Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, May 1st

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-05-01 16:30:46 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!

Whether it was the conspiracy theorist in me or my blind trust in LeBron James and Luka Doncic, I did not think the Lakers would lose their elimination game at home last night. The Wolves were dominant defensively and got a huge game from Rudy Gobert. At least there are a few Mavericks fans out there smiling. The Wolves now await the winner of the HOU/GSW series. Houston was able to pick up an easy win at home to force a Game 6 in that series.

The Knicks had a chance to close out their series against the Pistons on Tuesday but couldn’t finish the job at home. They now travel back to Detroit for tonight’s Game 6. If you aren’t a fan of either team, you are like me and rooting for a winner-take-all Game 7. The Nuggets held serve by winning Game 5 at home and now have two chances to close out the Clippers in that series. Again, with no allegiance to these teams, I’m cheering for the home teams to force a couple of Game 7s.

Let’s dive into the team previews!

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, May 1st

• 2-game main slate
  - 7:30 PM ET – New York Knicks at Detroit Pistons
  - 10:00 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Clippers
• 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

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

Team Previews

New York Knicks (at DET)

The Knicks were able to pick up two wins in Detroit in Games 3 and 4, so they should have plenty of confidence heading into tonight’s game. Outside of Games 1 and 3, this has been a fairly low-scoring series. The Knicks come into tonight’s game as 1.5-point underdogs and have a team total that is 10 points lower than their season average. Everyone will be available tonight for New York.

Jalen Brunson loves the playoffs. Through the first 5 games of this series, he has averaged 49 fantasy points with a usage rate of 32%. He’s coming off his worst game of the series, so I’m hoping he’ll fly under the radar a bit tonight. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are two of the best lineup fillers on the slate. They should both push for 40 minutes and have each averaged 30 fantasy points per game in this series.

After a quiet start to the series, Josh Hart has scored 40, 44, and 39 fantasy points over the last 3 games. He’s always capable of grabbing 10+ rebounds and has dished out at least 5 assists in every game in the series. His ability to fill up the stat sheet gives him a high floor for both cash games and tournaments. Karl-Anthony Towns has been the most volatile starter for the Knicks in this series. His usage rate, minutes, and shot volume have all been a roller coaster. However, he stands out given his season-long FP/min rates and his minute projection for tonight’s game.

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