Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Friday, May 8th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-05-08 21:43:11 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!

We have officially arrived at the weekend. I don’t know about you, but this week has flown by. We are finally getting some warm weather here in Utah, so I am loving life.

We have 2 games on the schedule this evening. The Sixers are looking to climb their way back into the series after losing the first 2 games in New York, while the Spurs are looking to reclaim home-court advantage with a win tonight in Minnesota. Both games feature low spreads, so we shouldn’t have to worry about any blowouts.

Cheers to the weekend. Let’s dive into this 2-gamer.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Friday, May 8th

Slate Overview

• 2-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – New York Knicks at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 9:30 pm ET – San Antonio Spurs at Minnesota Timberwolves
• 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

New York Knicks (at PHI)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Knicks, who are 6-0 at home and 0-3 on the road in the playoffs. It’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues, as they are only 1.5-point underdogs in Game 3. The Sixers have been a solid matchup for fantasy production, ranking 15th in pace and 19th in points allowed per game. New York’s team total sits at only 106 points, which is tied for the lowest on the slate. OG Anunoby and Josh Hart are both questionable.

Jalen Brunson has played more minutes and has had a higher usage rate than Karl-Anthony Towns in the playoffs, but the latter continues to be more productive in DFS. In those 7 games, Brunson has topped 50 fantasy points once, while KAT has topped 50 fantasy points four times. Perhaps the answer is to target both rather than choosing between them. After a terrible stretch of basketball, Mikal Bridges seems to be back. He has topped 30 fantasy points in each of the last 3 games.

We obviously have to keep a close eye on the availability of Anunoby and Hart. If active, they are both viable in tournaments, especially if their questionable tags are going to lead to lower ownership. The Knicks don’t have a deep bench, so Miles McBride would have a clear path to 30+ minutes if one of the two ends up being out. Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado could also see an uptick in minutes in that scenario. Mitchell Robinson was a late scratch in Game 2, but it sounds like he’ll be back in the rotation. Once again, he is an interesting leverage play off KAT in large-field tournaments.

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