Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Tuesday, April 16th
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 Tuesday!
Finally, finally, finally, we have a meaningful slate of basketball games!
The regular season is officially over. Before the playoffs start, we have the Play-In Tournament. If you aren’t familiar with it, seeds 7 through 10 from both conferences will battle it out to grab the final two spots in their respective conferences. Here’s how it works — both 7 seeds will host the 8 seeds. The winner of those games will move on to the playoffs and face the 2nd seed in their conference. Both 9 seeds will host the 10 seeds. The winner of that game will then move on to face the loser from the 7th/8th seed game (with the lower seed getting home-court advantage). Essentially, the 7th and 8th seeds in each conference have two chances of punching their ticket to the playoffs, while the 9th and 10th seeds have to win 2 games to get into the playoffs. This format is so much better than a traditional bracket because it rewards the teams that finish higher during the regular season.
I had my doubts when the NBA first started the Play-In Tournament, but it’s been a huge success and has given more teams something to play for toward the end of the regular season. It’s also a fun way to kick off the postseason. We’ll see the two Western Conference games tonight and the two Eastern Conference games tomorrow. Then the battle for the 8th and final playoff spots will be on Thursday and Friday. I’m excited to have some meaningful basketball back in our lives. If you are fairly new to NBA DFS when it comes to the playoffs, you are going to see much tighter rotations. This is especially the case in the Play-In Tournament, as the entire season is on the line for these teams.
And do you know what’s going to be awesome? I won’t have to update the injury section of this article every 15 minutes. If possible, I would insert all of the smiling face, hands up, dancing, and prayer emojis.
Let’s dive into tonight’s 2-game slate!
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Tuesday, April 16th
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 7:30 PM ET – Los Angeles Lakers at New Orleans Pelicans
- 10:00 PM ET – Golden State Warriors at Sacramento Kings
- 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
Los Angeles Lakers (at NOP): We kick off the slate with the Lakers, who put together a strong second half of the season to finish as the 8th seed in the Western Conference. We know they enjoy playing in these mini-tournaments (they won the In-Season Tournament), but they have been beatable on the road (19-21). A matchup against the Pelicans isn’t exactly ideal, as New Orleans finished the regular season ranked 10th in rebounding rate, 2nd in 3-point percentage allowed, and 6th in defensive rating. The Lakers are listed as 1-point underdogs and have a team total that is 6.3 points below their season average (the worst mark on the slate). Outside of Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt, the Lakers should be at full strength tonight.
Now that we are into the Play-In Tournament, I expect the offense to flow through LeBron James and Anthony Davis. We saw what they were capable of toward the end of the regular season, as LeBron posted five straight 50+ fantasy point outings and Davis topped 60 fantasy points in 3 of the last 5 games. During the regular season, I would typically recommend only playing one or the other, but both players are viable in the same lineup tonight. They have two of the best three RGValues on the slate (on DraftKings). The problem with the ancillary pieces on the Lakers is that they aren’t priced at a discount. D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves both feel overpriced given the matchup and their respective projections. Rui Hachimura is more appealing in my eyes, as he’s capable of scoring 40 fantasy points at a sub-$6,000 price point. If I had to pick a punt here, I would side with Taurean Prince. We have him projected to play 20 minutes and he’s only $3,700 on DraftKings.
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