NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Saturday, February 24th
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, and Noto will mix it up in all different types of contests. 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 NBA DFS picks, 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 the heels of a couple of 10-game slates, we’ve got a wee 3-gamer on tap for Saturday. There’s still money to be made, of course, so we’ll be treating this slate like any other. Please note that the slate doesn’t even start until 8 ET, and all 3 games will tip within an hour of one another.
Without further delay, let’s dive right in.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, February 24th
Slate Overview
- 3-game slate
- 8:00 PM ET – Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons
- 8:30 PM ET – Boston Celtics at New York Knicks
- 9:00 PM ET – Brooklyn Nets at Minnesota Timberwolves
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Magic
- Teams in the second half of a back-to-back: Wolves
- NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
- Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays
News Updates
This is where I’ll update for news.
Team Previews
Orlando Magic (at DET): None of the 6 teams on this slate have particularly high totals, but the Magic’s 116 number tonight is actually the highest on the board, as they face the Pistons in Detroit. Markelle Fultz is out again, so Gary Harris will jump into the starting backcourt next to Jalen Suggs. Suggs, Paolo Banchero, and Franz Wagner all get slight usage bumps with Fultz off, while both members of the center rotation – Wendell Carter and Jonathan Isaac – have affordable enough price tags around the industry. I’d ordinarily shy away from rostering Banchero and Wagner in the same GPP lineup, but I’m willing to make an exception here in a plus matchup on such a tiny slate. Cole Anthony isn’t a comfortable value off the bench, but there’s a ceiling there worth chasing in tournaments.
Detroit Pistons (vs. ORL): The Pistons are as disastrous as ever, and they’ll again be without the suspended Isaiah Stewart this evening. Simone Fontecchio and Ausar Thompson should continue to start at the forward spots. Neither projects too well from a median standpoint, but I don’t mind a dusting of Thompson at $5,500 on DK in tournaments. Cade Cunningham (1.2 FP/minute) and Jalen Duren (1.19) offer the highest ceilings on this team, but I’m not dying to make either a major priority against a quality defensive foe. With guys like Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Troy Brown, and Marcus Sasser clinging to fringe rotation minutes, it’s hard to have much faith in any of the secondary pieces from this team.
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