Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, April 20th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-04-20 15:29:39 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 Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather here has been so up and down. After no snow all winter, it has snowed a few times over the last couple of weeks. Luckily, we got some warm weather yesterday. We are looking to upgrade our patio and backyard space. We are putting in some pavers, installing some shades for the pergola, and building some planter boxes. There’s something about completing a project that feels so great, but we still have a lot to get done, so I’d love the good weather to stick around for a bit.

As for the NBA playoffs, we have 3 games on the schedule. The home team in each series picked up a win in Game 1, so we’ll see if any of the road teams can pull off an upset. The pricing on both sites feels soft, but that’s because we don’t have the plethora of value plays to choose from like we did in the regular season.

Let’s dive into the games!

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

Slate Overview

• 3-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers
  - 8:00 pm ET – Atlanta Hawks at New York Knicks
  - 10:30 pm ET – Minnesota Timberwolves 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

Toronto Raptors (at CLE)

We kick off tonight’s 3-game slate with the Raptors, who were blown out in their Game 1 matchup against the Cavaliers. While Cleveland has been solid at home this season, Toronto is a capable team on the road. I expect a better performance out of them. For DFS, this is a mediocre matchup on paper, as the Cavaliers are 13th in pace and 15th in points allowed per game. Toronto’s team total is 7 points lower than their season average. Immanuel Quickley is questionable, so we’ll have to keep an eye on his availability.

With Quickley out in Game 1, Jamal Shead drew the start and scored 23 fantasy points in 28 minutes of action. Ja’Kobe Walter also played 28 minutes in Game 1. Both players will provide solid value if Quickley is out again. If Quickley is active, I’ll take a wait-and-see approach with him. He’s dealing with a hamstring injury, which can be tricky.

Scottie Barnes has had a lot of bad outings recently, but he has also topped 55 fantasy points in 3 of his last 10 games. He’s an interesting large-field tournament target. Brandon Ingram never seems to garner much ownership, and he’s been more consistent than Barnes. I’m prioritizing Ingram over Barnes in all formats. RJ Barrett is the cheapest of the three and has topped 30 fantasy points in 9 of the last 10 games. He’s a strong cash game target.

Jakob Poeltl only played 21 minutes in Game 1, but he sat out the whole 4th quarter. The game log is ugly, but he’s priced all the way down to $4,800 on DraftKings and could see 26-28 minutes. Collin Murray-Boyles and Sandro Mamukelashvili both played 20 minutes in Game 1, but the latter saw 9 of his minutes late when the game was already out of hand. If I’m ranking bigs for Toronto, I would put them in the following order: Poeltl, CMB, and then Mamu.

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