Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, February 13th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-02-13 23:37:20 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 Thursday!

This is the final NBA slate before the All-Star break. While I love basketball and love the NBA DFS grind, I am looking forward to a little break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, plus it will give me time to work on some house projects. Thankfully, we only have 5 games on the schedule compared to 15 yesterday.

I want to note that every team on the slate is playing on the second half of a back-to-back, so we don’t have any initial injury reports early in the day. I will go with what we currently have in the Situation Room, and then reevaluate and adjust my thoughts if needed in the News Updates section.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, February 13th

• 5-game main slate
  - 8:00 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 8:00 PM ET – Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets
  - 8:30 PM ET – Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks
  - 8:30 PM ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 9:00 PM ET – Los Angeles Clippers at Utah Jazz
• Front end of a back-to-back: None
• Back end of a back-to-back: Warriors, Rockets, Kings, Pelicans, Heat, Mavericks, Thunder, Wolves, Clippers, Jazz
• 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

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

Team Previews

Sacramento Kings (at NOP)

We kick off the pre-All-Star Break slate with the Kings, who are bottom 5 in the league in rebounding rate, points allowed per game, and defensive rating. The Kings are listed as 8-point favorites with a team total that is 5 points higher than their season average. We currently don’t have anyone on the Kings listed with an injury in the Situation Room. With everyone in the projections, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine all have positive RGValues. Surprisingly, we haven’t seen any ceiling performances from the Kings since LaVine has been part of the starting lineup.

New Orleans Pelicans (vs. SAC)

The Pelicans draw a favorable matchup at home against the Kings and come into the game with a team total that is 3 points higher than their season average. Herbert Jones and Dejounte Murray are still out, while we have Zion Williamson, Kelly Olynyk, and Brandon Boston as doubtful in the Situation Room. Trey Murphy has topped 40 fantasy points in 6 of his last 7 games and had more than 50 fantasy points in 3 of those games. Jose Alvarado had 43 fantasy points last night and is projected for 30 minutes. He’s one of the top per-dollar options on the slate. Yves Missi projects well, but he has been held under 26 fantasy points in 16 straight games.

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