Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, March 17th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-03-17 22:40:22 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 hope everyone had a tremendous weekend. We had a lot of fun at the Jazz game on Friday night. Trying to explain to the boys why we wanted the Jazz to lose was tricky, but I’m happy to report that my little one made it up on the jumbotron with his bussin dance moves (I’ve been told that bussin should only be used for food, but we’re going to go with it anyway). He doesn’t care who is watching; he’ll dance his heart out at any moment. There’s no shame in his game.

It’s been so fun watching our two boys become siblings. They couldn’t be any more different, yet they get along so well and want to be together all the time. And now that we are all under one roof, it’s been fun developing new routines as a family. And the schedules with our exes don’t line up perfectly, so we have a nice mix of nights with both boys, with no boys, and with only one or the other. You probably don’t need to know my parenting schedule, but people seem to like reading about my personal life more than a repetitive NBA intro.

For those in the golf streets, a congratulations to Rory McIlroy is due. He just won his 2nd PLAYERS Championship on Monday morning and claimed his 3rd win on St. Patrick’s Day, which is a pretty cool stat. I ended up having a solid week, and the PGA crew is having a great year overall. If you don’t already have access to our PGA DFS content, we’d love to have you join. It’s a great time too, as the Masters is just around the corner.

As for tonight’s NBA slate, there are 10 games on the schedule. All 10 are included on DraftKings’ main slate, while only the first 9 games are included on FanDuel’s main slate.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, March 17th

• 9-game main slate on FD, 10-game main slate on DK
  - 7:30 PM ET – Miami Heat at New York Knicks
  - 8:00 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Houston Rockets
  - 8:00 PM ET – Indiana Pacers at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 8:00 PM ET – Detroit Pistons at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 9:00 PM ET – Chicago Bulls at Utah Jazz
  - 10:00 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors
  - 10:00 PM ET – Toronto Raptors at Phoenix Suns
  - 10:00 PM ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Sacramento Kings
  - 10:00 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Portland Trail Blazers
  - 10:30 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers
• Front end of a back-to-back: Warriors,
• Back end of a back-to-back: Sixers, Wolves, Jazz, Raptors, Suns, Blazers, Lakers
• 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

Miami Heat (at NYK)

We kick off the slate with the Heat, who travel to New York to take on the Knicks. This is a better matchup than it has been in recent years, and the Heat come into the game with a team total that is 7 points lower than their season average. Alec Burks, Nikola Jovic, and Dru Smith are all out, while Andrew Wiggins is listed as questionable.

If Wiggins is active, this becomes an easy team to fade in cash games and small-field tournaments. Tyler Herro has a positive RGValue, but his Opto % is less than 10% on both FanDuel and DraftKings. If Wiggins is out, we might have some value open up on the wing.

New York Knicks (vs. MIA)

The Knicks draw a below-average matchup against the Heat, who are 30th in pace and 2nd in points allowed per game. The Knicks have a team total that is 7 points below their season average. Jalen Brunson has been ruled out, but everyone else should be available for New York.

With Brunson off the floor this season, Karl-Anthony Towns sees a 6% usage boost and a 0.24 FP/min boost, which are both massive. He put up 53 fantasy points in 29 minutes with Brunson out the other night against the Warriors and is one of the top spends on the slate. Miles McBride should push for 35+ minutes and is worth a look in tournaments.

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