NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Wednesday, January 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, everyone!
We are halfway to the weekend and only one day away from the start of a new golf tournament. If you haven’t tried PGA DFS before, give it a shot at some point this season. It’s my favorite sweat by a mile, as you get two different sweats throughout the week — the cut sweat and the Sunday sweat. We have a nice mix of free and premium content if you decide to check it out.
As for the association, there are now 9 games on the schedule this evening. Per Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter, “With the serious medical situation surrounding assistant coach Dejan Milojevic, the NBA is postponing Golden State’s game vs. Utah tonight in Salt Lake City.”
As for DFS, there are 8 games on the main slate. The Nets and Blazers game starts a full hour after the rest, so the sites decided to keep it off their main slates. This is likely for the best. Who wants to stay up an extra hour sweating those two teams? We don’t have any teams playing in the second half of a back-to-back, while three teams (Knicks, Raptors, Wolves) are playing in the front end of a back-to-back.
Let’s dive into the slate.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Wednesday, January 17th
Slate Overview
- 9-game slate
- 7:00 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Detroit Pistons
- 7:30 PM ET – Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors
- 7:30 PM ET – Orlando Magic at Atlanta Hawks
- 7:30 PM ET – Milwaukee Bucks at Cleveland Cavaliers
- 7:30 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at Boston Celtics
- 7:30 PM ET – Houston Rockets at New York Knicks
- 8:00 PM ET – Charlotte Hornets at New Orleans Pelicans
- 8:30 PM ET – Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers
- 10:00 PM ET – Brooklyn Nets at Portland Trail Blazers
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Knicks, Raptors, Wolves
- Teams on the back end of a back-to-back: None
- 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
Minnesota Timberwolves (at DET): We kick off the 9-game main slate with the Wolves, who currently sit atop the Western Conference standings. Tonight they draw an elite matchup against the Pistons, who are 7th in pace and 28th in defensive rating. Minnesota’s team total is 3.2 points above their season average. The big question mark here is Anthony Edwards, who is listed as questionable. If he’s unable to suit up, Nickeil Alexander-Walker would likely draw the start, and the other starters would see an uptick in usage. Here’s the CourtIQ query with Edwards off the floor this season:
As you can see, Karl-Anthony Towns is the biggest beneficiary with Edwards off the floor. Given a matchup against the Pistons, we can think about using 3+ Wolves in our lineups tonight if Edwards does sit. With him currently in the projections, he and KAT still have positive RGValues.
Detroit Pistons (vs. MIN): The Pistons are coming off of a rare win the other night but still have the worst record (4-36) in the league. They have a difficult draw this evening, as the Wolves are 8th in rebounding rate, 1st in points allowed, and 1st in defensive rating. Detroit’s team total is well below their season average. The Pistons just traded for Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala, but we don’t know if they will be available for tonight’s game. Cade Cunningham is set to miss his 5th straight game. Here are some of the fantasy point and usage boosts players have seen in his absence over the last 4 games.
- Jaden Ivey: +15.3 fantasy points per game, +9% usage
- Bojan Bogdanovic: +2.6 fantasy points per game, -2% usage
- Isaiah Stewart: +6.3 fantasy points per game, +8% usage
- Jalen Duren: +4.5 fantasy points per game, +5% usage
- Alec Burks: +9.3 fantasy points per game, +5% usage
Here is an example of the DFS tables that are provided to our Premium Subscribers
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