DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks (12/5/21): NBA DFS Lineups

The top daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on December 5, 2021. Mike Marteny provides NBA DFS analysis and sleeper picks for building optimal DFS rosters.

Our Sunday slate on DraftKings is a little smaller today with only three games. A look at the positions on DraftKings see a lot of OUT tags, the most glaring being LaMelo Ball. It opens up a ton of value, but how much do we actually need?

We start off with the Ball-less Hornets in the ATL at 6 pm Eastern. The Wizards also try to work their magic north of the border. An hour later we close out with the Pelicans heading West to Houston.

This article will provide you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 12/5/21. You can also check out today's FanDuel lineup picks. Remember to monitor injury news as the slate can completely change before lineups lock.

DraftKings Guards - NBA DFS Lineup Picks

Trae Young - PG, ATL vs. CHA ($10,300)

Young had a sore quad after the Philly game on Friday, so we have to keep an eye on this. The low-hanging fruit is running Trae at the spot vacated by Ball. He has the best true ceiling on this small slate. If he can't go, we can always run Delon Wright at the Hornets too, but that doesn't produce the best ceiling. There are other good spots for Atlanta, but the scoring/assist combo of Young keeps him at the top if he plays.

Kelly Oubre Jr. - SG/SF, CHA at ATL ($6,100)

Oubre will take on a little more of a scoring role with Ball out. He has been efficient from the floor over the last fortnight. The only knock on Oubre is that he's mostly a scorer, but the Hornets are going to need him badly in this one. He may even see a few more peripherals across the board with Ball watching from home.

Armoni Brooks - PG/SG, HOU vs. NO ($3,700)

Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green are out again and John Wall has yet to make his season debut. That's going to leave a lot of minutes for Brooks. Before KPJ's one-game return on Friday, Brooks put up 32.5 DraftKings points against a terrible Thunder team. Still, Brooks can put up points in a hurry and D.J.Augustin shouldn't steal many minutes. Those are the only two healthy point guards on the roster. I trust the usage of Brooks far more than Ish Smith and he's cheaper.

Others to consider: Bradley Beal ($9,100), Brandon Ingram ($8,800), Eric Gordon ($5,200), Ish Smith ($4,800)

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DraftKings Forwards - NBA DFS Lineup Picks

Miles Bridges - SF/PF, CHA at ATL ($8,400)

Bridges and Ball have made the Hornets into a respectable team this year. With Ball out, the usage on Bridges is going to go through the roof. He and Kelly Oubre will handle the scoring, but Bridges should increase his numbers across the board with the ball in his hands more tonight. This is a good matchup on paper anyway. Bridges with even higher usage is definitely worth paying for and there's plenty of value to make it work.

Dillon Brooks - SF, HOU vs. NO ($6,600)

Tate has dominated with extreme usage over the last couple of games. Houston is clearly leaning towards the youth movement right now and with the guard corps banged up, Tate has taken over the team. He's still too cheap for what he is capable of. I don't think he'll drop 70 again – there's no team in the NBA worse than the Thunder – but he should at least flirt with 7x value.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - SG/SF, WAS at TOR ($4,200)

We've seen this movie before from KCP and it always ends the same – with him failing spectacularly in a smash spot after his one-week hot streak. The whole team bottomed out against the Cavs on Friday, so that's not the deterrent here. Prior to that game, KCP had cleared 25 DraftKings points in four straight and five of the last seven. It's waiting for the other shoe to drop. The usage is still there for KCP, but damn, this dude makes me nervous. He's providing great return as a value play of late though. It's really hard to overlook that.

Others to consider: Scottie Barnes ($8,000), Gordon Hayward ($7,000), Gary Trent Jr. ($5,900), Danilo Gallinari ($4,700)

DraftKings Centers - NBA DFS Lineup Picks

Christian Wood - C, HOU vs. NO ($9,600)

Wood's ankle injury on Wednesday wasn't bothering him on Friday, so I'm going back to the well here. Wood has three straight games of more than 50 DraftKings points if you don't count the one where he departed after nine minutes. Only one of those was against the Thunder. Jonas will provide a little more resistance, but Wood is proving to be a guy that Houston and and will build around. We can build around him in DFS as well.

Clint Capela - C, ATL vs. CHA ($8,200)

Center is quietly loaded today. Wood's 50+ streak started against Charlotte last week. Capela isn't always turned loose by the Hawks, but if Trae Young misses this game, both he and John Collins could be in for monsters. Charlotte is weak in the middle, so Capela is capable of a ceiling game here if you are wanting to build with double centers.

Willy Hernangomez - C, NO vs. HOU ($4,500)

The Pelicans have started using Hernangomez to good success of late. He posted a double-double in just 23 minutes against Dallas on Friday. He may get extended run against a Houston team that tends to run big, especially with all of their guards out. If Willy can log another 20 minutes, he's capable of posting 7-8x value.

Others to consider: Pascal Siakam ($8,700), P.J. Washington ($5,700), Precious Achiuwa ($4,500), Alperen Sengun ($4,200)

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