At 8 p.m. EST tonight, the Charlotte Hornets take the floor against the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a 10-game NBA slate. With Giannis Antetokounmpo back on the court looking to claw his team to the .500 mark, there’s much at stake every time he takes the floor with trade rumors still swirling. For his opponents, LaMelo Ball and rookie sensation Kon Kneuppel take center stage and are capable of putting forth quite the show on offense.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Milwaukee is a -5.5 favorite with -225 odds to win on the Moneyline. The game total is set at 231.5 combined points.
Here are a couple of the best Hornets vs. Bucks prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for Friday’s contest.
Best Hornets vs. Bucks player prop bets
Kon Knueppel 4+ three-pointers made (+132)
Few, if any other rookies have put forth as strong a campaign thus far as Kon Knueppel. The No. 4 pick out of Duke, the 20-year-old looks the part of a true sharpshooting star despite having just 32 games of professional experience under his belt. He ranks third in the entire NBA with 117 three-pointers made on the year, just eight makes behind the current leader (Donovan Mitchell). With an average of 19.3 PPG, Knueppel gets his numbers with impressive efficiency — he takes 8.5 three-point attempts per game, knocking down 43.2% of his shots from distance for an average of 3.7 made threes per contest. It’s not unrealistic to say those numbers resemble that of a young Steph Curry in his first couple of All-Star seasons, so I love getting 4+ made threes at plus odds here.
Knueppel is red hot and has made four or more three-pointers in six straight outings; eight of his last 10; and 19 of his 32 total games this season. Tonight, he plays against a Bucks team allowing the eighth-most three-point attempts to opponents and 10th-most made threes on those attempts. It’s not like Milwaukee has many standout defenders in its guard and wing rotation to match up with the Hornets’ top shooter, so Knueppel could feast from distance.
Giannis Antetokounmpo over 28.5 points (-112)
It’s a smidge chalky, but a play on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s points makes sense tonight against a Charlotte team still missing its top center, Ryan Kalkbrenner. In the meantime, Moussa Diabate is starting at the five. While a solid rebounder at 6-foot-10, he’s still no match for Antetokounmpo in the paint — nobody really is. Giannis returned three games ago from a calf strain and already looks like himself again, posting 29 and 24 points in his first two contests despite playing only 25 minutes in each. He played closer to a full workload on New Year’s Eve with 33 points and 15 boards in 28 minutes, and as time goes on, he should continue to see his minutes tick upwards.
Over his 20-game sample this season, Antetokounmpo eclipsed 28.5 points a total of 13 times. That includes two of his last three outings since coming back from that injury even despite his minutes restriction in those. The Hornets also allow the fifth-most points in the paint to opponents, but that’s not all. With incredible efficiency while shooting a career-best 63.9% from the field and 77.0% from less than five feet (better than all but one other player averaging 5.0 FGA from that range), there’s certainly an avenue for this over to hit even if he doesn’t play 34+ minutes.
