The season isn’t officially undergoing a break, but with the Emirates NBA Cup knockout phases set to dominate attention later this week, the NBA has a fairly light schedule for most of the week, with Friday’s seven-game slate the most notable exception. Just three games will take place tonight, only one of which will feature two teams with winning records.
Three games still means hundreds of prop bets available at DraftKings Sportsbook to make the action more exciting. I’ve gone through them and picked my three favorites — one from each game.
Top NBA prop bet picks
Pascal Siakam to Record a Double-Double (+243)
I’m starting it off with a bit of a long-shot here, but Siakam has been the lone constant for an Indiana Pacers team defined by turmoil. Indiana has shifted somewhat into tank mode as it seeks a lottery pick to pair with Tyrese Haliburton next season, but it has to be encouraged with what it’s seen out of Siakam. The Cameroonian isn’t quite in the same level of form as he was in the Pacers’ first five games of the season, when he recorded three double-doubles, but he has two (plus a 24-point, nine-rebound effort) in his last five games.
He has a great matchup in a Sacramento Kings team that is in deep disarray. This season, Sacramento is just 6-17 and has a bottom-five rating on both sides of the ball. There’s not an aspect of defense that the Kings have done well; they’ve allowed the fifth-most rebounds (including the second-most in the nine games since leading rebounder Domantas Sabonis went out) and the fifth-most assists, so Siakam has an outside shot at double-digit dimes, though he’s only recorded more than five once since Andrew Nembhard returned.
Dillon Brooks 2+ Steals (+130)
Jalen Green was supposed to be the centerpiece of the offseason deal that sent Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets, but while Green has played just two games, Brooks has been the linchpin behind the Phoenix Suns’ surprisingly hot start. Besides averaging a career-high 22.3 points per game, Brooks has played his typically strong perimeter defense, racking up a career-high 1.6 steals per game. He’s nabbed two or more steals in eight of his 17 games (which would imply +113 true odds). He should continue to be the Suns’ priority on both sides of the ball as long as Devin Booker remains out.
As Phoenix’s best point-of-attack defender, Brooks should be the primary option on Anthony Edwards, whose high usage means more opportunities for Brooks to nab steals. The former first overall pick isn’t exceptionally turnover-prone, but he’s averaged the second-highest turnover percentage of his career this season and has coughed it up a total of 23 times across his past four games. Brooks had two steals the previous time the two teams faced off, a positive sign even if neither came when he was directly guarding Edwards. In a larger sample size, he forced Edwards into three giveaways on 51.4 partial possessions last season.
Dylan Harper 15+ Points (+109)
One of the San Antonio Spurs’ injured recent Rookie of the Year winners, combo guard Stephon Castle, is set to make his return tonight after missing the last nine games with a hip injury, marking the first time ever that Castle, Harper, and De’Aaron Fox will all take the court together. It’s unclear, then, exactly how Mitch Johnson will manage his guard rotation between the three slashers, but even after a three-point, one-for-11 disaster on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Harper is simply too good to be denied, having scored 15 or more points in three straight games prior to the stinker and owning the second-best on-off net rating in the rotation. Castle will likely be on a minutes restriction, so if Harper’s minutes decrease, it’ll only happen after Castle and Victor Wembanyama are both back to full health.
Harper couldn’t ask for an easier opponent against whom to get his scoring back on track. The New Orleans Pelicans have the worst record in the NBA and are an unmitigated disaster defensively, allowing 120.7 points per 100 possessions across the last month (in which they’ve gone 1-15). That alone should be enough to get Harper to 15 points, but the Pelicans have also allowed the fifth-highest field goal percentage from the restricted area and the second-highest percentage from the non-restricted paint across that span. Harper is a master at getting downhill, attempting more tries at the rim than any Spur besides Wembanyama.
