Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, March 16th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-03-16 20:51:53 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.

We’re entering a pretty fun stretch of the sports calendar. In addition to NBA action all day today, March Madness gets underway this coming week, while the baseball season starts the week after that. I think the first Thursday/Friday of the NCAA Tournament should be American holidays – much like the day after the Super Bowl – but life ain’t fair and the world is mean.

Then in April, we’ve got The Masters and the NBA/NHL playoffs. Good times, good times, indeed.

There is an early NBA slate on the schedule for today if you’d like to play it, but we’re here to discuss the main slates starting at 6 PM ET. FanDuel is rolling with a 4-gamer, while DraftKings’ is a 5-game slate that includes the CHA/LAC clash. This is a makeup game that was originally scheduled for January when the fires were ravaging through this area. Apparently, FanDuel is above makeup games.

Let’s dive in.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, March 16th

• 5-game DK main slate, 4-game FD main slate
  - 6:00 PM ET – Atlanta Hawks at Brooklyn Nets
  - 6:00 PM ET – Toronto Raptors at Portland Trail Blazers
  - 7:00 PM ET – Utah Jazz at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 7:00 PM ET – Charlotte Hornets at LA Clippers
  - 9:00 PM ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Milwaukee Bucks
• Front end of a back-to-back: Timberwolves, Jazz, Raptors, Trail Blazers, 76ers, Suns, Lakers
• Back end of a back-to-back: Thunder, Bucks, Nets
• 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 provide news updates.

Team Previews

Atlanta Hawks (at BKN)

It feels like the Hawks are a team going nowhere fast, but they’re actually 7th in the East with an outside chance to crack the top-6 and avoid the play-in tournament. Tonight, they’re 5.5-point favorites in Brooklyn against a Nets team that lost a tight one to Boston yesterday afternoon. Jalen Johnson, Clint Capela, and Larry Nance Jr. remain out, while Caris LeVert and Keaton Wallace are questionable. Nobody on the Atlanta side really projects well, though guys like Zaccharie Risacher, Terance Mann, and Georges Niang could fall into a few extra minutes if LeVert doesn’t play. If he does play, these secondary Hawks are really little more than low-owned differentiator plays in GPPs.

Trae Young (31.3% usage, 1.29 FP/minute) has generally been in stellar form of late, and he’s a better value on FD ($9,600) than he is on DK ($10,000). Still a good tournament play, as always. Dyson Daniels and Onyeka Okongwu both offer upside in the $7,000 range as well. Okongwu’s minutes are generally safer with Capela out, so he’s a strong play.

Brooklyn Nets (vs. ATL)

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