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

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-03-13 22:00:55 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!

It’s also Happy PLAYERS Championship Day for those who celebrate. This is one of the most tilting and difficult tournaments of the year to predict, but it’s sure fun to watch and sweat. I actually got to play TPC Sawgrass with Stevietpfl and Dan Back several years ago. It wasn’t our best day of golf, but it was a great memory. It took us each 3 tries to hit the island green on the par-3 17th hole.

Now, I know you aren’t here to read about this week’s golf tournament. We have 5 NBA games on the schedule tonight. The slate starts at 7:00 PM ET, and all 5 games are included on the main slates for both FanDuel and DraftKings. I will be hopping on Crunch Time at 6:00 PM ET with two of my favorites—Dean and Will. Make sure to tune in to get our final thoughts on the slate. I’ll post the link to the show in the News Updates section.

Let’s dive into tonight’s slate.

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

• 5-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Washington Wizards at Detroit Pistons
  - 7:30 PM ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Milwaukee Bucks
  - 8:00 PM ET – Brooklyn Nets at Chicago Bulls
  - 8:00 PM ET – Orlando Magic at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 10:00 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors
• Front end of a back-to-back: Lakers, Magic, Kings
• Back end of a back-to-back: None
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• 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

1:10 PM ET

Yves Missi has been ruled out. Karlo Matkovic will likely draw the start. If so, he will become a strong value play.

Team Previews

Washington Wizards (at DET)

We kick off the slate with the Wizards, who have struggled all season. They travel to Detroit to take on the Pistons, who are close to the league average in pace, points allowed per game, and defensive rating. They come into the game with a team total that is 2 points higher than their season average. Malcolm Brogdon, Saddiq Bey, and Bilal Coulibaly are all out.

Here’s the problem—the Wizards are extremely tough to predict and are 14.5-point underdogs on the road. I know this is a short slate, but I don’t view anyone as a priority. There’s not a single player on the roster with an RGValue better than -3 or with an Opto % higher than 10% in LineupHQ.

Detroit Pistons (vs. WAS)

The Pistons draw the best matchup on the slate. The Wizards are 4th in pace and bottom 3 in points allowed per game, rebounding rate, and defensive rating. The Pistons are large favorites here and have a team total that is 10 points higher than their season average. Jaden Ivey is still out.

Cade Cunningham is one of the top spends on the slate. He sees a usage boost with Ivey out and has averaged over 50 fantasy points per game on the season. Jalen Duren has had a high floor all season and has topped 40 fantasy points in 3 of his last 6 games. He’s still too cheap on DraftKings ($6,900). While Cunningham and Duren are the obvious targets here, I don’t mind looking to Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, Dennis Schroder, and Isaiah Stewart (DK specifically) as lineup fillers.

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