When Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from his nearly three-week injury absence last night, he didn’t look like he’d missed any time at all. The two-time MVP scored 23 points and added eight rebounds and four assists in just 24 minutes of a 116-110 victory over the LA Clippers.
He won’t win MVP again this season — it’s a two-man battle between the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and three-time winner Nikola Jokić — but Antetokounmpo has arguably had his best season, averaging 31.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. His Milwaukee Bucks will look to close the gap on the Indiana Pacers to just half a game when they take on the 9-45 Washington Wizards at 7 p.m. ET.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Bucks are six-point favorites and the total is set for 230. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around the Greek Freak.
Best Giannis Antetokounmpo Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Giannis Antetokounmpo 9+ First-Quarter Points (-115)
Antetokounmpo will likely be on a minutes restriction again tonight, so expecting him to score 30 or more points in just 24 minutes would probably be unfair to expect, even against the Wizards. In general, this game is tricky to predict because it’s unclear how Doc Rivers will arrange Antetokounmpo’s 24 minutes and whether he’ll even suit up later in the game if Milwaukee jumps out to a big lead against Washington, which has the third-worst net rating in NBA history.
I’ll take a risk and suggest that Antetokounmpo will do most of his damage in the first quarter, even though he played just five minutes in the first quarter last night and scored only three points in the frame. The Clippers were expected to keep it competitive late into the game, so Rivers saved six of Antetokounmpo’s minutes for crunch time; it’s unclear if that’ll happen again tonight. This season, Antetokounmpo is third in the league in first-quarter scoring, averaging 9.5 points per contest in the first 12 minutes, and tonight, the Bucks will be without Damian Lillard, who’s managing his hamstring injury.
Without Lillard, Milwaukee will feed shots to both Antetokounmpo and new acquisition Kyle Kuzma, who will be making his return to Washington. Both should be fine against a Wizards team that has allowed 30.8 first-quarter points per game, the most in basketball.
Giannis Antetokounmpo 1st Dunk Scorer (+140)
This season, Antetokounmpo is dunking on 20.7% of his field goal attempts, the second-highest rate of his career, and he has led the league in dunks each of the past two seasons. Even without Lillard to throw him a lob or an entry pass, he should have no problem getting to the rack. He averages 8.4 points on 11.9 drives per game, the 10th-best efficiency among 52 players who drive at least 10 times per game. Meanwhile, the Wizards have allowed the third-most points in the paint to opposing players in the first quarter of the game. The last time Antetokounmpo played without Lillard, a 124-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 20, Antetokounmpo made the game’s first dunk.
