Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, February 23rd

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-02-23 21:45:48 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 Sunday! I hope you’re having a fine morning. It’s a pretty fun time on the sports calendar, as we’ve got the NBA and NHL in full swing, while the MLB regular season is only about a month away. Golf – another sport that exists – is also probably going on.

We’re looking at different slates on DraftKings and FanDuel on this fine Sunday. Both slates feature the first 6 games tipping off at 6 PM ET or later, while DK decided to tack on the OKC-MIN clash at 9:30, which is 2.5 hours after every other game on the board starts. That’s a very un-DK move, but I prefer it to the alternative of hacking the late games off the slate. Am I out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.

Anyway, let’s dive in. I’ll be on Crunch Time tonight once again starting around 5 PM ET.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, February 23rd

• 7-game DK main slate, 6-game FD main slate
  - 6:00 PM ET – Phoenix Suns at Toronto Raptors
  - 6:00 PM ET – Detroit Pistons at Atlanta Hawks
  - 6:00 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Orlando Magic
  - 6:00 PM ET – Miami Heat at Milwaukee Bucks
  - 7:00 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 7:00 PM ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Cleveland Cavaliers
  - 9:30 PM ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Minnesota Timberwolves
• Front end of a back-to-back: Pistons, Hawks, Wizards, Heat, Thunder, T-Wolves
• Back end of a back-to-back: Suns
• 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 leading up to Crunch Time.

Team Previews

Phoenix Suns (at TOR)

Let’s tip things off with the Suns, who lost a matinee affair in Chicago yesterday ahead of tonight’s trip to Toronto. Phoenix is only a 1.5-point favorite, as their season starts to circle the drain. We saw them put Bradley Beal back into the starting unit yesterday in place of Tyus Jones, as Mike Budenholzer continues to shuffle the Titanic’s deck chairs. Beal’s doubtful to play tonight with a toe injury, however, which should get Jones back in with the starters. Kevin Durant (+1.5%) and Devin Booker (+1.1%) have seen small usage boosts without Beal, and both make for decent individual pay-up options in what should be a competitive game. Jones, Royce O’Neale, and Grayson Allen should all play solid minutes with Beal missing, with Allen looking particularly useful on FD at a cheap $4,700 salary.

Toronto Raptors (vs. PHO)

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