Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, March 8th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-03-08 23:19:20 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’re looking at 7-game main slates on both DraftKings and FanDuel tonight. This week has been a wild one, as several tanking teams are already jockeying for lottery balls with a month left to play in the season. Last night’s slate was particularly ridiculous, as scores of around 400 on DraftKings were good for something close to a min-cash depending on the contest you played. Fun!

We’ll see what tonight has in store. We’re unfortunately saddled with another slate featuring the tanking Raptors, who happen to be facing the tanking Wizards. Those are really the only embarrassing teams on the docket, so maybe things will be a little quieter on the injury/resting front.

Without further ado, let’s get going.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, March 8th

• 7-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – New Orleans Pelicans at Houston Rockets
  - 7:30 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Toronto Raptors
  - 7:30 PM ET – Indiana Pacers at Atlanta Hawks
  - 8:00 PM ET – Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat
  - 8:00 PM ET – Orlando Magic at Milwaukee Bucks
  - 8:30 PM ET – Detroit Pistons at Golden State Warriors
  - 8:30 PM ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Celtics
• Front end of a back-to-back: Hornets, Pelicans, Bucks, Pistons
• Back end of a back-to-back: Raptors, Heat
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

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News Updates

Here’s where I’ll be updating for news leading up to lock.

Team Previews

New Orleans Pelicans (at HOU)

The Pelicans dropped their last game at home to the Rockets on Thursday night, and these teams will tangle again tonight, this time in H-Town. New Orleans is an 8-point underdog in the rematch with a host of injuries, as Bruce Brown, Brandon Boston Jr., Herb Jones, and Dejounte Murray are all out, while Jose Alvarado is available despite a sore hip. The matchup stinks given Houston’s defensive prowess, and nobody on the NOLA side projects as a positive RG Value on DraftKings or FanDuel. Zion Williamson is finally playing north of 30 minutes in competitive games, while Trey Murphy often pushes for 40 minutes in similar situations.

Houston Rockets (vs. NOP)

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