NBA DraftKings DFS Picks, Core Plays & Values | November 10, 2026

NBA DraftKings DFS picks for Tuesday, November 10, 2026: Karl-Anthony Towns, Franz Wagner and Anthony Black are the first players in our balanced builds. Isaiah Collier is the inexpensive guard to watch as Utah redistributes Keyonte George’s minutes. The objective is to buy sustained involvement without paying for a repeat of Sunday’s hottest shooting performances.

Slate: Five games, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Salaries and roster positions below are for DraftKings Classic. Oklahoma City at Portland, scheduled for 11 p.m. ET, is outside this player pool.

The five-game slate and the injuries that matter

Milwaukee visits New York at 7:30 p.m.; Boston visits Philadelphia at 8; Miami visits Utah and the Clippers visit Phoenix at 9; Orlando visits Sacramento at 10. All times are Eastern.

The NBA’s 2 p.m. ET injury report lists Giannis as probable with a right wrist sprain. Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Josh Hart, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and Tristan da Silva are questionable. Utah is without Lauri Markkanen (right wrist sprain), Keyonte George, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic; Orlando is without Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs. Desmond Bane and Joel Embiid are not listed on their teams’ submitted reports. Phoenix has not submitted its report for the second night of a back-to-back.

That last point matters for construction. An old injury label is not enough to promote a Suns replacement. Build around the players with clear opportunity first, then use Phoenix news to improve the final spots. Similarly, Sabonis’ status could change Sacramento’s entire frontcourt allocation at the latest tip on this slate.

Core plays: where to spend first

Karl-Anthony Towns, PF/C, Knicks: $8,900

Towns is our preferred starting big because the salary buys two substantial sources of production. He can get there through scoring and rebounding rather than needing a huge block total. In Saturday’s win in Cleveland, he had 29 points, 13 rebounds and three assists in 33:58. Official Knicks–Cavaliers box score.

The roster flexibility is part of the value. Putting Towns at PF lets a cheaper center occupy C and preserves UTIL for late news. That can be more useful than saving a small amount on a center-only player whose place in the lineup is harder to rearrange.

New York is a heavy favorite, so this is not a promise of a full fourth quarter. We prefer Towns as a single Knicks anchor over automatically pairing him with Jalen Brunson ($8,500). A two-star New York build can work if Milwaukee keeps the game close, but it places more salary behind the same competitive-game assumption. Towns’ price is attractive enough to accept that risk without making the entire lineup depend on it.

Franz Wagner, SF/PF, Magic: $9,000

Wagner’s appeal is the combination of scoring responsibility and playmaking. His season line entering Tuesday includes 20.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, with 36.4 minutes per game. Those are observed results, not projections. Orlando season statistics.

With Banchero and Suggs unavailable, Wagner has a clear route to meaningful possessions even if his jump shot is ordinary. The assists matter especially at this salary: a points-only wing usually needs a hotter shooting night to reach the same fantasy result. Sacramento’s uncertainty at center adds upside if Sabonis cannot play, but Wagner does not need that absence to make the shortlist.

Bane is not on the latest report. Treat this as an Orlando team with Bane available, rather than giving Wagner every possession that an outdated illness tag appears to free up. At $9,000, the role is already priced as a major one. We are buying breadth of contribution, not calling him a bargain merely because teammates are out.

Anthony Black, PG/SG, Magic: $6,900

Black is the midrange guard who makes a Towns–Wagner build more practical. In his last two games he averaged 14 points, 7.5 rebounds and six assists in roughly 35 minutes. Saturday’s game went to overtime, so that playing-time average needs context. Black’s recent game log.

The important part is that his output is not confined to made shots. Rebounding and passing give him ways to contribute when he is not the possession’s finisher. Suggs’ absence helps preserve that involvement, although Wagner and Bane still share the creation work.

Wagner and Black together are a reasonable two-player core. Their outcomes are not perfectly correlated: both can help if Orlando plays well, while either can lose shots or assists to the other. We prefer that pair to blindly loading four Magic players into one lineup. Black is a genuine midrange purchase at this salary, not a cheap injury replacement.

Premium alternatives and tournament ceilings

Jayson Tatum, SF/PF, Celtics: $10,100

Tatum is the premium alternative for a build that prioritizes a close game. Boston–Philadelphia is priced much more competitively than Milwaukee–New York or Miami–Utah. He took 19 shots in 28:53 Sunday, then sat the entire fourth quarter of Boston’s comfortable win. Official Boston box score; Sunday game recap.

The DFS lesson is to separate workload from the final point total. A short appearance can depress the box score without weakening a player’s offensive priority. Philadelphia’s stronger resistance creates a plausible route to more competitive minutes, although a lower-scoring game can offset that benefit. Tatum is our preferred way to spend above $10,000 in a balanced tournament build.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF, Heat: $11,400

Giannis has the slate’s most expensive salary and a strong interior matchup against an injured Utah frontcourt. The probable designation is encouraging, but it is not the same as a guarantee of normal minutes or an injury-free performance.

The roster decision is whether his ceiling compensates for the weaker players needed around him. He costs $2,500 more than Towns and $2,400 more than Wagner. That difference is meaningful when the cheaper guards still need lineup confirmation. Use Giannis in builds where the value has a credible role, rather than fitting three minimum-salary players around his name. Utah’s depleted offense also makes a shortened fourth quarter a material risk.

Darryn Peterson, PG/SG, Jazz: $6,800

Peterson finished Sunday’s game with 26 points, six rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes, taking 21 shots. Utah–Minnesota box score.

George’s absence makes the opportunity more interesting than the 26-point headline. Utah needs someone to create attempts, and Peterson can do that while contributing outside scoring. Miami’s interior size still makes this a difficult efficiency matchup. We like Peterson more for tournaments than as a supposedly safe floor play, now that Markkanen is out and the offense becomes more dependent on the rookie. More available shots also come with greater defensive attention and less reliable spacing, so the larger role does not guarantee better efficiency.

Value plays and the right way to use them

Kyle Kuzma, PF, Bucks: $4,600

Kuzma played 31:06 Sunday and attempted 17 shots. Six made threes helped produce 27 points. Official Celtics–Bucks box score.

The minutes and attempts support interest at $4,600. Six threes should not be part of a normal expectation. His salary allows an ordinary shooting result to remain useful, particularly in a lineup that needs an inexpensive forward rather than another center. Herro’s status could increase the available scoring work, but do not count all of it as Kuzma’s. Milwaukee’s young guards and Jaime Jaquez Jr. also need possessions.

Brook Lopez, C, Clippers: $5,000

Lopez started Sunday and produced 20 points and seven rebounds in 26:25. His 8-for-11 shooting was excellent and should not be treated as a new baseline. Pelicans–Clippers box score.

He offers a cheaper center route than the $8,000-plus group, with blocks as an additional source of upside. The concern is that his workload is closer to a shared center role than a 35-minute guarantee. Phoenix’s report may change the matchup, but our initial interest rests on Lopez’s own role and salary. Isaiah Jackson remains another player in that center rotation, not an assumed absence.

Neemias Queta, C, Celtics: $4,900

Queta had 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 21:36 Sunday, while Mitchell Robinson played 18:07. Boston’s official rotation and box score.

That split is why Queta is a value option rather than a core lock. A competitive game can provide more minutes, but Robinson is a real alternative and Embiid creates foul pressure. Queta fits builds that want rebounding at a modest cost. Do not pair him with Robinson simply to chase both sides of the same limited center-minute pool.

Isaiah Collier, PG, Jazz: $4,400

Collier is the clearest role-change candidate. With George out, Utah has more ballhandling work available, and the early projected lineup places Collier at point guard. That is an expectation, not a confirmed starting five.

The discount is real, but the uncertainty is real too. Collier played only 16 minutes Sunday. An increased role is a sensible basketball inference; assigning him a guaranteed 30-plus minutes is not. He is most useful after the starting lineup supports the larger role. Peterson can also absorb creation duties, and a lineup with both guards doubles its exposure to Utah’s offense.

Klay Thompson, SG/SF, Heat: $4,900

Miami’s latest starting group included Thompson and Pelle Larsson, with Andrew Wiggins moving to the bench. Thompson made seven threes Sunday. Miami lineup report.

That is a tournament ceiling case, not a floor case. The salary and wing eligibility fit around expensive frontcourt players, but Giannis, Bam Adebayo and Davion Mitchell all demand offensive involvement. Thompson needs shot volume and makes more than he needs another lineup announcement. Larsson’s promotion also means an old projected lineup with Wiggins starting should not be accepted without checking it.

Build plan and late-swap decisions

Balanced core: Towns, Wagner and Black total $24,800, leaving $25,200 for five slots, or $5,040 per slot. That is a workable structure without forcing a minimum-salary player. Start Towns at PF and Wagner at SF when the rest of the build permits, keeping broader flex slots available for later games.

Tournament alternative: Replace one of the $9,000-range anchors with Tatum or Giannis and choose the supporting value deliberately. Avoid assuming that every injured-team backup becomes a strong play. A confirmed role is more useful than a player’s cheap salary alone.

• 7:30 p.m. ET: Resolve Herro and Hart before locking the Bucks–Knicks pieces. If Herro sits, reassess Ryan Rollins ($5,500) and Brayden Burries ($4,800) against the actual starting lineup.
• 9 p.m. ET: Markkanen is out. Check Giannis, Utah’s guard starters and Phoenix’s submitted report. Do not carry yesterday’s Suns statuses forward automatically.
• 10 p.m. ET: Sabonis and Murray determine the Sacramento frontcourt. If Sabonis sits, revisit Precious Achiuwa ($6,000) and Dylan Cardwell ($4,100), but verify who starts and how the minutes are expected to divide.

For late swap, keep the latest-starting eligible player in UTIL where practical. A C-only slot and a UTIL slot are not equally flexible. Do not leave all your available salary tied to an uncertain late player unless your remaining alternatives fit both the salary and roster positions.

Sources and updates: DraftKings salaries and roster positions are for the November 10 main slate. Injury status is the 2 p.m. ET snapshot linked above. Market context uses the 11 a.m. ET DraftKings odds snapshot. Starting lineups are projected until teams confirm them. Recheck confirmed lineups before each game’s scheduled tip.