NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Saturday, March 9th
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 will guide you through those NBA streets. 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.
Happy weekend! I kicked off my Saturday by going to get my oil changed, which reinforced my long-held belief that anything car-related is a scam. Always fun to have the guy coolly tell me about the 10 things wrong with my vehicle and how I can be out of there in 15 minutes if I simply fork over $930 to take care of everything. Is he correct that my transmission could give out at any second? Probably. Do I know enough about cars to know one way or the other? Absolutely the hell not. He could tell me just about anything and I’d go along with it, for I am a rube.
Anyway, you’re not here to read about oil changes and Jiffy Lube-related conspiracy theories. Let’s talk hoops, shall we? We’ve got a 6-game main slate on tap for Saturday in the NBA with games spanning throughout the evening. The first contests tip at 7 ET, while the last game gets underway at 10. As usual, there’s no shortage of injury news either. Victor Wembanyama, Stephen Curry, and Lauri Markkanen are among the big names missing from their respective teams’ lineups tonight, while Luka Doncic, Jerami Grant, and Jaylen Brown are all carrying Q tags. We’re likely to see plenty of moving and shaking between now and lock, so let’s get into it.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, March 9th
Slate Overview
- 6-game slate
- 7:00 PM ET – Brooklyn Nets at Charlotte Hornets
- 7:00 PM ET – Dallas Mavericks at Detroit Pistons
- 8:30 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at Golden State Warriors
- 8:30 PM ET – Boston Celtics at Phoenix Suns
- 9:00 PM ET – Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets
- 10:00 PM ET – Toronto Raptors at Portland Trail Blazers
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Nets
- Teams in the second half of a back-to-back: Hornets, Blazers
- 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 all day long.
Team Previews
Brooklyn Nets (at CHA): The Nets have been banged up of late, though Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe are set to return tonight when they visit the Hornets. Cam Johnson and Ben Simmons are still out, while Lonnie Walker was downgraded to questionable this morning. Thomas and Mikal Bridges should soak up most of the usage vacated by Johnson, while we’ll continue to see big-minute roles for Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dennis Schroder. Claxton ($6,900 DK, $7,800 FD) looks solid here against a mediocre and undermanned Charlotte frontcourt, but we’re never hurting for quality options at center. A grand total of zero Nets have a positive RGValue on either DraftKings or FanDuel per our early projections.
Charlotte Hornets (vs. BKN): The Hornets fell in DC to the Wizards last night, and they’ll be thin in the backcourt again tonight. Tre Mann is questionable after sitting out last night, while Seth Curry, LaMelo Ball, and Cody Martin remain out. Vasilije Micic didn’t do much yesterday, but he’s still affordable with a path to 30+ minutes if Mann sits again tonight. Most of the usage will flow through Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller, while Nick Richards, Grant Williams, and Davis Bertans are all firmly in the rotation these days. Bertans ($4,500 DK, $4,300 FD) grades out as the best value on the team, as he’s topped 26 minutes in each of his last 3 games. I’d be a bit nervous about overdoing it with Bertans at high ownership in tournaments, however.
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