In what has been a tight battle all season, the second and fifth seeds in the Western Conference are separated by just two games. In the middle of that morass are the Memphis Grizzlies, whose 41-24 record currently puts them in line for a second-round matchup with the fearsome Oklahoma City Thunder, led by likely MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Of the teams fighting for the second seed, Memphis probably has the easiest matchup tonight; the Houston Rockets will host the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets will host the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Los Angeles Lakers won’t play. The Grizzlies will welcome the hapless Utah Jazz to Memphis for an 8 p.m. ET clash.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Grizzlies are 12-point favorites and the point total is set to 247.5. Below, I’ve outlined my favorite props centered around the high flier.
Best Ja Morant Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Ja Morant to Record a Double-Double (+195)
Memphis’ path to the second seed in the West got a lot more complicated on March 3, when All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year favorite Jaren Jackson Jr. suffered a sprained ankle that has kept him out of the last five games. But the Grizzlies have gone 3-1 since Jackson’s injury, thanks to Morant putting together two of his best three games of the season by game score. In those four games, Morant is averaging 29.0 points and 8.0 assists per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Across that span, he has the fifth-highest usage rate among players who have played all four games and averaged at least 30 minutes per game, and he’s averaging 74.0 touches per game, the 28th-most in the league.
He’s only recorded a double-double once in those four games, which came on Monday night against the Phoenix Suns, but he should have an excellent opportunity to do so against the Jazz tonight. As with any tanking team, it’s unclear who Utah will play, but that’s unimportant; for all the lineup combinations that the Jazz have thrown out there, they have given up 29.1 assists per game this season, the second-most in the league. Morant recorded a double-double against Utah during the season opener on October 23, although his supporting cast is somewhat compromised this time around with both Jackson and Santi Aldama out.
Ja Morant O25.5 Points (-125)
Not only do I believe Morant will record his 13th double-double of the season tonight, I believe it’ll be a high-scoring double-double, since he’ll have to carry a heavy offensive burden without Jackson. He’s recorded 26 points or more in each of his last three games — in the exception, he can certainly be forgiven for scoring only 24 in a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, given that team’s defensive brilliance — and while he hasn’t yet done so against the Jazz this season, he played fewer than 30 minutes in both games. Utah might not be good, but if its best players suit up, it should keep the game competitive enough to keep Morant on the floor.
But even with its best players healthy, the Jazz’s defense is awful. In addition to giving up the second-most assists in the league, it has also conceded the third-most points. In particular, Utah has given up the third-most non-restricted area paint shots per game in the league and allowed opponents to convert at the highest percentage, a shot that Morant attempts at basketball’s 13th-highest frequency, even if he’s the second-least efficient among the 14 players who try at least five such shots per game.
