Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Wednesday, April 9th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-04-09 22:01:34 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 Wednesday! I’ll be on core plays duty for the next couple of days after Noto graciously agreed to handle the upcoming weekend on my behalf. We’re in the final week of the NBA’s regular season, and there’s still a lot on the line for many of the teams in action tonight.

The sites have split things up, as usual. DraftKings is pretending the West Coast of the United States does not exist, so we’re only dealing with 6 games over there. FanDuel is rolling with a 10-gamer that includes the 4 late-night contests.

The headlining game of this slate will be the Lakers’ first trip to Dallas since the infamous trade back in February. It’s safe to say all eyes will be on this one, and with good reason. Emotions will be running high in that building, and you can bet I’ll be tuned in, too. I can’t wait to see what Markieff Morris has in store for his former team.

This docket could be a messy one, as we’ve got a whopping 10 teams playing the 2nd half of a back-to-back set. Injury reports will change the slate considerably once they drop later today. Luckily, I’ll be here throughout the afternoon to update the goings-on up until lock.

Let’s dive in.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Wednesday, April 9th

• 6-game main DK slate, 10-game main FD slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Boston Celtics at Orlando Magic
  - 7:00 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Washington Wizards
  - 7:30 PM ET – Charlotte Hornets at Toronto Raptors
  - 7:30 PM ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks
  - 8:00 PM ET – Miami Heat at Chicago Bulls
  - 9:00 PM ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz
  - 10:00 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at Golden State Warriors
  - 10:00 PM ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Phoenix Suns
  - 10:00 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at Sacramento Kings
  - 10:30 PM ET – Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Clippers
• Front end of a back-to-back: None
• Back end of a back-to-back: Hornets, Bulls, Wizards, Magic, Celtics, Lakers, Thunder, Warriors, Suns, Spurs, Clippers
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

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News Updates

I’ll provide news updates here.

Team Previews

Boston Celtics (at ORL)

The Celtics won a fun OT game in New York last night, and tonight they’re in Central Florida to face the Magic. Most of Boston’s regulars were questionable ahead of last night’s game before they wound up playing, and I’ll be quite shocked if they all suit up again tonight. Only Al Horford missed yesterday’s game. As of now, we’re listing Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis as questionable. Boston is an early 6-point underdog with a super-low 100.25 total, which suggests they won’t be at full capacity for this one.

Of course, without the news, it’s hard to know what to break down. Payton Pritchard generally sees an uptick in usage whenever some starters are missing from the lineup, while guys like Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet could be primed for enhanced roles. I’ll give expanded thoughts on the Celtics once we get their injury report.

Orlando Magic (vs. BOS)

The Magic toppled the Hawks last night by 7 points, and they’re 6-point favorites over the visiting Celtics this evening. Orlando is likely to finish as the East’s No. 7 seed, as they’re 4 games behind Detroit and 2 ahead of Atlanta with just a couple of games left on the schedule. Paolo Banchero (1.31 FP/minute) and Franz Wagner (1.22) are really the only Magic men (magicians?) on my radar tonight, though both players are priced near their respective ceilings around the industry. I don’t see much of a need to prioritize anything else on the Magic side of things on a full slate, barring some unexpected injury news.

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