Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, December 28th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2025-12-28 22:32:41 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, international pop icon 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 Sunday! This morning on the radio I heard a new band – something called Villanelle – that sure sounds exactly like Nirvana. Plus, they happen to have a frontman who’s the son of one of the Gallaghers. Baggy jeans have inexplicably become popular again, and the Bills are a perennial Super Bowl contender. It is allegedly going to be 2026 in a few days, but there’s a chance we’ve all accidentally time-warped back to 1994.

Anyway, things are fairly light in the NBA streets tonight. We’re looking at just 4 games on the DK and FD main slates, and there isn’t much pending injury news coming into the day. That’s always subject to change, of course. The slate tips off a bit early at 6 PM ET, though we’ve also got half of the games starting at 9 PM or later.

Let’s dive in.

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, December 28th

Slate Overview

• Slate size – 4 games
  - 6:00 pm ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Washington Wizards
  - 6:00 pm ET – Boston Celtics at Portland Trail Blazers
  - 9:00 pm ET – Detroit Pistons at Los Angeles Clippers
  - 9:30 pm ET – Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers
• 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 leading into lock.

Team Previews

Memphis Grizzlies (at WAS)

The Grizzlies find themselves in the best spot of the day as they head to DC for a date with the Wizards. Washington is still terrible, and Memphis’ 124 implied team total is the highest on tonight’s slate. Because they’re the Grizzlies, they are dealing with injuries, as usual. Zach Edey, Scotty Pippen Jr., Ty Jerome, Brandon Clarke, Vince Williams Jr., and John Konchar are all still out, while Jock Landale is questionable with a sore calf.

Ja Morant isn’t having a great season, but he’s still a productive per-minute fantasy producer (1.19 DK). He logged 25 minutes in his return from another ankle injury in the last game, and we’re projecting similar minutes today. Ja is playable because it’s a small slate and an elite matchup, but his path to a true ceiling is very narrow. Jaren Jackson Jr. (1.11 FP/minute) has been rather disappointing all year, though he has flashed a bit of better form recently. Washington really gives it up to opposing bigs, and JJJ is still south of $8,000 on both sites.

Santi Aldama is still starting with Edey out. He’s flashed a very wide range of outcomes, but he’s generally productive (1.08 FP/minute) while he’s out there. He’s pushing $7,000, but he is still an excellent play. Landale would be a passable value if he returns to the lineup, as he’s played upper-20s minutes in most games off the bench since Edey went down. Landale isn’t a comfy way to fill your lone C slot on FD, but $4,700 is an attractive price point. You can fire up guys like Cam Spencer and Cedric Coward in large-field GPPs. They don’t project as well now that Ja is back, but there are limited ways to get different on such a small slate.

Washington Wizards (vs. MEM)

The Wizards have actually won 3 of their last 6 games. That’s not noteworthy for most NBA franchises, but the Wizards might hang a banner for it. They’re 7.5-point home underdogs tonight against a Memphis team that gets far worse defensively without Zach Edey in there to protect the paint. Washington’s 116.5 total is also one of the highest numbers on the board. Cam Whitmore and Corey Kispert remain out, while Kyshawn George and Malaki Branham are carrying Q tags into the day.

The Kyshawn news is pretty important, as he’s one of Washington’s featured pieces offensively. If he plays, he looks excellent at $6,200 on DK and $6,600 on FD. If he doesn’t, CJ McCollum (+3.8%) and Tre Johnson (+2.3%) benefit the most from a usage perspective. CJ is a strong play regardless of George’s status. Johnson’s role is more limited off the bench, but he’d have a cleaner path to minutes without Kyshawn.

Alex Sarr isn’t getting full minutes these days, but he still fills it up (1.44 FP/minute) when he’s out there. Edey’s absence helps him on both ends of the floor, and his salaries are down on both sites. Pretty good GPP play, especially if George is out and more usage flows his way. George sitting out could also pave the way for Bub Carrington to get back into the starting unit. That would solidify his minutes and make him another decent value option. I’m not all that psyched to play Khris Middleton with Washington playing a full rotation, but $4,300 is cheap enough to put him into the GPP player pool on FanDuel.

Boston Celtics (at POR)

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