Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Saturday, November 8th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-11-08 22:57:24 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 wheel. 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.

Hello! Welcome to Saturday. Here’s hoping you had a nice Friday night. If you were in attendance for last night’s T-Wolves game and now have solar retinopathy as a result, you may be entitled to compensation. I generally like what the NBA is doing with the “Cup courts,” but at some point, the VP of Common Sense has to step in and regulate some of this. Those guys looked like they were playing on top of the vat of acid the Joker fell into in the original Batman movie.

Anyway, what’s new tonight? It looks like the harmony between DraftKings and FanDuel lasted all of one day. And what a day it was. We’re looking at a 6-game main slate on DraftKings, while the FanDuel docket includes the 2 later games – IND/DEN and PHX/LAC. We’ve also got quite a few teams playing the second nights of back-to-backs, so we could have a pretty wild injury slate if some of these teams decide to manage loads. We’ll see what happens when the injury reports come out later.

In the meantime, let’s break it down.

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Saturday, November 8th

Slate Overview

• 8-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Washington Wizards
  - 7:30 pm ET – Toronto Raptors at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 8:00 pm ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Miami Heat
  - 8:00 pm ET – Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers
  - 8:00 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Atlanta Hawks
  - 8:00 pm ET – New Orleans Pelicans at San Antonio Spurs
  - 9:00 pm ET – Indiana Pacers at Denver Nuggets
  - 10:30 pm ET – Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Clippers
• 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 those sweet, sweet news updates.

Team Previews

Dallas Mavericks (at WAS)

I don’t know what more there is to say about the Mavericks. I thought this team had a chance to be pretty good, but, uh, looks like I was wrong. Dallas’ 14-point loss in Memphis last night wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates, though they do find themselves in a nice bounce-back spot tonight in DC. We’re still not expecting Anthony Davis to suit up, while Dereck Lively, Kyrie Irving, and Dante Exum remain out. The big question mark will be ex-Wizard Daniel Gafford, whom we’re tentatively calling questionable after he left last night’s game due to injuring his ankle again. The Mavs are actually 4.5-point favorites in this game, which is a true testament to the Wizards’ ineptitude.

If Gafford plays, I assume he should be good to go for around 25 minutes barring another setback. Opposing centers continue to demolish the Wizards, and Gafford’s really the only big left with AD and Lively out. There’s risk, but I do think he’s viable at his sub-$6,000 price points if he starts. If Gafford is out, I assume we’ll see Dwight Powell – the world’s oldest man – draw a spot start. Powell is a weak per-minute producer (0.73 DK) for a big, so I wouldn’t be thrilled about it, but he’d be cheap enough to fire off as a dart if Gafford sits. Again, it’s the Wizards.

D’Angelo Russell (29.5%) has led the Mavs in usage without AD. He’s been rough over the past couple of games, though there’s still some meat on the $5,700 FD bone if he’s still starting. PJ Washington (1.09 FP/minute) is getting expensive, yet he continues to project well even at these elevated salaries. We’re a long way from opening night when Washington was $3,000 on DK, folks. We’re still waiting for the true Cooper Flagg breakout game. The minutes have been steady, but he hasn’t yet taken the reins of this offense. I don’t mind chasing it in this matchup; I just wish he were a little less expensive around the industry. Max Christie and Naji Marshall have been decent in their secondary roles, but there’s better cheap stuff worth targeting on this slate.

Washington Wizards (vs. DAL)

The Wiz got absolutely whacked at home last night, allowing a whopping 148 points in a lopsided Cup loss to the Cavs. Washington is now 29th in the league in defensive rating, yielding an insane 121.5 points per 100 possessions. The only surprising thing about that is there’s another team – the Nets – allowing more. Washington will again be without Bilal Coulibaly tonight, while Kyshawn George is iffy after missing last night’s game with an illness.

Bub Carrington and Tre Johnson started in place of Coulibaly and George yesterday. Both young guards proved to be useful value pieces. Carrington ($4,100 DK, $4,000 FD) projects well again tonight, as we have him projected to start again with Bilal out. He’s an early core play candidate. Johnson will have a role regardless of George’s status, and I like him as a Bub pivot if the ownership skews heavily in favor of Carrington. Washington is otherwise pretty deep on guards and wings. I’ll have minor interest in CJ McCollum in GPPs if George misses another game, especially on FanDuel where he’s all the way down to $4,800.

The headliner here is Alex Sarr. He was productive as a rookie, and he looks even better so far this season. Sarr is averaging 1.43 FP/minute, a number that jumps to 1.46 without George. The Mavs have been the league’s 2nd-worst paint defense (hello again, Brooklyn) this season, and they have very little resistance inside without Davis or Lively. If Gafford sits, things get very dire. Sarr is one of my favorite plays at any position in this spot, regardless of whether Kyshawn returns.

Toronto Raptors (at PHI)

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