Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, January 25th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-01-25 22:54:06 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! We don’t have a whole lot of time for shenanigans today, as the NBA decided that 28 of its 30 teams should play today. Fortunately, the games are scattered throughout the day, starting with the Spurs taking on the Pacers in Paris for the 2nd time in as many days this morning.

We are still looking at hefty main slates, with 9 games on DraftKings and 8 on FanDuel. The only difference is that FanDuel excluded the WAS-PHX clash tipping off at 9 PM ET for some reason. There’s also a MIL-LAC game starting at 10:30 PM ET if you want to get into the Showdown streets, but it’s not on either site’s main slate.

As always, I’m here to keep you apprised of the goings-on throughout the afternoon. I’ll also be on Crunch Time with TJ and Tim in the hour leading up to lock, which strikes today at the usual 7 PM ET. Let’s get into it.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, January 25th

• 9-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Detroit Pistons at Orlando Magic
  - 7:00 PM ET – New Orleans Pelicans at Charlotte Hornets
  - 7:30 PM ET – Toronto Raptors at Atlanta Hawks
  - 7:30 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at New York Knicks
  - 7:30 PM ET – Houston Rockets at Cleveland Cavaliers
  - 8:00 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Chicago Bulls
  - 8:00 PM ET – Utah Jazz at Memphis Grizzlies
  - 8:30 PM ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors
  - 9:00 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Phoenix Suns
• Front end of a back-to-back: None
• Back end of a back-to-back: Pelicans, Hornets, Cavaliers, 76ers, Grizzlies
• 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 and such.

Team Previews

Detroit Pistons (at ORL)

Let’s get this party started with the much-improved Detroit Pistons, who are 23-21 and would be the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs if they started today. That’s no small feat considering this team won just 14 games all of last season. Jaden Ivey will be the only player missing from the lineup tonight in Orlando, where the Pistons are listed as 2.5-point underdogs in a game with a very low 209.5 total. We can afford to be picky on such a large slate, and not a whole lot stands out here with Orlando being one of the better defensive teams in the league. The great Cade Cunningham can always make a GPP player pool, while Jalen Duren ($5,700) and Malik Beasley ($4,800) are passable secondary value options on DraftKings. All things considered, Detroit is one of the least appealing teams on the board.

Orlando Magic (vs. DET)

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