Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Friday, April 24th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-04-24 17:31:57 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. So, who better to walk you through the madness of NBA DFS slates on DraftKings and FanDuel? Core Plays LIVE will zoom out on the slate as a whole, zoom in on the best plays, and constantly update as news breaks. Whether you are diving into the slate 5 hours before it starts or 5 minutes before it starts, you’ve come to the right place.

Happy Friday!

The weekend is finally here. We’ve had more upsets than expected so far in the 1st round of the playoffs. Many of the big favorites have suffered a scare or two early on, so it’ll be interesting to see how they bounce back over the next couple of games.

We have 3 games on the schedule tonight. The Celtics and Spurs are looking to steal back home-court advantage after losing their respective Game 2s at home, while the Rockets are looking to avoid going 0-3 against a Lakers team without Luka Doncic.

Cheers to the weekend. Let’s dive into the team previews.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Friday, April 24th

Slate Overview

• 3-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 8:00 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Houston Rockets
  - 10:30 pm ET – San Antonio Spurs at Portland Trail Blazers
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

News Updates

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

Team Previews

Boston Celtics (at PHI)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Celtics, who inexplicably lost Game 2 at home against the Sixers. They are still massive favorites to advance to the second round, but the series could change if Joel Embiid can return to the lineup sooner rather than later. The Celtics are 7.5-point favorites in Game 3. The matchup might be the best on the slate, as the Sixers are 19th in points allowed per game. Boston’s team total is 3 points lower than their season average.

Derrick White and Payton Pritchard have taken a backseat offensively since Jayson Tatum has returned to the lineup. Through the first 2 games of the series, White has averaged 22 fantasy points with a 16% usage rate, and Pritchard has averaged 22 fantasy points with a 17% usage rate. Both can be avoided for now. Sam Hauser offers better value on a per-dollar basis, as he’s averaged 27 minutes and 22 fantasy points in this series.

Jaylen Brown has been more volatile with Tatum in the lineup, but he has had a usage rate over 30% in each of the last 13 games. He’s firmly in play for tournaments. For cash games and small-field GPPs, I do prefer Tatum over Brown. He projects better and has scored over 50 fantasy points in 9 of the last 10 games. The Celtics have played smaller in this series, as Neemias Queta has averaged 21 minutes and Nikola Vucevic has averaged 18 minutes. They’ll become better plays when Embiid returns to the lineup for the Sixers.

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