Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Friday, March 20th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-03-20 17:53:27 Premium Content Part of the product NBA DFS

A daily fantasy sports OG, Notorious has been rotaming 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!

We have officially made it to the weekend. Much thanks to Taylor Smith for covering the Core Plays yesterday. I took a day off, went golfing, and got some errands done. It was nice to get away from the grind for a day. Maybe I understand the resting for injury maintenance after all, because I’m rested and ready to get after tonight’s NBA slate.

There are only 6 games on the schedule tonight. They are all included on the FanDuel main slate, while the final game isn’t included on the DraftKings main slate. I’ll be on Crunch Time tonight with Kirkwood to give our final thoughts on the slate and answer any questions. With the later lock time, we are starting at 6:45 PM ET.

Cheers to the weekend. Anyone else going to see Project Hail Mary?

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Friday, March 20th

Slate Overview

• Slate size: – FanDuel: 6 games, DraftKings: 5 games
  - 7:30 pm ET – Golden State Warriors at Detroit Pistons
  - 7:30 pm ET – New York Knicks at Brooklyn Nets
  - 8:00 pm ET – Atlanta Hawks at Houston Rockets
  - 8:00 pm ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 8:00 pm ET – Boston Celtics at Memphis Grizzlies
  - 9:00 pm ET – Toronto Raptors at Denver Nuggets
• 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

Golden State Warriors (at DET)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Warriors, who face a Pistons team that ranks 4th in points allowed per game. Detroit plays at a middling pace (19th) and has been stingy on defense all season. The Warriors are only 6-point underdogs, but their team total is 10 points lower than their season average. Jimmy Butler, Seth Curry, Steph Curry, Al Horford, and Moses Moody are out, while Quinten Post is questionable.

Even though the Warriors are still without some of their best players, there’s been plenty of time for the sites to adjust the salaries of the rest of the roster. To roster the Warriors, we have to make an active choice to pay a premium for them in one of the worst possible matchups. There’s not a single player with a positive RGValue in LineupHQ, which usually isn’t a great sign. Post has the best RGValue, and we don’t even know if he’s going to suit up. We’ve seen some ceiling performances from De’Anthony Melton and Kristaps Porzingis recently, but there are better plays at their respective positions.

Detroit Pistons (vs. GSW)

The Pistons host the Warriors in what projects to be a low-scoring affair, with Detroit’s team total sitting at 117 points, which is 6 points lower than their season average. Golden State is right around the league average in both pace and points allowed per game. This is a back-to-back for Detroit, which is why we don’t have their injury report yet. However, we know that they’ll be without Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart.

Let’s see who benefits the most with Cunningham and Stewart off the floor:

Daniss Jenkins should draw another start at point guard. While he wasn’t super efficient last night, he logged 33 minutes. He has averaged close to a fantasy point per minute this season, so I like his chances of bouncing back. Jalen Duren has seen a healthy usage and FP/min. boosts with Cunningham off the floor and has topped 50 fantasy points in 2 of the last 4 games. Caris LeVert scored 32 fantasy points last night and also has seen a major usage and FP/min. boosts with Cunningham out. He’s not expected to play much more than 20 minutes, but he’s a decent value. For the rest of the Pistons, let’s see if anyone else is added to their injury report.

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