The Pelicans had a rough opening night on Wednesday despite the fact that they beat the Bulls. Zion Williamson ($8,100) missed practice Tuesday and had to be scratched from the lineup due to an illness. During their win, the Pels also lost Dejounte Murray in his New Orleans’ debut to a fractured left hand.
New Orleans will look to bounce back after traveling to Portland for Friday night’s matchup. On the DraftKings Sportsbook, the Pelicans are only 5.5-point favorites in this matchup with the Blazers. The over/under is 218 points. Let’s take a look at a player prop I like for Zion in his season debut.
Best Zion Williamson Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Zion Williamson under 37.5 Pts + Reb + Ast (-120)
I’m not here to hate on Zion—I promise. This number seems way too high, though. While he can definitely reach the over, it seems to be a lot to expect him to get there in his first action of the season. Last year, he appeared in a career-high 70 regular-season games, averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists which is 33.7 PRA for those of you who don’t want to strain your brain with the math.
He had 39 PRA the first time he faced Portland last season, but that was at home. The only time he played in Portland last year, he had 32 PRA.
Even without Murray, the Pelicans will still have former Blazer CJ McCollum ($7,500) and Brandon Ingram ($7,900) to help carry the offensive load against Portland. Since it’s his old stomping grounds, it could be a McCollum night, or Ingram could lead the team like he did on Wednesday.
Zion’s return will definitely be a boost for New Orleans, don’t get me wrong, but he won’t necessarily have to carry a huge workload in his first game back. The Blazers were torched 140-104 by the Warriors on Wednesday, and no Golden State starter played more than 25 minutes. Portland fell apart in the second and third quarters and the game was uncompetitive down the stretch.
Williamson has looked good this preseason before he got sick, but I just am not convinced the Pelicans will have to push him hard or that he’ll even have to play a full load of minutes in his first game back from illness. The Pelicans have an off-day Saturday before playing the Blazers in Portland again on Sunday.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
