Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, November 3rd

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-11-03 23:26:31 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. On weekends, Taylor Smith takes the reins. So, who better to walk you through the madness of an NBA DFS slate? 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! We’ve got sizable slates on both sites tonight, and DraftKings has decided once again to nix the West Coast games. We’re looking at 7 games over there, while FanDuel has the full 9 games, including LAL/POR and MIA/LAC. This slate has no shortage of star power, and we’re also lacking palatable cheap value. This slate also seems to feature quite a few games with wide spreads, which brings blowout potential into play.

As usual, I’ll be here throughout the day to break it all down. Let’s go!

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, November 3rd

Slate Overview

• 9-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Milwaukee Bucks at Indiana Pacers
  - 7:00 pm ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Brooklyn Nets
  - 7:30 pm ET – Washington Wizards at New York Knicks
  - 7:30 pm ET – Utah Jazz at Boston Celtics
  - 8:00 pm ET – Detroit Pistons at Memphis Grizzlies
  - 8:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Houston Rockets
  - 9:00 pm ET – Sacramento Kings at Denver Nuggets
  - 10:00 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers
  - 10:30 pm ET – Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

News Updates

Here’s where I’ll provide news updates.

Team Previews

Milwaukee Bucks (at IND)

The Bucks are off to a solid 4-2 start as they head to Indiana for a rivalry matchup against the hated Pacers. This will be the first game back in Indy for Myles Turner since his surprising defection over the summer. Milwaukee is still down Kevin Porter Jr. for the next several weeks, which should keep Ryan Rollins in the starting unit. The Bucks are 4.5-point favorites over their injury-plagued foes tonight on the road.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is off to a torrid start. The Greek Freak leads the Bucks in usage (41.7%) with a robust 2.2 DK FP/minute average. We’ve seen quite a few stars get off to blazing starts, and Giannis always seems to get up to face the Pacers. This version of Indiana is particularly thin in the frontcourt, so this is a potential nuke spot for Antetokounmpo. This slate isn’t currently rife with much obvious cheap value, and we’ll see if that potentially keeps Giannis’ ownership in check. I don’t see anything not to like about this spot for him.

Rollins (1.2 FP/minute) has really stepped it up in this bigger role, and he continues to look underpriced at just $5,800 on DraftKings. Indiana’s best wing defender – Andrew Nembhard – is still out, so I’m not concerned about the matchup. Turner (1.03 FP/minute) hasn’t shown much of a ceiling yet for his new team, but he’s reasonably priced in the mid-$5,000s on both sites as a result. I don’t think this is a bad spot to roll the dice, even if he doesn’t project too well. Milwaukee is otherwise deep on playable wings and guards, so nobody else here is really on my radar.

Indiana Pacers (vs. MIL)

Injuries have really derailed the Pacers’ Eastern Conference title defense, yet they did manage to pick up their first win of the season in their last outing over the Warriors. Indy is still down Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, TJ McConnell, Obi Toppin, and, of course, Tyrese Haliburton, while RayJ Dennis is questionable tonight with a sore back. The Pacers are only 4.5-point underdogs here with a 115.5 implied team total.

Quenton Jackson joined the starting lineup a couple of games ago after dealing with an injury early in the season. He wound up having the best game of his career in that win over Golden State, and the Pacers need all the help they can get in the backcourt right now. I’m certainly not expecting Jackson to transform into Luka Doncic again tonight, but he’s still only $4,700 on DK and $5,000 on FD and likely ticketed for a big role again tonight. Feels a bit chasey, but he still projects as one of the better cheap plays out there. Pascal Siakam has predictably taken on massive usage without Haliburton, Mathurin, and others in the mix. $9,500 on both sites is a full price tag, but I do think there’s upside worth chasing if you land there.

Jarace Walker struggled in the last game after getting banged up, yet he’s not on the injury report for this one. He’s still in the player pool thanks to his sub-$6,000 salaries and starting role amid these injuries. The Pacers otherwise have enough healthy bodies to compile a pretty full rotation. If Dennis is out, maybe guys like Ben Sheppard and/or Johnny Furphy fall into a few extra minutes, but I don’t think we need to fall into those traps.

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