NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Thursday, January 25th
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; we are only one day away from the weekend.
Mistakes were made last night. I knew that I wanted to use Victor Wembanyama as one of my spend-up options, but then a ton of value opened up on the Grizzlies. This made it easy to fit another superstar into lineups. We still didn’t know the status of Kyrie Irving at lock, so I was deciding between Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball. I chased the recent performance of Ball even though Edwards had the better matchup and was playing without Mike Conley. To make matters worse, I had to watch Luka Doncic play a bunch in garbage time, which only put more salt in the wound. I ended up bubbling in my biggest contest, which is the worst place to be in DFS.
As for tonight, there are 7 games on the schedule. Even though 2 of the games are late, both FanDuel and DraftKings have decided to keep them on their main slates. We have four teams playing in the second half of a back-to-back (Wolves, Wizards, Heat, Warriors) and one team playing in the front half of a back-to-back (Pacers).
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, January 25th
Slate Overview
- 7-game slate
- 7:00 PM ET – Utah Jazz at Washington Wizards
- 7:00 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Indiana Pacers
- 7:30 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at New York Knicks
- 7:30 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Brooklyn Nets
- 7:30 PM ET – Boston Celtics at Miami Heat
- 10:00 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors
- 10:30 PM ET – Chicago Bulls at Los Angeles Lakers
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Pacers
- Teams on the back end of a back-to-back: Wolves, Wizards, Heat, Warriors
- 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
Utah Jazz (at WAS): We kick this slate off with my beloved Jazz, who have been playing their best basketball of the season over the last few weeks. They haven’t been great on the road (7-17) but draw an elite matchup against the Wizards, who are 1st in pace and 28th in defensive rating. The Jazz are no strangers to shootouts, and they come into this game with an implied total of 125.3 points, which is 7.3 points higher than their season average. This is one of the only teams without a single player on their injury report at the moment. From a projections standpoint, there’s a lot to like here. Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson all project as positive RGValues in LineupHQ. Markkanen has the highest minute floor of the three and has topped 48 fantasy points in 6 of his last 9 games. The value plays are also set to garner some ownership, as Kelly Olynyk, Walker Kessler, John Collins, Kris Dunn, and Simone Fontecchio all project for 15-20% ownership.
Washington Wizards (vs. UTA): The Wizards are an elite matchup for opponents, but they are still one of my least favorite teams to see on the schedule. After trying to predict their fantasy production over and over again, I finally decided to give up. They draw a favorable matchup tonight at home against the Jazz, who are 9th in pace and 23rd in defensive rating. Washington’s team total is 2.3 points higher than their season average. Isaiah Livers is questionable but everyone else should be available tonight. To his credit, Kyle Kuzma has been more consistent than I have given him credit for. He has topped 35 fantasy points in 9 straight games.
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