Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, March 5th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2026-03-05 23:00:19 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 DFS 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!

We are getting closer and closer to the weekend. If you are in the PGA DFS streets, hop in the RotoGrinders Discord and come sweat your lineups with us in the golf channel.

The NBA is getting tougher and tougher to predict on a nightly basis. When it comes to these tanking teams, there’s no such thing as a regular rotation. Coaches are randomly giving players big minutes one night and then pulling the rug from them the next night. The bigger issue is that we can’t just fade these teams because they are usually the ones with the best value plays from a projections standpoint. My biggest piece of advice is to embrace the variance, because there will be a lot of it the rest of the season.

We have 9 games on the schedule tonight, but FanDuel and DraftKings have only included the first 6 games on their main slates.

NBA DFS Top Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, March 5th

Slate Overview

• 6-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Utah Jazz at Washington Wizards
  - 7:00 pm ET – Dallas Mavericks at Orlando Magic
  - 7:30 pm ET – Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets
  - 7:30 pm ET – Brooklyn Nets at Miami Heat
  - 8:00 pm ET – Detroit Pistons at San Antonio Spurs
  - 8:00 pm ET – Toronto Raptors at Minnesota Timberwolves
  - 9:00 pm ET – Chicago Bulls at Phoenix Suns (not on main slate)
  - 10:00 pm ET – Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets (not on main slate)
  - 10:00 pm ET – New Orleans Pelicans at Sacramento Kings (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

Utah Jazz (at WAS)

It’s the tank battle tonight between the Jazz and Wizards. On paper, this is the best game environment on the slate. Unfortunately, these aren’t the most reliable teams in terms of their rotations or their production on the floor. With that said, Utah has a team total that is 3 points higher than their season average. This is a back-to-back, so we are still waiting on their injury report. In the Situation Room, we have Jaren Jackson Jr., Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen, Vince Williams, and Jusuf Nurkic listed as out. We have Keyonte George and Kevin Love as doubtful, as they are candidates to rest.

Despite missing some of their best players and having an elite matchup, there’s not a single player on the Jazz with a positive RGValue. However, I think there are some interesting options here for tournaments, especially if George gets the night off. Ace Bailey has regularly played minutes in the 30s over the last few weeks and has had a usage rate of at least 26% in 3 of the last 4 games. A breakout game feels imminent. Brice Sensabaugh has been good on a per-minute basis, but the playing time has been too volatile for my liking. I’d rather chase the value with Cody Williams or EJ Harkless, who should both see 25+ minutes at cheap price points.

Washington Wizards (vs. UTA)

The Wizards are trying to lose as many games as possible, but so are the Jazz. The positive here is that this is the best matchup for fantasy production. The Wizards enter the game with a team total that is 11 points higher than their season average. Anthony Davis, Kyshawn George, D’Angelo Russell, Alex Sarr, Tristan Vukcevic, Jamir Watkins, and Cam Whitmore are all out, while Anthony Gill is questionable.

I have more interest in the Wizards than I do in the Jazz. We’ll start with Julian Reese, who had a nice outing the other night for those of us who stuck with him. He already projects as a reasonable value, and he’ll have a path to 30 minutes if Gill gets ruled out. Will Riley has logged at least 32 minutes in 4 straight games. I know trusting the minutes for anyone on this team is risky, but it looks like he’s going to see 30+ minutes against the Jazz at a good price point. We don’t have anyone else on the roster projected for more than 24 minutes. Additionally, Trae Young will be making his Washington debut and will naturally cut into the usage of his teammates. Reese and Riley are by far the top targets here.

Want to read more? Sign up for NBA Premium!

Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers