The Phoenix Suns have finally entered the Play-In Tournament picture, climbing to the 10th seed by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Dallas Mavericks with 12 games to play. All it took was for the Mavericks to trade Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis, who subsequently got hurt, and to lose half of their rotation to season-ending injuries.
The team’s future is very much up in the air, thanks to Bradley Beal’s no-trade clause. Kevin Durant is almost certain to leave the team, and Devin Booker isn’t safe either. It isn’t clear what the 36-year-old Durant’s value is, but Booker — a 28-year-old four-time All-Star averaging 25.9 points and 7.0 assists this season — should return a premium.
Phoenix will stay in the Play-In picture beyond tonight either by upsetting the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers — who, to be fair, have suddenly lost three straight games — or hoping for a Dallas loss to the Detroit Pistons.
The Suns are eight-point underdogs at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total is set to 234. Below, I’ve outlined my favorite prop bet centered around the Booker.
Best Devin Booker Prop Bet on DraftKings Sportsbook
Devin Booker U33.5 Points + Assists (-120)
During Cleveland’s three-game losing streak, it has given up the fourth-most points of any team, and company with the Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers, this season, is a very, very bad thing. But the Cavaliers’ struggles can largely be attributed to opponent shooting luck; the LA Clippers posted a 64.3% effective field goal percentage in their win on Tuesday night, and the Sacramento Kings followed it up the next night with a 62.5% mark of their own.
Each of those marks would be more than four percentage points better than Cleveland’s league-leading accuracy, so opponents are bound for some regression to the mean. It’s not like the Cavaliers have suddenly allowed tons of wide-open shots; opponents have just been hitting their contested ones. Plus, even during the losing streak, Cleveland has still allowed the 10th-fewest assists per game. Booker’s scoring has fluctuated heavily this season, and I’m still a believer that this Cavaliers defense is good, despite what the last few games have shown and despite the fact that he’d likely be a more reliable scoring option than Durant, given Cleveland’s double-big approach.
