FanDuel NBA DFS Lineup Picks (5/4/21): Daily Fantasy Basketball Advice

Mike Marteny highlights the top FanDuel NBA DFS lineup picks for 5/4/21, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.

It's a lighter night in the Association with only seven games going on. This slate is littered with questionable tags and teams that have nothing to play for. How do we sift through this? All I can do is say that I'll make my best educated guess and concentrate on teams that have something to play for and to closely watch the teams on back-to-backs.

The injury list is a little smaller at the top. We do know that James Harden and Darius Garland are out along with most of the Thunder. That's not news. What will affect this slate is all of the questionable tags. The most important being De'Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. We could have some huge value in the Kings backcourt if they both sit.

In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 5/4/21. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at guard, forward, and center on FanDuel, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. You can also check out DraftKings lineup picks and injury news before lineups lock. Good luck, RotoBallers.

FanDuel DFS Guards

Lonzo Ball, PG – vs. Golden State ($8,200)

I see no good reason to pay up at guard tonight. Brooklyn is just going through the motions with home court advantage locked up. I'm not sure they really care about the 1 seed. Stephen Curry has not been as effective on the second night of back-to-back sets, so I'll drop down to Lonzo. Why? He has two career games in the last three games. I'm not just talking good games. I'm talking games over 60 FanDuel points. He likely wont do that against the Warriors, but I wouldn't rule out 6x value here. I'm not sure you'll get that from Curry or Luka.

LaMelo Ball, PG – at Detroit ($6,200)

I'm going Balls in tonight. Lonzo is showing a high ceiling and LaMelo is showing almost no rust despite not playing for nearly six weeks. Charlotte is likely going to keep him around 30 minutes again, but Ball has managed 74.1 FanDuel points in just 57 minutes since his return. The ceiling isn't extraordinarily high, but when you consider the price, 7x value isn't out of the question here. Again, how many guards on this slate can provide that?

Hamidou Diallo, SG – vs. Charlotte ($4,000)

With Diallo starting again, it looks safe to use him. Of course, I thought Detroit would run him as hard as Oklahoma City did, but that has not been the case. Still, Diallo put up more than 20 FanDuel points in the third straight game last night. I don't think the ceiling is all that high, but his floor is not nearly as low as many other value picks. I expect Diallo to finish strong with Detroit this year. If he keeps inching closer to 30 minutes, this ceiling is higher than we think.

Also consider: Stephen Curry ($9,700), Collin Sexton ($8,500), Terry Rozier ($6,000), Delon Wright ($5,200)

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FanDuel DFS Forwards

Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF – vs. Brooklyn ($11,400)

Giannis and Kevin Durant put on a hell of a show on Sunday. I'm here for the rematch. K.D.'s numbers were nice, but Giannis put up a stat line that could help you take down a GPP. Giannis had a staggering 75.6 FanDuel points in just 35 minutes. Is Giannis going to score 49 real points again? Probably not, but I could argue that eight rebounds is low for him and so is four assists. His ceiling is just as high as it was on Sunday. We just have to pay a little more for it tonight.

Saddiq Bey, SF – vs. Charlotte ($6,200)

Bey has had some inconsistency issues in his rookie season, but he's got a little heater going here. Bey has back-to-back games over 40 FanDuel points and broke 30 in the one before that. The Pistons are starting to play some of the younger guys more minutes so they can see what they have going into next season. Bey is one of those guys. He racked up 49.9 FanDuel points on this same Charlotte team in North Carolina on May Day. There's no reason Bey can't break 40 again here.

Marvin Bagley, PF – at Oklahoma City ($5,500)

If the Kings are willing to play Bagley 35 minutes, he is severely underpriced and we need to take advantage of this situation. This is a superb matchup against the Thunder. Good enough that Bagley could break the slate if he plays 35 minutes again. He put up 39.3 FanDuel points in those minutes against Dallas on Sunday. The Kings aren't out of playoff consideration yet, but they definitely need some help. I have no idea why they're playing Bagley this many minutes, but I'm not going to complain. There is a lot of potential here.

Also consider: Jimmy Butler ($9,600), Draymond Green ($7,600), Gabriel Deck ($3,700), Dario Saric ($3,500)

FanDuel DFS Centers 

Bam Adebayo – vs. Dallas ($8,300)

Let's face it. Center is extraordinarily weak for a slate containing half the teams in the league. This isn't a great matchup for Bam, but he is by far the most consistent center on the roster. He has at least 38 FanDuel points in five straight games. That's a pretty good floor. The bad news is that Bam has only hit 50 FanDuel points once in the last month. Still, it will be a chore for any other center to come close to 40. Bam at least has a puncher's chance.

DeMarcus Cousins – vs. Tampa-ronto ($5,400)

The Clippers are the biggest DFS headache in a decade, and it's not even close. Their latest way to screw us DFS players is to only use Cousins for about 15 minutes per game. Cousins has 86.4 FanDuel points in just 53 minutes over the last three games. His per-minute numbers border on elite right now, but the team seems committed to not using him in a large role. However, if we still get 25 FanDuel points out of Boogie, can we really complain?

Also consider: Jarrett Allen ($7,000), Khem Birch ($6,000), Willy Hernangomez ($4,900)

NBA DFS News and Injury Alerts

More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis