Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, December 4th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-12-04 23:24:34 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 an NBA DFS slate? 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. I had another good slate last night despite having way too much exposure to the Hawks. There have been a couple of slates this week where I thought I was dead early, but my players in the late games carried my lineup over the cash line. I’ve gotten a few messages from RG members that have had some big cashes this week, so let’s keep it rolling tonight.

We have 5 games on the schedule, and for the second night in a row, FanDuel and DraftKings have agreed on a main slate size.

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, December 4th

Slate Overview

• 5-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Boston Celtics at Washington Wizards
  - 7:00 pm ET – Golden State Warriors at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 7:30 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Toronto Raptors
  - 7:30 pm ET – Utah Jazz at Brooklyn Nets
  - 8:00 pm ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans
• 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

Boston Celtics (at WAS)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Celtics, who draw the best matchup on the board. The Wizards are 5th in pace and bottom 5 in rebounding rate, 3-point percentage allowed, defensive rating, and points allowed per game. The Celtics have a team total that is 4 points higher than their season average, which is impressive since they will be without Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Let’s see who benefits the most with Brown off the floor this season:

Don’t be afraid to roster 3, 4, or even 5 players from the Celtics. Derrick White should dominate usage, Payton Pritchard should see a major uptick in FP/min. production, and Anfernee Simons should see an increase in playing time. All three are elite options for both cash games and tournaments. The fringe targets here are Jordan Walsh (20+ fantasy points in 3 of the last 4 games), Sam Hauser (projected for 28 minutes), and Neemias Queta (elite rebounding matchup).

Even though Boston will be chalky, I still want to be overweight.

Washington Wizards (vs. BOS)

The Wizards have a brutal matchup at home against the Celtics, who are 30th in pace and 2nd in points allowed per game. The Wizards are 9-point underdogs and have a team total that is 3 points lower than their season average. Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly, and Corey Kispert have all been ruled out.

This is not a good spot on paper, but the Wizards have two things going for them — they naturally have more appeal since we are looking to stack the Celtics and want the game to stay close, and their roster is full of volatile players. Kyshawn George has scored at least 44 fantasy points in 4 of his last 8 games. In the 3 games that Sarr has missed this season, Marvin Bagley has averaged 34 fantasy points, while Tristan Vukcevic has averaged 19 fantasy points. The problem is that both centers are priced up on this slate. As always, I’m perfectly happy to be underweight on CJ McCollum.

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