Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, January 18th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-01-18 23:36:23 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.

Happy Saturday! Happy early birthday to Noto, who wrote in here yesterday that he’ll be turning 38 on Sunday. I turned 38 earlier this week, which makes us the same age as NBA luminaries like Kyle Lowry, Garrett Temple, and Al Horford. It’s kinda funny how we think of those guys as being olds when they’re not, in fact, old. I don’t feel old, at least, though the grey hairs in my beard are getting bolder in their gradual takeover of my face by the day.

Anyway, we’re looking at a fairly small 5-game NBA slate on DraftKings and FanDuel this evening. The festivities tip off at 7 PM ET with a couple of games, while we’ll close things out with the late-night Rockets-Blazers clash in Portland at 10 PM ET.

Let’s get right into it, shall we?

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, January 18th

• 5-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics
  - 7:00 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Indiana Pacers
  - 8:30 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Golden State Warriors
  - 9:00 PM ET – Cleveland Cavaliers at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 10:00 PM ET – Houston Rockets at Portland Trail Blazers
• Front end of a back-to-back: Sixers, Wizards, Trail Blazers
• Back end of a back-to-back: Celtics, T-Wolves
• 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 is where I’ll provide news updates.

Team Previews

Atlanta Hawks (at BOS)

The Hawks managed to topple the Bulls the other night despite playing without several rotation pieces. Tonight, they’re 10.5-point ‘dogs in Boston as we await further injury updates. Trae Young and De’Andre Hunter are expected to return. Jalen Johnson is questionable, while Zaccharie Risacher and Larry Nance Jr. remain sidelined. The matchup against the Celtics isn’t ideal, and there isn’t a single Hawk currently projected as a positive RGValue on DraftKings or FanDuel. Young, Hunter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic would see nice usage boosts if Johnson is still out, while we’re expecting Vit Krejci to continue to start in place of Risacher. Hunter and David Roddy would be candidates to start if Johnson remains sidelined. Johnson has missed a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, so he’d likely be on some sort of minutes restriction if he did play. Onyeka Okongwu and Clint Capela project as the most appealing options from the Atlanta side, though both are only projected for 23 minutes in this one. Okongwu is cheaper on DraftKings ($4,800), though his PF eligibility on FanDuel where he’s $5,800 could come in handy.

Boston Celtics (vs. ATL)

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