Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, January 8th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-01-08 23:37:49 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 to the weekend and inching closer to the start of the NFL playoffs. You know we are going to have you covered for all of your NFL DFS needs. We’ll have separate Expert Surveys and Key Personnel articles for each of the slates. I’ll also have a Grind Down ready to roll for the Monday Night Football game. I’m not sure how I feel about my Jaguars facing the Bills in the 1st round. On one hand, I would love to see the Jaguars advance in a winnable AFC. On the other hand, my Bills Super Bowl futures will be dead if the Jaguars win on Sunday. I suppose I should view it as a win-win situation.

We only have 4 NBA games on the slate, which is a nice break from the busy schedule that we’ve had so far this week. The fewer number of games allows us to dive a little deeper in the team previews. Let’s get to it!

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, January 8th

Slate Overview

• 4-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Indiana Pacers at Charlotte Hornets
  - 8:00 pm ET – Cleveland Cavaliers at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 8:00 pm ET – Miami Heat at Chicago Bulls
  - 9:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

News Updates

12:30 PM ET

Andrew Nembhard is now questionable for the Pacers. His absence would provide a minute boost for Ben Sheppard and T.J. McConnell.

Anthony Edwards is now questionable for the Wolves. His absence would make Minnesota one of the top teams to target on the slate.

Team Previews

Indiana Pacers (at CHA)

We start tonight’s small slate with the Pacers, who travel to Charlotte to take on the Hornets. This is a favorable matchup on paper, and the Pacers have a team total that is 4 points higher than their season average. Isaiah Jackson, Bennedict Mathurin, and Obi Toppin are all out.

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

Andrew Nembhard has played well recently, scoring at least 35 fantasy points in 5 of his last 6 games. He’s affordable and draws a nice matchup against a beatable Hornets’ backcourt. Aaron Nesmith isn’t usually a high-usage player, but his usage rate has been above 20% in 9 of the last 12 games. He should push for minutes in the 30s at a good price point. Johnny Furphy is cheap; he has seen a massive 0.33 FP/min. boost with those three players off the floor, and he put up 28 fantasy points the other night.

T.J. McConnell doesn’t have a high minute projection, which does limit his upside. However, he’s viable on a small slate like this one. We’ll see who starts between Jay Huff and Micah Potter. Whoever it is will make a strong value play. Huff started and put up 29 fantasy points last game. Potter started the game before that and scored 30 fantasy points. Pascal Siakam has the highest RGValue of anyone on the Pacers. He has scored over 44 fantasy points in 3 of the last 6 games.

Charlotte Hornets (vs. IND)

The Hornets draw a nice matchup at home against the Pacers, who are 11th in pace and bottom 7 in rebounding rate, points allowed per game, and defensive rating. Charlotte’s team total is 3 points higher than their season average. This is a back-to-back, so we are still waiting on their injury report. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Mason Plumlee are expected out again, while Brandon Miller missed last night’s game with an ankle injury.

I’ll circle back and provide more of an in-depth breakdown as soon as we get Charlotte’s injury report. There are a lot of scenarios in play here. LaMelo Ball could rest in the back-to-back, Miller could be out again, and/or other players could get added to the injury report. As is stands right now, Moussa Diabate and Kon Knueppel are the only players with positive RGValues on the Hornets.

Cleveland Cavaliers (at MIN)

The Cavaliers have a difficult matchup on the road against the Wolves, who are 10th in points allowed per game and 6th in defensive rating. Cleveland’s team total is 1 point lower than their season average. Max Strus and Dean Wade are out, while Larry Nance is listed as questionable.

This is the healthiest the Cavaliers have been in weeks, which is never ideal for individual fantasy production. However, Donovan Mitchell has averaged 52 fantasy points in his last 3 games and is always worth a look in tournaments at low projected ownership. He’s the only player I would consider in small-field tournaments. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley have flashed enough upside to warrant consideration in large-field tournaments.

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