Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Wednesday, April 17th
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 Wednesday!
I didn’t catch most of the LAL/NO game due to parental obligations, but I did watch the last 6 minutes. I can’t tell you how much I have missed playoff basketball. The Lakers were red-hot to close the regular season and managed to grind out a tough win on the road to claim the 7th seed in the Western Conference playoffs. We may have witnessed the end of an era in the late game, as the Warriors were blown out by the Kings. There’s a good chance Golden State blows up the core that has carried them to several championships over the last 10 years. The 8th and final spot in the West now comes down to the Pelicans and the Kings. That game will take place on Friday night.
We now turn our attention to the Eastern Conference. Once again, the 7th and 8th seeds will square off to determine who will get the 7th seed in the East. The 9th and 10th seed will square off to determine who will face the loser of the 7th/8th seed game, which will take place on Friday. The winner of that game will end up grabbing the 8th and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. There’s a lot on the line, so we should see some competitive games tonight. Let’s dive into the slate.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Wednesday, April 17th
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 7:00 PM ET – Miami Heat at Philadelphia 76ers
- 9:30 PM ET – Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls
- 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
Miami Heat (at PHI): The Heat haven’t had the season many expected, but they are going to be a dangerous team if they can find a way into the playoffs. A win tonight would grant them the 7th seed in the East and a first-round matchup against the Knicks. Even though they enter tonight’s game as 5-point underdogs, I see this as a very winnable game for the Heat. They were 24-17 on the road during the regular season and have plenty of postseason experience. From a matchup standpoint, this is a slightly below-average post, as the Sixers were 18th in pace and 11th in defensive rating during the regular season. The Heat have a team total that is 8.6 points below their season average. On the injury front, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson have both been ruled out.
With Rozier and Richardson both out, we should see Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin start in the backcourt. Herro averaged 37 fantasy points in his final 4 regular season games but does tend to struggle in more difficult matchups. If you remember back to last year’s playoffs, Martin was one of the best players on any team. He wasn’t able to carry that over to this season, but perhaps he can find some postseason magic once again. On a per-dollar basis, he’s one of my favorite plays of the slate. We have him projected for 30 minutes, but there’s potential for more if he’s playing well. We’ve seen nice outings from Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic, and Jaime Jaquez at times throughout the regular season, but I don’t have much interest in them on the road in a playoff atmosphere. I don’t hate the spot for Duncan Robinson, but he’s far too expensive for someone projected to play 18 minutes.
Jimmy Butler is known as one of the best two-way players in the league. He’s also known as one of the best difficult-matchup DFS players in the league. He’s carried this team a number of times in the playoffs over the years. He didn’t finish the regular season on a high note, but he’s more than capable of scoring 50+ fantasy points this evening. It doesn’t look like he’s going to be that popular (at least on DraftKings), which makes him an excellent tournament play. Bam Adebayo is typically a player that I like to trust in these situations, but he will have his hands full with Joel Embiid. Even if he manages to stay out of foul trouble, he has one of the worst individual matchups on the slate. In his last 4 games against Embiid, he has scored 35, 25, 26, and 23 fantasy points. None of those outings would pay off his current salary.
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