Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, April 19th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2026-04-19 13:57:13 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 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.

Hello! Happy Sunday. The hoops yesterday were good, and we’re back with another full day of playoff action today. Things will once again tip off bright and early at 1 PM ET with games staggered for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.

Unfortunately, the games today have more blowout risk than those on yesterday’s schedule, as 3 of the 4 games today have double-digit spreads. The closest spread is ORL/DET, but the Pistons are still 8.5-point favorites in that one.

Someone is going to win money in the NBA DFS streets, so it might as well be us. Let’s dive in.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, April 19

Slate Overview

• 4-game main slate
  - 1:00 pm ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics
  - 3:30 pm ET – Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder
  - 6:30 pm ET – Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons
  - 9:00 pm ET – Portland Trail Blazers at San Antonio Spurs
• 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

Philadelphia 76ers (at BOS)

We’ll start with the Sixers, who toppled the Magic in the 8 vs. 9 Play-In game, setting up a 1st-round date against the Celtics. This is a brutal matchup against a Boston team that finished 4th in the NBA in defensive rating during the regular season. Philly is also shorthanded, as Joel Embiid is still sidelined after undergoing an appendectomy about a week-and-a-half ago. We’ll see if he returns to the court at some point during the series.

We’re projecting Adem Bona to start in Embiid’s place, but Andre Drummond has been playing more minutes off the bench. Drummond is considerably more expensive around the industry, but rightfully so. I wouldn’t be making Drummond (1.1 DK FP/minute) a priority, but I don’t mind rolling the dice on him at $5,100 on DraftKings in GPPs. The headline for Philly is Tyrese Maxey as usual. Maxey’s usage rose by 2.4% in the minutes he played without Embiid during the regular season, and he’s going to top 40 minutes if this game is competitive enough. Maxey isn’t my favorite way to spend salary on this slate – thanks in part to the dreadful matchup – but he’ll be in my tournament player pool. It likely won’t take much exposure to get over the field in larger-field contests.

Paul George (+3.8%) and V.J. Edgecombe (+2.8%) also have seen nice usage hikes with Embiid sidelined. Both players are cheaper on FD than they are on DK, making them better values over there. Neither of them is really on my radar on DraftKings at their elevated salaries. Another player who may push for 40 minutes is Kelly Oubre Jr., who’s produced at a solid 0.9 DK FP/minute clip without Embiid. Oubre is affordable on both sites, while he comes with handy SG/SF eligibility on DK. Quentin Grimes is under $5,000 with a path to 25 minutes off the bench, and he’s best suited for large-field contests.

Boston Celtics (vs. PHI)

Want to read more? Sign up for NBA Premium!

Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers