Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Sunday, May 3rd

by Taylor Smith (tcsmith031) Last Updated 2026-05-03 16:34:12 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.

Folks, it all comes down to this. We’re looking at a couple of games on this fine Sunday to close out the NBA’s first round. The early rounds of the NBA playoffs are typically a formality, but we’ve actually had some surprises this season. The Nuggets, Rockets, and Celtics are among the teams already in Cancun, and a couple more will join them today. There’s a chance the Eastern Conference’s top-2 seeds won’t get out of the first round, which is rather crazy.

The Magic will head to Detroit to kick off today’s slate at 3:30 PM ET. Orlando managed to blow a 24-point lead en route to an embarrassing defeat after a chance to close out the series on Friday night, and they’ll be up against it on the road today. The nightcap features the Cavs hosting the Raptors on the heels of Toronto’s thrilling OT victory in Game 6 the other night. The winners of today’s games will also play each other in the next round.

Let’s dive right in.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Sunday, May 3rd

Slate Overview

• 2-game main slate
  - 3:30 pm ET – Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons
  - 7:30 pm ET – Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers
• 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

Orlando Magic (at DET)

I’m not sure how the Magic can recover after Friday night’s debacle, but we shall see. Orlando missed 23 consecutive shots at one point in one of the worst playoff meltdowns of all time. They have given the Pistons quite a fight in this series, though, so you never know. The Magic are 8.5-point underdogs in today’s Game 7 with a 97 implied team total, which may be the lowest total I’ve seen all season. Franz Wagner and Jonathan Isaac are out again.

Wagner missed much of the season, so none of Orlando’s players got notable usage boosts over their season averages with him sidelined. Jamal Cain has been starting in Wagner’s spot, though Anthony Black is the favorite to play 30+ minutes off the bench. Black has played well (1.03 DK FP/minute) with Franz off the floor all year, and he’s underpriced for the role at $5,200 on DraftKings and $5,100 on FanDuel. I assume Black will be extreme chalk as a result, but it’s hard to hate it on such a small slate. Cain is a relatively weak per-minute producer (0.8 DK), while Tristan da Silva (0.77) also has a path to 20ish minutes in a backup role. There isn’t much separating them, and both will likely have very short leashes in a do-or-die game. I suppose I’d rather take the savings with da Silva over Cain, but neither is a comfortable punt.

Paolo Banchero (1.17 FP/minute) has flashed quite a ceiling already in this series, and he’ll be the driving force for the Magic if they’re going to pull the upset in this one. We’re getting no discount here ($9,300 DK, $9,400 FD), but he’s a strong pay-up option today in all formats. Jalen Suggs (1.12 FP/minute) has been more productive than Desmond Bane (1.04) in the Wagner-less minutes this season. Suggs’ shooting has been abysmal in this series, while Bane hasn’t been a whole lot better. Both are solid GPP plays if the field is shy about playing them, with Suggs looking particularly affordable on FanDuel ($6,500).

Wendell Carter Jr. is never an exciting way to fill a center slot, but he has given Orlando some good minutes in the series. He’s fine, just nothing resembling a core play. Goga Bitadze is worth a look in large-field GPPs off the bench, as he’s awfully active (1.17 FP/minute) for the 14-15 minutes he’s usually out there.

Detroit Pistons (vs. ORL)

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