Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Friday, May 9th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-05-09 23:18:08 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!

As expected, the Wolves bounced back with a big win over the Steph Curry-less Warriors last night. Golden State had already picked up the split in Minnesota and were without their best offensive player, so it was easy for the Wolves to take care of business at home. It wasn’t for a lack of effort though, as Steve Kerr gave 11 players minutes in the first half.

We are back to a 2-game slate tonight. The Cavaliers desperately need a win in their series against the Pacers, while the Nuggets have their series home opener against the Thunder. The winner of that game will take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Cheers to the weekend!

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Friday, May 9th

• 2-game main slate
  - 7:30 PM ET – Cleveland Cavaliers at Indiana Pacers
  - 10:00 PM ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Denver Nuggets
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

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News Updates

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

Team Previews

Cleveland Cavaliers (at IND)

We kick tonight’s slate off with the Cavaliers, who find themselves in a precarious position after losing the first 2 games of the series at home. The way they lost Game 2 is going to sting for a long time if they can’t find a way to win 4 of the next 5 games. At the very least, they need to win 1 of the next 2 games in Indiana. They enter Game 3 as 2.5-point favorites and have a team total of 116 points, which is the 2nd-highest on the slate. Just like Game 2, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and De’Andre Hunter are all listed as questionable.

In the first 2 games of the series, Donovan Mitchell has had usage rates of 42% and 53%. Those are video game-like numbers. He has taken 30 shot attempts in each game and just put up 75 fantasy points in Game 2. The usage rate will come down a bit if Garland and/or Mobley can suit up, but Mitchell is a strong spend in all formats. For the rest of the roster, we’ll have to wait for an update on Cleveland’s injury situation. With those 3 players out in Game 2, Max Strus saw a major uptick in usage, while Ty Jerome, Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, and Sam Merrill all played at least 25 minutes.

I’ll provide my final thoughts once we know the availability of Garland, Mobley, and Hunter.

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