NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Sunday, January 28th
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, and Noto will mix it up in all different types of contests. 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 NBA DFS picks, 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.
Sunday brings a tiny 5-game NBA schedule on the heels of yesterday’s all-day 10-game bonanza. Just 3 of the 5 games are on the main slates on DraftKings and FanDuel, which tips at 6pm ET. If you’re playing Yahoo, you’ve got a 5-gamer starting at 2pm ET. In this space, I’ll be focusing on the 3-gamers, though you’ll find my Core Plays for the Yahoo slate tagged in LineupHQ.
Prize pools are predictably rather unimpressive in the NBA streets on this NFL Sunday, but here’s hoping the sites will ramp things up in the coming weeks with football winding to a close. Anyway, let’s see what we can get cooking on the hardwood today, shall we?
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, January 28th
Slate Overview
- 3-game slate
- 6:00 PM ET – Toronto Raptors at Atlanta Hawks
- 6:00 PM ET – Phoenix Suns at Orlando Magic
- 9:00 PM ET – Chicago Bulls at Portland Trail Blazers
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Thunder (Yahoo main slate only), Grizzlies (Yahoo main slate only), Suns, Magic, Blazers
- Teams on the back end of a back-to-back: Pistons (Yahoo main slate only)
- NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
- Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays
News Updates
Here’s where I’ll update for news leading up to lock at 6 ET.
Team Previews
Toronto Raptors (at ATL): The Raptors have struggled mightily since trading OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam away, and they’re 6-point underdogs tonight in Atlanta. Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl (officially doubtful) remain out for the visitors, so we’re expecting Bruce Brown and Thaddeus Young to remain in the starting unit. Brown ($5,500 both sites) looks like a terrific value in 32 projected minutes here, while we can expect the usage to flow through Scottie Barnes (28.4%) and RJ Barrett (27.3%). Dennis Schroder will play a big role off the bench, while Young (0.98 FP/minute) is still affordable around the industry assuming he’s still starting. The PF eligibility is useful on FD, while he’s still under $5,000 on DK, though you can only play him at center. Toronto looks great given the elite matchup against Atlanta here.
Atlanta Hawks (vs. TOR): The Raptors’ defensive rating has plunged to 121.8 so far in January, which makes sense considering they no longer have Anunoby, Siakam, or Poeltl out there. The Hawks’ 124.5 implied team total today is pretty easily the highest of the slate. Trae Young played 33 minutes in his first game back from a concussion, so we’re projecting close to full burn for him tonight. He’s the clear headliner and an elite run back if you’re rostering multiple Raptors. Clint Capela looks like a strong mid-range center even in fairly limited minutes, while you can always make a case for Onyeka Okongwu as a sub-$5,000 value on DK off the bench. Jalen Johnson and Dejounte Murray are viable leverage targets in GPPs to consider if Young is going to be the most popular player on the Atlanta side of things, though neither projects to be a priority.
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