Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, January 23rd

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-01-23 23:00:08 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!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week. I have some good news on the personal front. My sister is actually going to buy my house, which means it will save us a lot of time and effort on that front (I also won’t have to fix up the house as much). We are now officially searching for a new house. Exciting times!

For those of you who participate in PGA DFS, I hope your rare Thursday cut sweat is going well. This is the time of year when we really need to appreciate the sports in our lives. The college football season is over, and the NFL playoffs are wrapping up. You best believe I will be watching every second of the games on Sunday. Anyway, let’s talk about tonight’s NBA slate. There are 8 games on the schedule, and the sites have done us a favor by agreeing on their main slate size. They both have all 8 games; time to celebrate!

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, January 23rd

• 8-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Orlando Magic
  - 7:30 PM ET – Miami Heat at Milwaukee Bucks
  - 7:30 PM ET – Toronto Raptors at Atlanta Hawks
  - 8:00 PM ET – Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City Thunder
  - 9:00 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at Denver Nuggets
  - 10:00 PM ET – Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers
  - 10:00 PM ET – Chicago Bulls at Golden State Warriors
  - 10:30 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Los Angeles Clippers
• Front end of a back-to-back: Blazers
• Back end of a back-to-back: Hawks, Bucks, Mavericks, Thunder, Kings, Warriors, Celtics, Clippers
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our Underdog Fantasy promo code and PrizePicks promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.

News Updates

2:30 PM ET – Isaiah Joe has been ruled out for the Thunder.

Jaden Hardy, Dwight Powell, Klay Thompson, and Naji Marshall have all been ruled out for the Mavericks.

Team Previews

Portland Trail Blazers (at ORL)

We kick off the slate with the Blazers, who have one of the worst matchups on the board. The Magic play at a slow pace and are bottom 4 in points allowed per game and defensive rating. The Blazers have a team total that is 8 points below their season average. Donovan Clingan is out, while Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Anfernee Simons, and Kris Murray are all questionable. We’ll see if any of them end up being out. As it stands right now, there’s not a single player in the projections with a positive RGValue.

Orlando Magic (vs. POR)

The Magic are expected to be without Jalen Suggs, Goga Bitadze, and Moe Wagner. Franz Wagner, Gary Harris, and Jonathan Isaac are listed as questionable. This is a game where we certainly need to monitor the injury news. The Magic have a nice matchup against the Blazers and come into the game with a team total that is 5 points higher than their season average. Paolo Banchero played 31 minutes the other night (his highest since returning from injury) and put up 46 fantasy points. He has a positive RGValue even with Wagner in the projections, so he’ll become a strong play if Wagner is ruled out.

Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers

Want to read more? Sign up for Premium!