Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, April 23rd

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-04-23 18:43:44 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. 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.

Happy Thursday!

We are inching closer and closer to the weekend. Last night’s slate went as expected. Both of the home teams took care of business and won by double digits. The Thunder have a 2-0 lead over the Suns, while the Pistons and Magic are tied at a game apiece.

We have 3 games on the schedule tonight. We should enjoy the 3- and 4-game slates while we can, because we don’t have very many the rest of the playoffs. The Knicks and Nuggets are looking to steal back home-court advantage in their respective series, while the Raptors will look to avoid falling to 0-3 against the Cavaliers.

We have an NBA show on the docket today. I’m not able to make it, but Chop, Dean, and Kirkwood will be on to answer any questions that you have for tonight’s slate. If you want to fire any questions my way, hop in the RotoGrinders Discord. You can shoot me a DM or tag me with a question in the NBA channel.

Let’s dive into the games.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, April 23rd

Slate Overview

• 3-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks
  - 8:00 pm ET – Cleveland Cavaliers at Toronto Raptors
  - 9:30 pm ET – Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

News Updates

This section will be updated as injury news is released throughout the day.

Team Previews

New York Knicks (at ATL)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Knicks, who suffered a brutal loss in Game 2 against the Hawks. They had a 12-point lead heading into the 4th quarter, but they couldn’t close the door at home. They’ll now need to win at least 1 game in Atlanta if they want to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs. This is one of the best matchups on the board, but the Knicks enter the game with a team total that is 8 points lower than their season average. Everyone should be available for New York.

Jalen Brunson has averaged 45 fantasy points in the first 2 games of the series and has a long track record of dominating in the playoffs. With the series shifting to Atlanta, I could see Brunson having a higher usage rate over the next 2 games. He’s one of the top spends on the slate. While they project similarly, I prefer Brunson over Karl-Anthony Towns for both cash games and tournaments. KAT tends to be more volatile and has only averaged 41 fantasy points with Mitchell Robinson active this season. As for Robinson, he has scored over 23 fantasy points in 4 of the last 5 games and could make for a sneaky large-field tournament target.

Mikal Bridges has seen an uptick in minutes in this series, but his usage rate has been at 14% in the first 2 games. He has been held under 20 fantasy points in 4 of his last 8 games. OG Anunoby has also had a low usage rate (14%) so far in this series, but at least we know that he’s capable of a ceiling performance. I’m happy to fully fade Bridges, but Anunoby deserves consideration in large-field tournaments. Josh Hart turns into a rebounding king in the playoffs. He has 27 boards in the first 2 games of the series and has topped 40 fantasy points in both outings. He’s my second-favorite target from the Knicks after Brunson.

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