NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Thursday, December 7th
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.
Happy Thursday everyone!
A few weeks ago, I took my son to a basketball camp that was sponsored by the Jazz. The place was called Shoot360 and apparently, there are a lot of them across the country. I couldn’t believe how cool this place was. There was a whole section of bays that taught the kids how to dribble and pass correctly. Each bay had a huge screen where the kids could play games. They had to dribble so many times a certain way or make a certain pass to stop a bomb from exploding. The place also had hoops with screens above them that showed the angle of each shot, the spin rate on the basketball, and how many shots were made or missed.
After this experience, I started thinking about the differences between his childhood and mine. Basketball camp when I was young was all about pain and endurance — from non-stop ladders to never-ending shuffle drills. I would have much preferred my son’s version of basketball camp. Perhaps it’s just the circle of friends that I have, but kids these days don’t seem as invested in one thing as they did when I was a kid. Growing up, I was all about sports. When I wasn’t gathering the neighborhood kids to play basketball, baseball, or football, I was glued to whatever game was on TV.
When it comes to my kid, he likes a little bit of everything. He likes sports, he likes ninja warrior, he likes art, he likes music, and he likes video games. He’s not super passionate about one thing in particular. It’s funny how things change from generation to generation. I was all in on watching sports, playing sports, and collecting basketball cards. Perhaps it’s because multi-tasking is second nature to kids at this point. There are times when he’ll be watching TV, playing a game on his tablet with a friend, and working on something else all at the same time. I’ve tried speaking his own language to him, “bro, you are being sus and you lack rizz,” but he just rolls his eyes.
This intro has nothing to do with tonight’s 2-game slate, but I like reading articles with a personal touch to them and hopefully you do as well. This may sound biased, but Cheese’s Million Dollar Musings is honestly my favorite article to read in the industry because he’s so good at including non-sports stuff in it.
Anyway, this a very important night for 4 teams, as the winners of tonight’s games will advance to the first-ever In-Season Tournament Championship. It’s worth noting that the slate starts at 5:00 PM ET today, so make sure to get your lineups set early.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, December 7th
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 5:00 PM ET – Indiana Pacers at Milwaukee Bucks
- 9:00 PM ET – New Orleans Pelicans at Los Angeles Lakers
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: None
- Teams on the back end of a back-to-back: None
- NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
- 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
Indiana Pacers (at MIL): The Eastern Conference semifinal comes down to the Pacers and Bucks. Indiana picked up a big win against the Celtics the other night and now travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks. This is a solid matchup on paper, as the Bucks are 5th in pace and 21st in defensive rating on the season. It’s a bit strange that Indiana’s team total is lower than their season average, but I suppose that’s because it will be hard for them to sustain their current pace of 128.4 points per game.
Jalen Smith has been ruled out of tonight’s game, but the Pacers are otherwise at full strength. We don’t have much value on the slate, but prioritizing Tyrese Haliburton seems like a good idea. He has topped 65 fantasy points in 4 of his last 6 games and has played 40 minutes in back-to-back games. Buddy Hield has been solid on a per-minute basis this season and has seen an uptick in playing time over the last couple of weeks. I prefer Bruce Brown at a slightly cheaper price point. He offers a higher floor and has more paths to success given his ability to fill up the stat sheet.
Obi Toppin doesn’t project well, but is certainly worth a look in tournaments. He has topped 34 fantasy points in 4 of his last 9 games. The Pacers should have a fairly tight rotation in this one, with Aaron NeSmith and Benedict Mathurin being the only key contributors off the bench. For years and years, I have never been able to predict fantasy outings for Myles Turner. I like that he has averaged 32 minutes in this tournament, but the Bucks have long been tough on opposing centers. The projections are high on Turner at his price point, but I’m not making him a priority on this slate.
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