Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Tuesday, October 22nd
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. Noto’s 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.
It’s hard to believe, but the NBA is back in our lives! This might be the best two-week stretch of the year for sports fans — the NFL is in full swing, the World Series is about to get underway, the NHL season has started, there are still PGA TOUR events, and now basketball is back. Life is good for those of us who enjoy a sweat.
While I love providing content for several sports, I never feel fully prepared for a new season. In other words, if you feel overwhelmed with opening night already upon us, don’t worry…I do too. We are in this together. Luckily, we start with a very friendly 2-game slate on Tuesday night. Not only is the slate friendly, but we should have two excellent games between the Knicks & Celtics and the Wolves & Lakers.
In these first few Core Plays articles, I will focus a lot of my attention on getting readers familiar with the rosters, the expected rotations, and how good we can expect each team to be. We have the best NBA projections team in the business, so I will go over the top projected plays and any interesting pivots that I have my eye on. As we get into the meat of the season, I’ll do my best to keep the lovely readers of this article entertained with personal anecdotes and funny stories from around the league.
You ready? I’m ready. Let’s dive into the first NBA DFS slate of the season.
NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Tuesday, October 22nd
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 7:30 PM ET – New York Knicks at Boston Celtics
- 10:00 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers - 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 PrizePicks promo code and Underdog Fantasy promo code, two of the best DFS sites available today.
News Updates
This section will be updated as injury news is released throughout the day.
Team Previews
New York Knicks (at BOS)
The Knicks beat the Sixers in the first round of the playoffs last season and then lost in 7 games to the Pacers. They are a team that has overperformed the last couple of years, but expectations are extremely high in New York after the team traded for Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks also brought in Mikal Bridges. I still worry about their depth over the course of 82 games, but that won’t be an issue on opening night. The Knicks enter the season with a win total of 54.5, which is one of the highest in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks open their season as 5.5-point underdogs against the defending champion Celtics. This is one of the worst matchups on paper, but perhaps Boston will come out a little sluggish after their ring ceremony. The Knicks do have a healthy team total of 109 points.
On a per-dollar basis, the Knicks actually project extremely well. We know Tom Thibodeau doesn’t mind a tight rotation, and we currently have all five starters projected to play at least 35 minutes. Jalen Brunson had mixed results against the Celtics last season but did score 49 and 53 fantasy points in their two most recent meetings. Josh Hart was one of the best in the league at filling up the stat sheet last season and could be a monster on the glass with Julius Randle no longer in the picture. He could push for 40 minutes and is cheap on all sites. I have the least amount of interest in Bridges, but the field seems to agree with me. He’s currently projecting for sub-10% ownership, so perhaps he’s worth a look in tournaments.
OG Anunoby averaged over a fantasy point per minute in the preseason and is sitting at an appealing price point. Karl-Anthony Towns projects as the top RGValue on the slate and should be a focal point of the offense. He averaged 1.56 DK / 1.56 FD fantasy points per minute in the preseason. Wowza! Miles McBride is the only bench player that I expect to have a big role in the opener. He’s only $3,600 on DraftKings and could push for 25 minutes. If you are MME’ing the slate (I am not), Jericho Sims could see more run if KAT decides to get himself into foul trouble, which is an all too common occurrence.
Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers
Want to read more? Sign up for Premium!
