NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Saturday, March 2nd
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.
At long last, you’ve made it to the weekend. Your reward? A tiny NBA DFS slate. We’ve got just 3 games on the main slates on both DraftKings and FanDuel tonight, with just 5 games on the day as a whole. You can certainly try your hand at the early slate, but we’re here to talk about the 3-gamer. Be sure to note that the first game won’t tip until 8 ET, but the last game starts at 9. DraftKings also brought late swap back for this one.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, March 2nd
Slate Overview
- 3-game slate
- 8:00 PM ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Memphis Grizzlies
- 8:30 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
- 9:00 PM ET – Houston Rockets at Phoenix Suns
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Suns
- Teams in the second half of a back-to-back: Blazers, Grizzlies
- NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
- Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays
News Updates
Here’s where I’ll provide news updates, of course.
Team Previews
Portland Trail Blazers (at MEM): Does Blazers-Grizzlies sound familiar? It should, because these terrible teams happened to square off against one another just last night. The Blazers won that one going away, yet they’re 2-point dogs in tonight’s rematch with a tiny 103.5 implied team total. It seems rather likely Portland will again be without Deandre Ayton after he sat out yesterday, while Scoot Henderson, Malcolm Brogdon, and Shaedon Sharpe remain out. Duop Reath (0.95 FP/minute) is the big winner as a value piece with Ayton presumably out, while we’ve seen Kris Murray (0.68 FP/minute) starting and playing more minutes of late. The usage headliners are Anfernee Simons (31.4%) and Jerami Grant (28.5%), who will grade out as 2 of the better mid-range spends for the 2nd consecutive slate. The slate is tiny enough to make Toumani Camara a viable cheapie too.
Memphis Grizzlies (vs. POR): We’ll see what happens when the Grizzlies release their injury report later, as it’s likely to be eventful after Jaren Jackson, Luke Kennard, John Konchar, and Derrick Rose sat out last night. JJJ, Kennard, and Konchar look like legit Q tags, while we’re listing Rose as doubtful. Jackson will easily be the top overall play in this game if he suits up, as he’s getting tons of usage (36.9%!) in this offense with Desmond Bane, Ja Morant, and Marcus Smart already sidelined. Trey Jemison and GG Jackson will play most of the center minutes if JJJ is out, and both would be viable again tonight even after struggling considerably yesterday. Jordan Goodwin is the standout if Kennard and/or Konchar are out, as he’d really be the only legitimate guard left on the roster. Santi Aldama gets a bump if Jackson sits again. Vince Williams should see significant minutes in any scenario, and I don’t mind betting on a bounce-back tonight after a down game yesterday. Lots of moving parts here as usual.
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