for Kyle Lowry. Over the last three weeks, the point guard has played in just six of 10 games, and when he has suited up, he was on the court for fewer than 30 minutes in all six contests.

Those reduced minutes have left fantasy owners high and dry as Lowry failed to score more than 15 real-world points in any of the games, leaving him to collect more than 32.2 FanDuel points just once. Over his last six games, he is averaging 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.0 assists for 27.9 FanDuel points per game. The six games came against some of the worst defenses in the NBA, too (Knicks twice, Bulls twice, Cavs, Hornets).

Monday, he faces the toughest challenge he has had in weeks -- the Orlando Magic.

Since the All-Star break, the Magic have tightened up their D, ranking fourth in defensive rating (106.2) while giving up the fewest points per game (104.5). For the year, point guards have had a hard time racking up fantasy points versus Orlando, posting just 0.89 FanDuel points per minute, the seventh-lowest rate in the league.

Jarrett Allen, C, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $5,800

Jarrett Allen and the Brooklyn Nets are in a challenging run of opponents. In their last three games, they have faced the Blazers, 76ers, and Celtics, all playoff-bound teams. In those games, Allen has failed to score more than 27 Fanduel points in any outing, averaging just 18.9 FanDuel points per night over the last week.

Monday night doesn’t get any easy as the Nets face the squad with the NBA’s best record, the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks' defense, which ranks first in league with a 104.5 defensive rating, should give Allen fits as they have limited opposing centers to 1.09 FanDuel points per minute this season, the seventh-lowest rate in the league. Their stellar rebounding -- fourth in rebound percentage (51.7%) -- allows them to rank in the top-six in both second-chance points and points in the paint allowed, both areas in which Allen thrives.

The Bucks lead the Association by holding opponents to a 55.5% shooting percentage on shots less than five feet from the rim. That spells trouble for Allen as he takes slightly more than 70% of his shots from that distance.

Hassan Whiteside, C, Miami Heat

FanDuel Price: $5,500

Hassan Whiteside’s role has changed for the Miami Heat over the last month, with the big man coming off the bench in his previous 14 games. Whiteside’s minutes have been dramatically cut, too, as he has played more than 20 minutes in just three of those 14 games and has averaged only 17.0 minutes a night.

As you would expect, the reduced role has had a negative impact on his fantasy value, with Whiteside collecting fewer than 25 FanDuel points in five of his last eight games, including three of his previous four. He is averaging a modest 10.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks in his last four games.

With limited minutes in hand, Whiteside is bound to struggle against the Celtics on Monday as Boston has limited opposing centers to the third-fewest FanDuel points per minute this season. In Whiteside’s two previous meetings with Boston this year (both starts), he averaged just 7.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 0.5 blocks, and 24.1 FanDuel points per game.


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.