Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, November 1st

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-11-01 19:26:42 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 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 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! Here’s hoping you had a fun Halloween without too many frights. Waking up this morning and seeing what guys like Collin Murray-Boyles and Josh Minott did to some of my lineups last night gave me a nice jump scare, but spooky szn is officially in the books.

On the heels of some fun NBA Cup action on Friday night, we’re left with a wee 4-game main slate on Saturday. It’s tricky, though, as the 4-game slates are different on both sites. DraftKings’ 4-gamer starts at 6 PM ET and includes MIN/CHA and excludes DAL/DET. FanDuel’s 4-gamer starts an hour later, so it ignores MIN/CHA and keeps DAL/DET. Fun!

We have a couple of teams – the Pacers and Celtics – playing for the second time in as many nights, so we’ll see if anything unexpected pops up on the injury reports later.

Off we go!

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, November 1st

Slate Overview

• 4-game main slate
  - 6:00 pm ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Charlotte Hornets (DK only)
  - 7:00 pm ET – Orlando Magic at Washington Wizards
  - 7:00 pm ET – Golden State Warriors at Indiana Pacers
  - 8:00 pm ET – Houston Rockets at Boston Celtics
  - 10:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Detroit Pistons (FD only)
• 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 throughout the day.

Team Previews

Minnesota Timberwolves (at CHA)

The T-Wolves are 5.5-point favorites tonight in Charlotte as they continue to play without the injured Anthony Edwards. Needless to say, his absence opens up tons of usage for the rest of the Wolves. Julius Randle (28.7%) leads the team in that department without Ant, while Naz Reid (+3.6%) has enjoyed the biggest usage boost early in the year. Charlotte is 26th in defensive efficiency thus far, and I wouldn’t expect them to improve too much the rest of the way.

Randle is up to $8,500, yet still pops as a terrific mid-range spend in a favorable matchup. He’s been in outstanding form to begin the season. Mike Conley should join Donte DiVincenzo in the starting backcourt sans Edwards. Conley is never an exciting click considering he’s likely capped around 26-28 minutes, but $4,400 is still a reasonable asking price. DiVincenzo hasn’t quite seen much of a usage boost since Edwards went out, but the minutes are generally secure. The issue is I’m not sure how much ceiling he offers now that he’s all the way up at $6,600. I’d rather take the savings on a $5,700 Jaden McDaniels (0.89 FP/minute), who typically plays upwards of 40 minutes in competitive games.

Rudy Gobert has been quiet to start the season (0.83 FP/minute), and the Hornets have been excellent on the boards so far. He’s playable, but rarely a priority. Reid is cheap enough to make the player pool at $5,300 even in limited minutes off the bench.

Charlotte Hornets (vs. MIN)

The Hornets are 2-3 to start the season, and they’ve relied heavily on rookies; 3 of them – Ryan Kalkbrenner, Kon Knueppel, and Sion James – started in the loss to Orlando in the last game, and we’re currently projecting the same alignment tonight. Brandon Miller, Grant Williams, and Josh Green are out, while LaMelo Ball is questionable to play tonight with an ankle injury.

Obviously, Ball sitting would add a lot of potential value to the Charlotte side of things, especially with another high-usage player – Miller – already sidelined. LaMelo has been in flying form without Miller, leading the team in usage alongside a ridiculous 1.75 FP/minute average. $9,800 is getting up there, but I don’t expect him to be limited if he’s healthy enough to play. If he sits, I’d expect Collin Sexton to rejoin the starting group. Sexton has already played a productive role for his new team, and he’d be arguably the best play on the slate at $6,000 on DK if LaMelo can’t give it a go. Small sample, but Sexton is averaging 1.39 FP/minute across his first 39 minutes with Ball off the court this year.

Ball joining Miller on the sidelines would also lead to even more usage for Miles Bridges, who saw a 3.9% boost with both off the floor a season ago. Bridges is viable regardless of the injury news at $7,500, but he’d mosey into Core Play Country without Ball. I’d also expect Tre Mann to play a big role if LaMelo sits, making him a reasonable target at $4,200. He’s shooting horribly to begin the season, but he’ll gladly let it fly when he’s out there.

The rookies are tougher to figure out considering we haven’t seen a whole lot of them just yet. Knueppel should have the safest role from a minutes standpoint. I have minimal interest in him at $5,100 if LaMelo plays, but he’ll gain some appeal without Ball. Kalkbrenner, however, stands out regardless. This man is shooting 90% from the field this season. He’s converted 27 of his 30 shot attempts. He’s exclusively scoring around the rim – which will be a difficult task tonight against Gobert – but he’s still just $4,600. If things go south for Kalkbrenner, Moussa Diabate ($4,100) could be a sneaky GPP pivot off the bench. James is the toughest sell among the rookies, as he’s a defensive-minded wing averaging just 0.78 FP/minute so far.

Orlando Magic (at WAS)

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