Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, February 1st

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2026-02-01 21:48:18 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! This is the first football-free Sunday we’ve had since September, and the NBA decided to pounce at the opportunity. We’ve got a total of 10 basketball games on the schedule for today, and, predictably, DraftKings and FanDuel are handling them differently. The DK main slate is a 6-gamer tipping off at 6 PM ET, while FanDuel’s main docket includes 2 extra games starting at 9 PM or later. That’ll obviously make things quite different between the sites, and we’ll see if (when?) injury news shakes things up further.

In the meantime, I’ll be here to break it all down. I’ll also be on the first Sunday NBA Crunch Time of the season with TJ and Tim for an hour before lock, starting at 5 PM ET.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, February 1st

Slate Overview

• Slate size – DraftKings: 6 games; FanDuel: 8 games
  - 6:00 pm ET – Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat
  - 6:00 pm ET – Utah Jazz at Toronto Raptors
  - 6:00 pm ET – Sacramento Kings at Washington Wizards
  - 6:00 pm ET – Brooklyn Nets at Detroit Pistons
  - 7:00 pm ET – Orlando Magic at San Antonio Spurs
  - 7:00 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks
  - 8:00 pm ET – Los Angeles Clippers at Phoenix Suns
  - 9:00 pm ET – Cleveland Cavaliers at Portland Trail Blazers
  - 9:30 pm ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Denver Nuggets
• 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.

Team Previews

Chicago Bulls (at MIA)

Hmm. This looks familiar. For some reason, the Bulls and Heat are playing a playoff series in the middle of the season. This will be the third straight meeting between the teams. Miami won the first game in Chicago by 3 points, while the Bulls bounced back and toppled the Heat in Miami last night despite playing with a skeleton crew. Chicago is a 4.5-point underdog in Miami again tonight. They should have some reinforcements, but we shall see. As of now, we’re calling Josh Giddey doubtful, while they’re still without Tre Jones, Zach Collins, and Noa Essengue. Jalen Smith is questionable. We’re expecting Coby White and Nikola Vucevic to return to the lineup. The Bulls also waived Jevon Carter after last night’s game, so he’s no longer with the team.

We may not be playing quite as many Bulls as we did yesterday, but lots of these guys are popping in projections again. We’re currently projecting all of White, Vucevic, and Smith to rejoin the starting unit next to Matas Buzelis and Isaac Okoro. White (28.6%) and Vucevic (23.3%) have handled most of the usage with Giddey off the floor. We’re not getting discounts on either of them on DK, though $7,300 for Vuc looks a little cheap on FD. I’ll have less interest in both players if Giddey returns. My favorite option there would be Jalen Smith if Giddey remains out. He’s been a terrific per-minute producer with Giddey and Collins off the floor (1.28 FP/minute), and there’s some meat on the bone with his salaries in the low $6,000.

Dosunmu and Kevin Huerter were both priced up significantly on FanDuel, but they still project well for the dollar on DraftKings. Ayo should top 30 minutes off the bench here assuming Giddey is still sidelined, and the expected pace of this game suits him well. Huerter (1.02 FP/minute) has played well with Giddey and Jones off the floor, and he’s only $4,600 with SG/SF eligibility on DK. As was the case yesterday, Buzelis looks like a better play on DK ($6,200) than on FD ($7,200).

Miami Heat (vs. CHI)

Want to read more? Sign up for NBA Premium!

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