Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, January 13th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-01-13 23:37:27 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 Monday!

I’m coming off my best PGA DFS week in quite some time, so I have a little more pep in my step this morning. As I’ve mentioned a few times, this will be a big year for the golf team here at RotoGrinders. We have the American Express on tap this week if you want to check out all of the premium PGA DFS content.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The NFL games didn’t quite live up to the hype, but hopefully, we’ll get a good one between the Vikings and Rams tonight. As far as the NBA slate is concerned, there are only 6 games on the schedule. In a strange turn of events, FanDuel is rolling out a 4-game main slate, while DraftKings is rolling out a 6-game main slate. We only have 2 teams (Wizards and Knicks) playing on the second half of a back-to-back, so hopefully we’ll have a quiet day of injury news.

Let’s dive into the slate!

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, January 13th

• 6-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Washington Wizards
  - 7:30 PM ET – Detroit Pistons at New York Knicks
  - 7:30 PM ET – Golden State Warriors at Toronto Raptors
  - 8:00 PM ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Houston Rockets
  - 10:30 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers
  - 10:30 PM ET – Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers
• Front end of a back-to-back: None
• Back end of a back-to-back: Wizards, Knicks
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
• 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

1:50 PM ET – Malcolm Brogdon has been ruled out.

Team Previews

Minnesota Timberwolves (at WAS)

We kick off the slate with the Wolves, who have been one of my least-targeted teams this season. They travel to Washington to take on the Wizards, who are bottom 4 in rebounding rate, defensive rating, and points allowed per game this season. The Wolves have a team total of 118.5 points, which is the 2nd-highest on the slate and 10 points above their season average. The only downside here is that Minnesota is expected to have everyone available. The matchup is so good that I think we should take some chances on the Wolves. Anthony Edwards has topped 50 fantasy points in 3 of his last 5 games, Julius Randle has an Opto% close to 20%, and Rudy Gobert is only $5,200 on DraftKings. For value, there are paths for Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, Mike Conley, and Jaden McDaniels to pay off their cheap price points.

Washington Wizards (vs. MIN)

The Wizards are playing on the second half of a back-to-back and have yet to submit an injury report. We currently have Saddiq Bey, Malcolm Brogdon, and Marvin Bagley out of the projections, but we’ll know for sure who is on the injury report here in a bit. They have a difficult matchup against the Wolves, who are 26th in pace and 4th in points allowed per game. The Wizards are 14-point underdogs and have the lowest team total on the slate. I only plan to build 1 lineup on this slate and will be fading the Wizards.

Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers

Want to read more? Sign up for Premium!