Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, December 20th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-12-20 22:39:28 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, international pop icon Taylor Smith takes over. 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.

On Black Friday, I went on a bit of an Amazon binge, and one of the things I rashly purchased was an oil diffuser, which is basically a little humidifier that’s supposed to keep the air fresh. It works pretty well, and it came with a bunch of little oil thimbles with different scents. Today I decided to give the lemon scent a try, because who doesn’t like lemon? Well, as it turns out, the “lemon” scent sure smells awfully similar to your run-of-the-mill insect repellent, so now it just reeks of bug spray in here. Lovely!

The NBA is running a pretty full schedule tonight. We’re looking at a 6-game main slate on DraftKings, while FanDuel is including the 3 later games to make it a 9-gamer. That includes a couple of attractive game environments (ORL/UTA, POR/SAC), so it looks like a fun FD docket.

I should also note I’ll be on Crunch Time at 6 PM ET in the hour leading up to lock if you have any last-minute questions. Off we go!

Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our Underdog promo code and PrizePicks promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.

NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, December 20th

Slate Overview

• Slate size – DraftKings: 6 games, FanDuel: 9 games
  - 7:00 pm ET – Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors
  - 7:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 7:00 pm ET – Indiana Pacers at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 7:30 pm ET – Charlotte Hornets at Detroit Pistons
  - 8:00 pm ET – Washington Wizards at Memphis Grizzlies
  - 8:30 pm ET – Phoenix Suns at Golden State Warriors
  - 9:30 pm ET – Orlando Magic at Utah Jazz
  - 10:00 pm ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Sacramento Kings
  - 10:30 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers 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

Boston Celtics (at TOR)

The Celtics won a high-scoring affair at home over the Heat yesterday, and today they’ll head north of the border to face the Raptors in Toronto. We don’t currently have anyone expected to miss this game for Boston, and they’re slight 1.5-point favorites over a Raptors team that’s really fallen off after a hot start.

Jaylen Brown is taking on monster usage this season (36.5%) with Jayson Tatum sidelined. His ceiling has been consistent as a result, though we’re getting no discount here anymore. He’s naturally easier to prioritize on the smaller DK slate. Derrick White (1.11 FP/minute) is suddenly showing a ceiling of his own after struggling offensively to begin the season, while Payton Pritchard (0.94) has the lower floor. We’re generally not getting a ton of upside from all 3 main Boston pieces in the same game, so I typically employ a max-2 rule with Brown/White/Pritchard. Anfernee Simons is cheap, but his minutes are quite inconsistent.

Jordan Walsh and Neemias Queta have played their way into solid starting roles, though Walsh has lost some minutes to Josh Minott and/or Hugo Gonzalez over the past couple of games. Queta, as usual, will crack my player pool in the mid-$5,000s, though he’s hardly my favorite way to fill a center spot.

Toronto Raptors (vs. BOS)

The Raptors are still 17-11 to begin the season, and they’ve won 2 in a row on the heels of a 4-game losing streak. They’re slight home ‘dogs to a visiting Celtics team on the second half of a back-to-back, though, so oddsmakers still aren’t yet buying what Toronto is selling. RJ Barrett is still sidelined, while Jakob Poeltl is questionable after missing Thursday’s game with his nagging back injury.

Ochai Agbaji has seemingly supplanted JaKobe Walter as the fill-in starter for Barrett, but he’s a low-usage, low-FPPM player nevertheless. The usage without RJ is largely concentrated between Brandon Ingram (30.7%), Scottie Barnes (26.2%), and Immanuel Quickley (22.5%). Ingram and Barnes have been quite steady, while Quickley’s been more volatile. As is the case with the main Celtics, I don’t mind a max-2 building rule here. I’d even consider a max-1 of Barnes/Ingram/Quickley on the larger FD slate. I think the matchup sets up the best for Ingram.

I don’t have much interest in Poeltl if he plays, though we’re likely looking at another Sandro Mamukelashvili start if he doesn’t. Sandro logged a season-high 36 minutes in Thursday’s start, and he’s been very productive with his new team (1.01 FP/minute).

Dallas Mavericks (at PHI)

Want to read more? Sign up for NBA Premium!

Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers