Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, February 22nd

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-02-22 23:40:22 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 Saturday! This is my first time back in the Core Plays chair in a couple of weeks thanks to the All-Star break, but I’m excited to be back. We went up to Seattle over the break for the weekend and, lemme tell ya, the people up there know their way around fish. The hockey arena even smells like fried fish, which gets a little nauseating after approximately 5 minutes of sitting around in it.

Anyway, we’ve got a wee little 4-game NBA slate on tap for Saturday night. The festivities tip off a bit later than usual at 7:30 PM ET, and the last game won’t tip until 10. I’ll be on Crunch Time at 6:45 leading up to lock, so tune in for any last-minute questions. Or if you want to ask me something about fish, that’s fine too.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, February 22nd

• 4-game main slate
  - 7:30 PM ET – Brooklyn Nets at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 8:30 PM ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets
  - 9:30 PM ET – Houston Rockets at Utah Jazz
  - 10:00 PM ET – Charlotte Hornets at Portland Trail Blazers
• Front end of a back-to-back: Nobody
• Back end of a back-to-back: Rockets, Jazz
• 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

Here’s where I’ll provide news updates.

Team Previews

Brooklyn Nets (at PHI)

We’ll kick things off with the Nets, who are 11-point underdogs in Philadelphia despite the fact that the Sixers are terrible. Brooklyn is still without Cam Thomas, Noah Clowney, and De’Anthony Melton, while D’Angelo Russell will also sit tonight with a sore ankle. The Nets are rarely a team that stands out from a DFS standpoint, but there’s some value here on a small slate. Cameron Johnson should generate the lion’s share of the usage without Russell, though the Nets are still typically capping him around 30 minutes. $5,700 on DK is pretty cheap, while $6,600 on FD is a tougher sell. We’re projecting Pistons legend Killian Hayes to start next to Keon Johnson in the backcourt after Hayes logged about 21 minutes in his team debut the other night. He’s historically a middling per-minute producer, so if he’s popular at his punt salaries, Hayes is someone I’d consider fading. I have more interest in Keon, who’s flashed an occasional ceiling.

Trendon Watford is a strong per-minute producer (0.98) who’s topped 20 minutes in each of the last 4 games. Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe both project decently as individual values on DraftKings, while Sharpe stands out a bit more on FD where he’s significantly cheaper than Claxton. I certainly will make a rule to get a maximum of 1 of the centers in the same lineup on DK, while Sharpe is merely a tournament dart throw on FanDuel where you can only roster one C.

Philadelphia 76ers (vs. BKN)

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