Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Tuesday, December 2nd

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-12-02 23:33:42 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 Tuesday!

Despite an early injury from T.J. McConnell, I was able to sneak across the cash line in my main tournament team last night. It’s always a nice surprise when your lineup cashes when you aren’t expecting it.

I don’t know if you have seen the brown paper bag game on social media, but we tried it out last night. Essentially, you take a paper bag from the grocery store and take turns trying to pick it up with your mouths. You can’t use your arms at all, so it basically comes down to flexibility and creativity. After everyone goes, you make the paper bag a few inches shorter each round. I naturally finished in last place and am feeling it in the old hamstrings today, but it was a ton of fun. Our boys were cracking up and were surprisingly good at it.

There are 6 games on tonight’s schedule. Both FanDuel and DraftKings left the super late game (OKC/GS) off of their main slates, so let’s dive into the 5-gamer.

NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Tuesday, December 2nd

Slate Overview

• 5-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Washington Wizards at Philadelphia 76ers
  - 7:30 pm ET – Portland Trail Blazers at Toronto Raptors
  - 8:00 pm ET – New York Knicks at Boston Celtics
  - 8:00 pm ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 8:00 pm ET – Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs
• 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

Washington Wizards (at PHI)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Wizards, who are 13.5-point underdogs against the Sixers. This is not a bad matchup on paper, but the Wizards have a team total that is 2 points below their season average. This is a back-to-back for Washington, so we don’t have their injury report yet. However, we are expecting them to at least be without Alex Sarr, Khris Middleton, Corey Kispert, and Tre Johnson.

In last night’s game, Marvin Bagley III (29) and Tristan Vukcevic (19) split all 48 of the available center minutes. I rarely target players from the same team who aren’t going to share the floor together, but one of my favorite strategies tonight is to use both Bagley and Vukcevic on DraftKings. We are essentially hoping to get all 48 center minutes at a combined price of only $6,800.

CJ McCollum has struggled with consistency, but he has scored at least 43 fantasy points in 4 of his last 10 games. He’s an interesting tournament option. Kyshawn George doesn’t project as well as McCollum, so he should come in at lower ownership. He has similar upside, as he’s topped 44 fantasy points in 4 of the last 7 games.

Philadelphia 76ers (vs. WAS)

The Sixers draw the best matchup in all of NBA DFS. The Wizards are 29th in rebounding rate, 30th in points allowed per game, and 29th in defensive rating. There is some blowout potential here, but the upside more than makes up for it. The Sixers have a team total that is 6 points higher than their season average. Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Trendon Watford are all out, while Andre Drummond and Paul George are both questionable.

Even with Drummond and George in the projections, Tyrese Maxey has an RGValue of +11. That’s one of the highest RGValues I can remember for a player at his price point. He has averaged 55 fantasy points per game this season and has a dream matchup at home. If Drummond is active, he makes for an interesting tournament target. If Drummond is out, Adem Bona becomes a core play, while Dominick Barlow would see an uptick in minutes as well.

If George is active, he makes for an interesting tournament target. He’s been solid on a per-minute basis (1.32 DK / 1.35 FD) and played 28 minutes his last time out. If George is out, Quentin Grimes, VJ Edgecombe, and Justin Edwards would all see an uptick in minutes.

Want to read more? Sign up for NBA Premium!

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