Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, April 3rd

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-04-03 22:10:55 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 Thursday!

We are inching closer to the weekend. We have 6 games on the schedule tonight, which is a nice break from the larger slates we’ve had earlier in the week. And we have reason to celebrate, as both FanDuel and DraftKings have all 6 games included on their main slate.

With baseball season in full swing and the Masters next week, there’s no better time to sign up for premium access to all of the sports.

Let’s dive into the slate!

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, April 3rd

• 6-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Orlando Magic at Washington Wizards
  - 7:00 PM ET – Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 7:30 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Brooklyn Nets
  - 7:30 PM ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Miami Heat
  - 7:30 PM ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Toronto Raptors
  - 10:00 PM ET – Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers
• Front end of a back-to-back: Blazers, Raptors, Warriors, Lakers
• Back end of a back-to-back: Wizards
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

News Updates

This section will be updated as injury news is released throughout the day.

Team Previews

Orlando Magic (at WAS)

We start tonight’s slate with the Magic, who draw the best possible matchup for fantasy production. They come into this game as 14-point favorites and have a team total that is 10 points higher than their season average. Jalen Suggs and Moe Wagner are still out.

As has been the case every slate the last few weeks, the two most intriguing plays from the Magic are Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Both have positive RGValues and are solid spends given their matchup against the Wizards. Wendell Carter is never a fun click, but he’s cheap and should push for minutes in the high 20s.

Washington Wizards (vs. ORL)

The Wizards are coming off a win last night, so they are no longer tied with the Jazz for the worst record in basketball. The tank is still on, but it was surprising to see them pick up a win. They have a brutal matchup tonight against the Magic and come into the game with a team total that is 8 points lower than their season average. We don’t have their initial injury report yet, but we can expect them to be without most of their key players.

Let’s take a wait-and-see approach with the Wizards for now. The matchup is brutal, and their motivation is in question, so it would take a lot of players getting ruled out for me to have interest in them for DFS.

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