Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, November 18th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2024-11-18 23:33:23 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.

I’d say “Happy Monday!” to kick things off today, but I’d rather not start the week in an oxymoronic fashion. It is a pretty nice morning here though, with blue skies and temps in the 50s. I took a jog earlier and saw a rabbit. I know what you’re thinking, but no, he didn’t try to shake me down for any carrots. Maybe Mondays aren’t so bad after all.

Now, let’s get right down to this very important business of NBA DFS. DraftKings is trotting out a 6-game slate starting at 7:00 PM ET, while FanDuel’s main docket is an 8-gamer that includes the deep-night ATL/SAC and GS/LAC affairs.

We’ve got no shortage of injury news to sift through, as usual, with several star-level players likely missing from their respective teams. Let’s do the thing.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, November 18th

• 8-game slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Chicago Bulls at Detroit Pistons
  - 7:30 PM ET – Washington Wizards at New York Knicks
  - 7:30 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Miami Heat
  - 7:30 PM ET – Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors
  - 8:00 PM ET – Houston Rockets at Milwaukee Bucks
  - 9:00 PM ET – Orlando Magic at Phoenix Suns
  - 10:00 PM ET – Atlanta Hawks at Sacramento Kings
  - 10:30 PM ET – Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers
• Front end of a back-to-back: None
• Back end of a back-to-back: Bulls, Pistons, Heat, Wizards, Knicks, Pacers, Rockets, Hawks, Clippers
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

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News Updates

Here’s where I’ll provide news updates.

Team Previews

Chicago Bulls (at DET)

The Bulls got utterly annihilated at home by the Rockets last night, and tonight they’re 4.5-point underdogs on the road in Detroit. Lonzo Ball remains out, and we’ll see if anyone new pops up on the injury report later. I never hate getting to Zach LaVine as a one-off as he continues to pile up usage in his standard big-minute role, while Coby White and Nikola Vucevic are always passable GPP targets. Josh Giddey continues to project well on a point-per-dollar basis, but his minutes are extremely shaky. As usual, I’ll gladly fade Giddey if his projections lead to outsized pOWN%.

Detroit Pistons (vs. CHI)

The Pistons picked up an easy win over the Wizards last night, and tonight they face a similarly tantalizing matchup against a Bulls team ranked 1st in pace and 27th in defensive efficiency. Cade Cunningham (1.39 FP/min.) posted another triple-double last night and continues to have a magical season, and he should surely cost more than $10,000 by now. He doesn’t though, so he’s going to be a priority again. I really like the matchup for Jaden Ivey, as well. Tobias Harris projects well seemingly every night, but he’s more of a high-floor/low-ceiling type of play at this stage of his career. I keep waiting for the Jalen Duren breakout game, but the Pistons have been weird about his minutes of late. The punt on my radar here is Simone Fontecchio, who’s only $3,000 on DraftKings and should log around 20 minutes.

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