Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Friday, April 18th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-04-18 16:59:11 Premium Content Part of the product NBA DFS

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 and has long been one of the top NBA DFS minds in the industry. On weekends, Taylor Smith takes the reins. Their Core Plays LIVE article will zoom out on the slate as a whole, zoom in on the best NBA DFS picks, and constantly update as news breaks. Whether you are diving into the slate 5 hours before it starts or 5 minutes before it starts, Core Plays LIVE has everything you need for your DraftKings and FanDuel lineups.

Happy Friday!

It’s always a good day when the first two words of this article are Happy Friday. While I’m excited for the weekend, I wasn’t excited to wake up to a fresh blanket of snow. We got a taste of spring the last few weeks, but now we are back to snow. Dope.

The NBA playoffs officially start tomorrow, but there are still two seeds up for grabs in the Play-In Tournament. The Heat and Hawks will square off for a chance to face the Cavaliers, while the Mavericks and Grizzlies will square off for a chance to face the Thunder.

Let’s dive into the team previews. As always, you can shoot me a message in the RG Discord or on Twitter if you have a question about the slate.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Friday, April 18th

• 2-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Miami Heat at Atlanta Hawks
  - 9:30 PM ET – Dallas Mavericks at Memphis Grizzlies
• Front end of a back-to-back: N/A
• Back end of a back-to-back: N/A
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our Underdog Fantasy promo code and PrizePicks promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.

News Updates

This section will be updated as injury news is released throughout the day.

Team Previews

Miami Heat (at ATL)

We kick off the slate with the Heat, who made quick work of the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday. These teams split their regular season series, so we should be in for a competitive game throughout. The winner will claim the 8th seed in the East and a first-round matchup against the Cavaliers. This is a favorable matchup for Miami, and they come into the game with a team total that is only 1 point lower than their season average (best mark on the slate). Kevin Love has been ruled out.

Tyler Herro put up 50 fantasy points in the first Play-In Tournament game and has another solid matchup here. He has the highest RGValue of anyone on the Heat on DraftKings and is one of the top spends on the slate. Davion Mitchell isn’t a starter in name, but he sees starter-like minutes and has topped 30 fantasy points in 6 of his last 8 games. He’s one of my favorite mid-range options on this 2-game slate. We have Alec Burks, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, and Kyle Anderson all projected for minutes in the teens, which makes them all risky value plays.

Andrew Wiggins put up 44 fantasy points on Wednesday and is only $6,800 on FanDuel. He’s going to be one of the most popular plays of the slate. He’s also a decent option on DraftKings and will be lower-owned there than on FanDuel. Bam Adebayo fills up the stat sheet; he’s playing some of his best basketball of the season, and his price isn’t prohibitive on either site. I’ll take my chances with a fade of Kel’el Ware.

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