Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, March 14th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2026-03-14 17:11:07 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 over. 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 Saturday! It is amazing to think that we’re already 6 years removed from Rudy Gobert touching all those microphones at a press conference shortly before becoming the first NBA player to test positive for Covid. Time sure does fly. It didn’t fly back then, however, as 2020 felt like the longest year of our lives.

Anyway, we’re here to look to the future. The NBA is taking it pretty easy on this Saturday, as we’re looking at just 3-game main slates on both DraftKings and FanDuel. It’s also worth noting the slates start a bit later than usual at 8 PM ET. I’ll be here throughout the day providing updates, and I’ll be on Crunch Time in the hour leading up to lock to break it all down with TJ and Tim.

Speaking of Tim, I also wanted to say that if you haven’t been in the NHL DFS streets, it’s never too late to give hockey a whirl. Our NHL projections and content are the best in the industry, and you can still play profitably even if you’re not a puck-knower. If you enjoy MLB DFS, you can apply similar concepts to NHL. There’s a fun 10-game main slate on the ice tonight, starting an hour before NBA locks.

Without further ado, off we go!

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, March 14th

Slate Overview

• 3-game main slate
  - 8:00 PM ET – Orlando Magic at Miami Heat
  - 8:30 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
  - 10:30 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at LA Clippers
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

News Updates

Here is where I’ll provide news updates.

Team Previews

Orlando Magic (at MIA)

We’ll tip things off with the Battle of Singular Florida Basketball Teams between the Magic and Heat. This is an important game, as they’re virtually tied in the standings coming into this one. The Magic are technically the No. 5 seed by virtue of holding the tiebreaker as of now, while Miami sits in 6th, just a half-game clear of Toronto for the last non-Play-In spot in the East. Orlando is a 3.5-point road underdog tonight. Their 116.5 implied team total isn’t exactly low, but it is the 2nd-lowest on this slate. Anthony Black, Franz Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac are sidelined for the visitors.

Tristan da Silva likely remains a starter with Black and Wagner out. He’s been decent (0.87 FP/minute) with them off the floor this season, but he’s really turned it up in those minutes since the beginning of February (0.98 FP/minute). He is reasonably priced on both sites for the minutes he’s playing. He’s not the most comfortable value play into what should be a ton of ownership, but we also can’t get too picky on such a tiny slate. Paolo Banchero (+1.9%) gets the biggest usage boost among the regulars with Wagner and Black out. This is also an excellent matchup for Paolo, per our Defense vs. Archetypes tool. This small slate isn’t lacking for superstars, but I like paying down for Banchero in some GPP lineups with much of the field likely to pay up for Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Kawhi Leonard.

Desmond Bane (1.15 FP/minute) and Jalen Suggs (1.16) have been steady with the Magic shorthanded. Bane’s minutes floor is higher, but that’s baked into his higher salary. He’s also projected for about half of Suggs’ ownership as of this writing. While both are solid options, I’d rather try to find the extra money for Bane in GPPs, while Suggs is a better cash/single-entry option. The minutes for Wendell Carter Jr. have risen over the past couple of games, and he’s always hovering in the $5,000 range. I’m not a huge fan of the matchup against Bam Adebayo, but I do think he looks a little too cheap. Jevon Carter and Jett Howard are both projected for minutes in the low 20s off the bench. The latter Carter is an easy fade if he’s going to attract ownership. While I’m not exactly geeked about Howard either, he is a bit more playable on DK thanks to his SG/SF eligibility.

Miami Heat (vs. ORL)

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