Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, March 8th

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2026-03-08 20:49:13 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! It is Sunday, and it is an hour later than it was at this time yesterday. Make sense? Not in the least. Anyway, let’s talk hoops. DraftKings and FanDuel are approaching their NBA DFS slates differently today. DK is simply rolling out another 5-game main slate starting at 7 PM ET. FanDuel, however, has decided to tack on the 2 games tipping at 6 PM ET, making their main docket a 7-gamer. This will be on the test, so don’t forget.

I will be on Crunch Time once again with TJ and Chief in the hour leading up to the FanDuel lock, so it’ll start at 5 PM ET for the second straight day.

With that, on to the games.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, March 8th

Slate Overview

• Slate size: DraftKings – 5 games; FanDuel – 7 games
  - 6:00 pm ET – Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat
  - 6:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Toronto Raptors
  - 7:00 pm ET – Washington Wizards at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 8:00 pm ET – Orlando Magic at Milwaukee Bucks
  - 8:00 pm ET – Houston Rockets at San Antonio Spurs
  - 9:00 pm ET – Indiana Pacers at Portland Trail Blazers
  - 9:00 pm ET – Chicago Bulls at Sacramento Kings
• 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

Detroit Pistons (at MIA)

The Pistons lost to the lowly Nets at home last night. I know Cade Cunningham was out, but come on, man. Detroit has now dropped 3 consecutive games heading into tonight’s game in Miami, where they’re merely 1.5-point favorites over the Heat. We’ll see if Cade returns for this one, while Ausar Thompson remains out with an ankle sprain.

The Pistons started Daniss Jenkins and Marcus Sasser together last night with Cade and Thompson out. We’re currently projecting Cunningham to play, with Ronald Holland II again projected to start for Thompson, but we shall see. The pace-up spot against Miami does make it a favorable matchup for Holland if he starts, though; as I said yesterday, he’s not the kind of player I’d be excited about playing into a lot of ownership. I’d be more interested in Sasser, who’s just $3,700 on FD with a solid 1.1 FP/minute rate with Thompson off the floor.

Cunningham is pricey ($11,300), but he should be good for a full allotment of minutes if he plays. If Cunningham is out, we can look to Daniss Jenkins for value again. Jalen Duren gets a tough draw against Bam Adebayo, and center isn’t quite as terrible a position as it was on last night’s slate. Decent play in GPPs, but he’s priced near his ceiling in a suboptimal spot.

Miami Heat (vs. DET)

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