Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, January 18th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2026-01-18 23:08:10 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 DwFS 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.

Happy Sunday! The football was pretty good yesterday, and we can all look forward to the Jarrett Stidham AFC Championship Game a week from today. What a time to be alive. There isn’t quite as much basketball happening as there was last night, though we’re still looking at solid 5-game slates on both DraftKings and FanDuel.

There’s already quite a bit of injury news to sort through, and there will surely be more, for this is the NBA. Let’s dive on in.

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NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, January 18th

Slate Overview

• 5-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – New Orleans Pelicans at Houston Rockets
  - 7:00 pm ET – Brooklyn Nets at Chicago Bulls
  - 8:00 pm ET – Charlotte Hornets at Denver Nuggets
  - 9:00 pm ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Sacramento Kings
  - 9:30 pm ET – Toronto Raptors 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.

Team Previews

New Orleans Pelicans (at HOU)

The Pelicans are just 10-34 on the season, good for the very worst record in the NBA. Not great! Seems like this team should be better than this, and yet they are not. The Pels find themselves in a tough spot tonight in Houston, where they’re listed as 13.5-point underdogs to a Rockets team that’s been scuffling of late. New Orleans’ 109 implied team total is the 2nd lowest on the board, and they’re still playing without Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado, and Dejounte Murray.

There’s really not much to see here, folks. A 5-gamer is still a decently sized slate, and there isn’t a single Pelicans player projecting as a positive value on either DraftKings or FanDuel. I think you can always make a case to include Zion Williamson or Trey Murphy in a player pool, but Houston is tough defensively both in the paint and on the 3-point line. Barring some unexpected injury news, I’ll likely fade the Pelicans.

Houston Rockets (vs. NOP)

Houston, meanwhile, gets a much more favorable draw. The Rockets’ 122.5 total is the highest on the slate by a pretty huge margin. No other team is projected for more than 115 points. We’ll see if Tari Eason returns to the Rockets’ lineup after missing the past few games with a sprained ankle, while Fred VanVleet is still out. New Orleans comes into this one ranked just 28th in defensive efficiency.

If Eason returns, he’ll presumably return to his starting spot and send Josh Okogie back to the bench. Eason will likely be limited amid a rash of injuries again this season, which makes him a fade at $6,500 on DK. The $5,900 FD salary isn’t terrible, especially for a solid per-minute producer. The headliner here is Alperen Sengun. The Pels are coughing up the 3rd-most paint points per game this season, and that’s where Sengun and Amen Thompson will do the bulk of their offensive damage. I prefer Sengun to Thompson overall, though there’s a strong case for both of them individually.

Kevin Durant is still playing massive minutes on a nightly basis, as the Rockets really can’t afford to rest him amid some offensive woes. While I think Sengun generally has the higher ceiling, I don’t mind pivoting to KD in some tournament builds at what should be less ownership. I’ll likely set a max-1 rule for Houston’s big 3 of Sengun, Durant, and Thompson for GPP builds. Jabari Smith Jr. continues to see heavy minutes every night, but his middling per-minute numbers (0.85) give him a wide range of outcomes. I also think you can keep Steven Adams (0.94 FP/minute) in your DK player pool as a cheap, low-owned center option.

Brooklyn Nets (at CHI)

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