NBA DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups, Injuries & More Today: Sunday Playbook
Published: Feb 09, 2025
It's Super Bowl Sunday but the NBA still has a three game main slate today featuring fun matchups between the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets vs Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors vs Houston Rockets.
Let's waste no time and dive in.
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 Today, February 9th
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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.
LaMelo Ball DOWNGRADED
- Newly signed Elf Payton could start, KJ Simpson also gets a boost.
NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 2/9
- Giannis Antetokounmpo - OUT
- Joel Embiid - Questionable
- Brandon Ingram - OUT
- RJ Barrett - OUT
- Fred VanVleet - OUT
- Jakob Poeltl - OUT
- Tari Eason - OUT
- Guerschon Yabusele - Questionable
- Nick Smith Jr. - Questionable
- Steven Adams - OUT
- Josh Green - OUT
NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews
With the NBA season just kicking off we don't have data yet for teams regarding pace of play and defensive matchups. In the section below, I’m listing the most notable things we need to look at in Las Vegas, including notable O/U and spreads.
Charlotte Hornets vs Detroit Pistons
- Total: 224.5
- Spread: DET -4.5
Toronto Raptors vs Houston Rockets
- Total: 223.5
- Spread: HOU -9.5
Philadelphia 76ers vs Milwaukee Bucks
- Total: 227.5
- Spread: PHI -1.5
NBA DFS Core Player Pool & Lineup Picks
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.
Top Price
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
My top spend up of the slate and cover of the playbook. The last time we saw Cade on the floor he nearly went for 70 fantasy against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He now takes a big step down in competition as the Pistons host the Charlotte Hornets. Another 30+ near triple-double could be in the cards here this Super Bowl Sunday.
Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks
No Giannis and it seems like the Bucks will be without him through the All-Star break which means it is Dame Time. Over the last two games we've seen Lillard go for 50+ fantasy points but the price tag hasn't caught up to the fact that he is now the top dog.
Plug him in your lineup now because he will be $10,000 real soon.
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
It was wild to see the 76ers get blown out by the Pistons with Cade Cunningham out of the lineup but it wasn't due to the play of Tyrese Maxey who scored 27 points on his way to 45 fantasy points.
Yes, the price is creeping towards $10,000 and yes, Joel Embiid is a usage rate monster but that doesn't seem to impact Maxey at all and we know the Bucks are not great defensively.
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Embiid played 30 minutes against the Pistons in Philadelphia's blowout loss and yet he still finished with 44 fantasy points, scoring 23 points with seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
If he got another 5-to-6 minutes we could have easily seen him go for 50-to-60 fantasy points in that matchup.
Assuming he plays today, I'm buying in.
Mid-Price
Highest rostered player on the slate today and for good reason. With Giannis Antetokounmpo out of the lineup we see Portis going insane with back-to-back 60 fantasy point performances. The price tag is going to fly to $8,000 now that we know Giannis is going to miss extended time and that means we gotta get our exposure now.
Kelly Oubre, Philadelphia 76ers
On paper we think that Paul George is the third man for the 76ers behind Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey but lately it's still been Kelly Oubre putting up the top tier production while George struggles to get anything going. Will that continue? We shall see but for now I want the guy who looks to be in the better form and that's Oubre right now.
Immanuel Quickley, Toronto Raptors
Minutes are on the way up with Quickley seeing 28 minutes the other night. It could be a quick ramp to full minutes in this matchup against the Rockets and while this isn't exactly the best spot, I'll live knowing the minutes are there and he is a very talented player.
Value-Price
So, MAJOR price discrepancy here between DraftKings and FanDuel. DraftKings seemingly forgot Kuzma existed and they have him priced under $4,000 which makes him right there with Portis as the highest rostered player on the slate. He's more expensive on FanDuel but still a core play for me with Giannis out of the lineup. In his Bucks debut we saw Kuzma play 24 minutes and finish with 22 fantasy points. I'd expect both the minutes and the fantasy points to increase as he gets more comfortable in his role.
Daquan Jeffries, Charlotte Hornets
Jeffries started and played 30 minutes for the Hornets the other night. Assuming he continues to start with the Hornets missing Josh Green and Josh Okogie he becomes a solid value play with the minutes he is expected to see.
Moussa Diabate, Charlotte Hornets
Well, it should be interesting in Charlotte in the coming days with Mark Williams now returning after failing his physical with the Lakers and the trade being cancelled. Diabate will start and play but Jusuf Nurkic is also expected to be available. Reports after the trade were that Nurkic was going to back up Diabate so we will give him the nod here today.
Jonathan Mogbo, Toronto Raptors
Starting at center with Jakob Poeltl out of the lineup. He saw 28 minutes the other night against the Thunder and held his own, scoring 10 points with four rebounds, three asists and two steals for 24.5 fantasy points.
Player Pool
| $ Tier | PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Cade Cunningham  $10,600 |  Scottie Barnes $9,100 |  Miles Bridges $8,300 |  Joel Embiid $10,700 | |
| LaMelo Ball $9,900 |  Amen Thompson $8,600 |  Bobby Portis $7,700 | Alperen Şengün $8,700 | ||
| Tyrese Maxey $9,800 | |||||
| Damian Lillard $9,400 | |||||
| Medium | Immanuel Quickley $5,900 | Jalen Green $7,300 | Ausar Thompson $6,200 | Tobias Harris $6,700 | Jalen Duren $6,600 |
| Dennis Schröder $5,800 | Kelly Oubre $6,900 | Kyle Kuzma $6,000 | Moussa Diabaté $5,900 | ||
| Dillon Brooks $4,900 | Brook Lopez $5,700 | ||||
| Low | Malik Beasley $5,800 | Cam Whitmore $4,500 | Justin Edwards $4,300 | Jonathan Mogbo $4,700 | |
| Gradey Dick $4,800 | DaQuan Jeffries $4,000 | Isaiah Stewart $4,200 | |||
| Gary Trent $4,300 | |||||
| Quentin Grimes $4,700 |
Player News
Devin Booker logged 34 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics, tallying 14 points (4-of-13 FGs, 5-of-6 FTs), seven rebounds, 10 assists and one three-pointer.
Kevin Durant shot 11-of-16 from the field and 5-of-5 from the foul line in Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics, scoring 30 points with one rebound, two assists and three three-pointers in 30 minutes.
Al Horford amassed 16 points (5-of-10 FGs, 4-of-4 FTs), 10 rebounds, five assists, one steal, two blocks and two three-pointers in 26 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Suns.
Jaylen Brown accounted for 24 points (7-of-15 FGs, 6-of-6 FTs), three rebounds, five assists, one steal and four three-pointers in 28 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Suns.
Kristaps Porzingis played 29 minutes in Wednesday’s rout of the Suns, finishing with 30 points (10-of-15 FGs, 6-of-8 FTs), eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and four three-pointers.
Christian Braun produced 19 points (8-of-15 FGs), 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals and three three-pointers in 38 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Bucks.