Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, January 15th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-01-15 21:04:08 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 DwFS 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!

It’s a good day, as the golf sweat is back in our lives! We also have some tremendous NFL games on tap this weekend. The golf slate will likely already be locked by the time you read this, but I’ll have Showdown articles and projections up for Rounds 2, 3, and 4. And obviously, we’ll have a ton of NFL content for the Divisional Round.

Just a heads up, I’m taking tomorrow off, so Taylor will be on Core Plays duty. As for today, we have 9 games on the schedule. The 1 early game and the 3 late games aren’t included on the main slates, which means we have 5 games to break down. Let’s dive right into it.

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NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, January 15th

Slate Overview

• 9 games in total, 5 games on the main slate
  - 2:00 pm ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Orlando Magic (not on main slate)
  - 7:00 pm ET – Phoenix Suns at Detroit Pistons
  - 7:30 pm ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets
  - 7:30 pm ET – Boston Celtics at Miami Heat
  - 8:00 pm ET – Milwaukee Bucks at San Antonio Spurs
  - 8:30 pm ET – Utah Jazz at Dallas Mavericks
  - 10:00 pm ET – New York Knicks at Golden State Warriors (not on main slate)
  - 10:00 pm ET – Atlanta Hawks at Portland Trail Blazers (not on main slate)
  - 10:30 pm ET – Charlotte Hornets at Los Angeles Lakers (not on main slate)
• 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

Phoenix Suns (at DET)

We kick off tonight’s 5-game slate with the Suns, who draw a difficult matchup on the road against the Pistons. This season, Detroit is ranked in the top 8 in rebounding rate, points allowed per game, defensive rating, and 3-point percentage allowed. Jalen Green is out, while Devin Booker is questionable.

With Booker in the projections, there’s not a single player with an RGValue close to being positive. If he’s active, the Suns are an easy team for us to cross off our list of potential targets. However, things would change drastically if Booker is ruled out. Here’s who benefits the most with him off the floor this season:

If Booker is out, Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, and Collin Gillespie would all see massive upticks in usage. Luckily, this is the first game on the slate, so we’ll know Booker’s status before lineups lock.

Detroit Pistons (vs. PHO)

The Pistons have a tough matchup at home against the Suns, who are top 7 in 3-point percentage allowed, points allowed per game, and defensive rating. Detroit’s team total is 3 points lower than their season average. For the first time in a long time, all of their key players are expected to play.

Cade Cunningham is always viable in tournaments, but he usually benefits from a good game environment. This might be the worst on the slate. He’s scored over 57 fantasy points in 7 of his last 11 games, but I’m not sure he can have a true ceiling performance in this matchup. Ausar Thompson has the best RGValue of any player on the Pistons, but his minutes have been all over the place. We have him projected for 30 minutes, but he’s been held to 23 or fewer fantasy points in 4 of his last 7 games. We don’t have anyone else on the team projected to play more than 27 minutes.

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