NBA DFS Core Plays & Top Picks for Wednesday, October 21st
A daily fantasy sports OG, Notorious has been roaming the DFS streets ever since they were invented. He has racked up multiple live final seats and several six-figure tournament wins in his DFS career. Each weekday, Noto will walk you through the featured NBA DFS slates on DraftKings and FanDuel. On the weekends, Taylor Smith will take the reins.
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Happy Wednesday!
It’s good to have basketball back, even if the start of the season snuck up on us. We didn’t have the most exciting games yesterday, but the Pistons made a nice comeback over the Celtics, LeBron James picked up a win in his Philly debut, and the Thunder got some revenge on the Spurs after losing to them in the Western Conference Finals.
If you didn’t read yesterday’s article, I mentioned that I am trying to sell my house. I asked for some positive vibes if anyone had some to spare, and we received a showing request for today. Once again, I’ll ask for some positive vibes. They are going to love the house and make an offer above asking, right? RIGHT?
This is the time of year that we truly need to enjoy. Temperatures are dropping, and the leaves are changing color. More importantly, it’s a dream for sports fans. We have the NFL in full swing, the NBA just starting, the NHL just starting, and the MLB World Series about to kick off. Life is good.
Slate Overview
We have an 11-game slate on tap tonight. DraftKings and FanDuel typically roll out different-sized slates, but all 11 games are included on the main slates for both sites. Before we get to the NBA Core Plays, let’s talk a little DFS strategy.
On a large slate like this, we have no shortage of options. It’s so early in the season that most DFS players are going to blindly follow the projections of their favorite site. This isn’t a bad idea if you are using the RotoGrinders projections, but we are dealing with incomplete information. We don’t truly know each team’s rotation and each player’s FP/min production for this season. This is important to keep in mind because players that rate out slightly better on a per-dollar basis might be twice as owned as players that are essentially comparable plays. Big slates in general and early-season slates are the best time to be a little different. Play into the uncertainty.
As you can see in the Core Plays table below (or in the Situation Room), there are a ton of key players who have been ruled out of tonight’s slate. By my count, there are 13 players with an impact rating of at least 8 who have already been ruled out. We have some incredible value plays, which really softens the salary cap. You can essentially play whoever you want tonight.
Essential NBA DFS Tools & Resources
- NBA DFS First Look
- NBA DFS Optimizer
- NBA Starting Lineups
- NBA Injury Report
- RotoGrinders Discord (ping me in the basketball channel with any questions about the slate)
NBA DFS Core Plays & Top Picks Table
The Core Plays table is still a work in progress. I want it to provide as much value to you as possible. I decided to divide the injuries into two different tabs — All Injuries and Injury News. The All Injuries tab lists all of the slate’s injuries and their impact rating (these will match what you see in the Situation Room). The Injury News tab will be updated for the news that breaks throughout the day. It features a note column where we will break down what each injury means to the slate.
All five of the tabs in the table will be updated until lineups lock. And again, if you have any feedback on the new format of the article, please let us know.