NBA DFS Core Plays LIVE: Wednesday, March 20th
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!
We have so much going on right now at RotoGrinders. In addition to all of the usual free and premium content, we have the Rep the Badge promo, we are giving away RotoGrinders swag in the Discord, and we have a great article previewing the NCAA Tournament. Building brackets doesn’t quite have the same appeal as it did growing up (probably because I can bet on all of the games now), but it’s still a fun process. I plan to do a contest with my little one to see who can build the better bracket. He doesn’t love watching sports yet, so hopefully, this can get him a little more interested in the tournament.
As for the association, we have 8 games on the schedule tonight. Unlike Monday night, FanDuel and DraftKings have both decided to keep the 3 late games on their main slates. We don’t have any teams playing in the second half of a back-to-back, but that doesn’t mean we should expect a straightforward day when it comes to injury news.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Wednesday, March 20th
Slate Overview
- 8-game slate
- 7:00 PM ET – Miami Heat at Cleveland Cavaliers
- 7:00 PM ET – Indiana Pacers at Detroit Pistons
- 7:30 PM ET – Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics
- 7:30 PM ET – Sacramento Kings at Toronto Raptors
- 8:00 PM ET – Utah Jazz at Oklahoma City Thunder
- 10:00 PM ET – Philadelphia 76ers at Phoenix Suns
- 10:00 PM ET – Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors
- 10:00 PM ET – Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: Bucks, Kings, Jazz, Suns
- 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
Miami Heat (at CLE): The Heat have lost 6 of their last 10 games and would have to enter the play-in tournament if the regular season ended today. There’s still plenty of time to move up in the standings, but they have a tough draw this evening. The Cavaliers are solid at home and are 3rd in defensive rating this season. The Heat have the lowest team total on the slate at only 99.8 points. The low total has a little to do with the matchup and a little to do with all of the injuries. Kevin Love, Josh Richardson, Tyler Herro, and Duncan Robinson have been ruled out, while Jimmy Butler and Nikola Jovic are questionable. If Butler is active, he becomes an intriguing tournament option. He has topped 50 fantasy points in 5 of his last 11 games. If Butler is out, Jaime Jaquez and Caleb Martin would play as many minutes as they could handle, while Bam Adebayo would see a sizable uptick in usage. Even though they don’t project well, I plan to have more exposure to the Heat than the field (with or without Butler in the lineup).
Cleveland Cavaliers (vs. MIA): The Cavaliers have only won 5 of their last 10 games but are still 3rd in the Eastern Conference standings. They draw a difficult matchup tonight against the Heat, who are 28th in pace and 9th in defensive rating. This is arguably the worst game environment on the slate, as both teams are projected to score 10 points less than their respective season averages. Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Max Strus, and Dean Wade are all set to miss tonight’s game. While the matchup is far from ideal, we can expect high usage from Darius Garland (averaging 41 fantasy points over the last 4 games) and Caris LeVert (averaging 42 fantasy points over the last 4 games). I’m less interested in Jarrett Allen, as he’ll draw a tough individual matchup against Bam Adebayo. If you need value tonight, you could certainly do worse than Georges Niang and Isaac Okoro, who should both see north of 30 minutes.
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