Friday, March 4, wraps up the work week with a nine-game slate beginning at 7 p.m. ET. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. Do not forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page for more great written daily fantasy basketball content.
NBA DFS Picks: Fantasy Basketball Building Blocks Today | Friday, March 4
Yahoo Play of the Day — Giannis Antetokounmpo: Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 57.27 | DraftKings: 58.66
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 17.0% | FanDuel 29.7% | DraftKings 13.1%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $57 | FanDuel $11,300 | DraftKings $12,300
Over its last 10Â games, Chicago has allowed 115 points per 100 possessions while playing at an above-average pace. Clearly, it is missing the defense of Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. Tonight Milwaukee is favored by five points in the Windy City and this is a perfect opportunity to roll with Giannis Antetokounmpo while the rest of the field is dispersed among the other superstars. Even after besting Miami by a point in their last outing, the Bucks are still 3.5 games behind the Heat in what is becoming a tight race for the Eastern Conference crown with Chicago and Philadelphia one game ahead of Milwaukee.
Giannis has recorded 60 or more fantasy points in four of his last five games with the lone outlier being a 53.8 point performance against the Nets in Brooklyn. During this stretch he is averaging 34.8 minutes and 18.8 field goal attempts with a 56.4% success rate. This has resulted in 33 points, 14.4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2.8 combined blocks and steals. We can target the two-time NBA MVP in all formats on Friday.
The Friday NBA player props market for Nikola Vucevic against Milwaukee is one to consider, as Awesemo has him projected for 3.6 assists. Currently his NBA player prop bet today for assists is over/under 2.5, and that is a mark he should surpass nearly 69% of the time in this matchup. Over his last 13 games he has recorded three or more assists nine times.
Donovan Mitchell: Utah Jazz at New Orleans Pelicans
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 39.75 | DraftKings: 41.57
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 9.4% | FanDuel 12.8% | DraftKings 4.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $38 | FanDuel $8,800 | DraftKings $9,300
Over his last eight games, Donovan Mitchell has been logging heavy minutes with 35.8 per game while attempting 20.5 field goals including a whopping 11 from 3-point territory. Even though it has a 9-1 record over its last 10 games, Utah is still 10.5 games behind Phoenix, though it is only three games behind Golden State for the second-best record. New Orleans does not have any lockdown defenders and this is shaping up to be a nice situation for Mitchell tonight.
Toronto Raptors vs. Orlando Magic
O.G. Anunoby (finger) is out for the next two weeks and it is likely that Fred VanVleet (knee) misses a third straight game. Thaddeus Young missed Thursday’s game with a non-COVID related illness and is currently questionable. Malachi Flynn continues to be a solid discount option and Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and Gary Trent Jr. can be used in all formats. Chris Boucher is an NBA DFS darling, but he never seems to reach the lofty expectations placed on him, even in perfect situations. Even if Young is out, it is easy to find better options than Boucher, Precious Achiuwa and Khem Birch, who will curb the upside of both.
Wendell Carter Jr. is questionable with an illness, but if he plays he becomes a player to target on sites where he has power forward eligibility. Markelle Fultz (rest) is slowly being worked back into the mix, however, we know what the rest of the Magic look like since he has been sidelined for the vast majority of the season. Cole Anthony, Mohamed Bamba, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner have varying degrees of utility depending on their salaries across the NBA DFS sites.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Josh Giddey, Ty Jerome, Luguentz Dort, Kenrich Williams, Derrick Favors, Aaron Wiggins and Mike Muscala are all out tonight. Oklahoma City still has nine healthy players, but its rotation is now quite top heavy. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the priority target from this team and he has been stellar with two 60-fantasy-point performances in his last three appearances. Isaiah Roby is coming off a game where he dropped 50 fantasy points on the Nuggets and he should be in line for another start. Darius Bazley, Aleksej Pokusevski and Tre Mann all should see increased opportunities with so many regular out tonight. This is a tremendous matchup, as the Timberwolves are playing at the second-fastest pace in the league over their last 10 games while ceding 116 points per 100 possessions.
Minnesota will be without Anthony Edwards (knee) and Jarred Vanderbilt (quad) is questionable. Karl-Anthony Towns should thrive in this matchup. He has logged at least 40 fantasy points in 20 of his last 25 games. During this timeframe he is averaging 33.7 minutes and 16.6 field goal attempts including 4.6 from beyond the arc. This has culminated in 24.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2 combined blocks and steals.
Patrick Beverley and D’Angelo Russell will see significant increases in their opportunities tonight without Edwards, and Malik Beasley also becomes a viable punt option, particularly on the evening slate. If Jarred Vanderbilt ends up being ruled out, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels would become tournament targets.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Friday, March 4 Fantasy Basketball Slate
Tonight seven games tipoff in the first hour and then there are late games at 9 and 10 p.m. ET. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.
