What's up, FAmily? Before we dive in, I want to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by the terrible wildfires in California.

The Lakers vs. Hornets game has been canceled tonight. The Mavericks vs. Blazers game has been moved up to 7:30 ET due to inclement weather. There's a lot going on on this main slate, and a ton of injury designations to work through.

Donovan Mitchell has already been ruled up, which immediately opens up some usage and value, as the Cavs take on a bad defensive Toronto team.

UPDATE - 4:35 p.m. ET

There are too many Q tags on GSW and MEM for me to label any of those guys as a core play or even begin to speculate. Keep an eye on those injury reports before lock. Value could open up, or one of their regulars could suit up and soak up a ton of usage without typical teammates on the floor.

I'll update the core plays here until about 6:30 p.m. ET, but you can also join our discord for more information leading up to our lock from our experts.

UPDATE - 6:20 p.m. ET

Golden State: Draymond is in, Curry is in, and Moody is out. No word on Schroder yet. 

Kyle Anderson and Stephen Curry become REALLY interesting, and let's say my interest in Draymond is somewhere between turtle and rabbit on the lawn-mower speed gauge. I'm listing Anderson is a value core play. He has a pretty scary floor, but the ceiling is attractive at his price, and GSW is really thin tonight. I'll have shares of most of the Warriors that should play meaningful minutes.

 

 

Before actually diving into the meat and potatoes, welcome to the NBA DFS season. If this is your first time reading our column on NBA DFS picks, I just want to welcome you and give you a few tips and tricks on what you should be looking for each night.

  • News outlets: reliable sources that give us injury news & starting lineups
  • Pace of play: who's playing fast vs. who's playing slow. Which teams get a pace-up spot (more possessions) vs. pace-down (fewer possessions)
  • Usage rates: is a percentage of how many plays that player is being used in
  • NBA DFS Projections
  • Lineup Generator
  • NBA Ownership

 

NBA DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Thursday, January 9th

Be sure to like and subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel!

 

 

Pre-Lock Update

This section will be used for anything that changes from the morning until right up to roster lock. 

Injury updates, players we’re higher on than we were in the morning and so much more.

UPDATE - 2:53 p.m. ET

  • Andrew Wiggins - OUT
  • Jerami Grant - OUT
  • Josh Richardson - Q
  • Robert Williams - Q

UPDATE - 5:06 p.m. ET

  • Bogdan Bogdanovic - Q (downgraded)

UPDATE - 6:10 p.m. ET

  • Sam Merrill - IN
  • Draymond Green - IN
  • Stephen Curry - IN
  • Davion Mitchell - IN
  • Daniel Gafford - IN
  • Moses Moody - OUT

UPDATE - 6:20 p.m. ET

  • Robert Williams - OUT
  • Bruce Brown - OUT

UPDATE - 6:27 p.m. ET

  • Dennis Schroder - IN

NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 1/9

  • Donovan Mitchell - OUT
  • Paolo Banchero - Q
  • Stephen Curry - Q
  • Draymond Green - Q
  • Dennis Schroder - Q
  • Ja Morant - Q
  • Desmond Bane - Q
  • Jaren Jackson - Q
  • Kyrie Irving - OUT
  • Luka Doncic - OUT
  • Jimmy Butler - OUT
  • Jalen Johnson - OUT
  • Jalen Suggs - OUT
  • John Collins - OUT
  • Jordan Clarkson - OUT
  • Keyonte George - OUT
  • Brice Sensabaugh - OUT
  • Jerami Grant - D
  • Jabari Smith - OUT
  • Jonathan Kuminga - OUT
  • Daniel Gafford -Q
  • Brandin Podziemski - OUT
  • Santi Aldama - Q
  • Royce O'Neale - Q
  • Onyeka Okongwu - Q
  • Tari Eason - D
  • Moses Moody - Q
  • Ochai Agbaji- OUT
  • Sam Merrill - Q
  • Gary Harris - OUT

 

 

 

NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews

We've got a lot of games with either lower game totals or spreads suggesting blowout for tonight's matchups. That said we do have a handful of games where we are expecting close, competitive and high scoring which is where the majority of the ownership tonight is going when building out our DFS lineups and those games are below.

Cleveland Cavalires vs. Toronto Raptors

  • Total: 235
  • Spread: CLE -14

Phoenix Suns vs. Atlanta Hawks

  • Total: 239
  • Spread: PHX -6

Orlando Magic vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Total: 199.5
  • MIN - 5.5
 

 

NBA DFS Core Player Pool & Lineup Picks (Updated 6:43 p.m. ET)

Here are the core players I’m looking at for my NBA DFS picks tonight. You can see the full analysis of tonight’s NBA DFS projections and player pool below or skip ahead to building the best lineups possible by locking these into the aforementioned lineup generator now.

 

High

  • Trae Young, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Cade Cunningham

Mid

  • Amen Thompson, Darius Garland, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jaime Jaquez, Cole Anthony

Value

  • Ausar Thompson, Naji Marshall, Ty Jerome, Caris LeVert, Buddy Hield (GPP), Onyeka Okongwu (DK), Kyle Anderson

 

 

 

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