The NBA has a pair of Saturday afternoon matchups to tip off a busy day before the Super Bowl, and ABC gets a great one at 3:30 p.m. ET between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder from the Paycom Center. The two teams are both near the top of the conference, but some key pieces will be missing. Each side of this contest brings some great storylines and fun players to cheer for, so let’s break down the matchup and find some Rockets vs. Thunder player prop bets to start off your Saturday with some solid best bets to consider.
In the bigger picture, the Thunder are 4.5-point home favorites with the point total at 215.5 on DraftKings Sportsbook.
The Thunder have won the first two games between these teams this season, triumphing 125-124 in double-overtime and winning again 111-91 in Houston in mid-January. In this contest, though, the Thunder will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, so they’ll need other players to step up. The Thunder have won three of their last four and are 40-12 on the season, still atop the Western Conference.
The Rockets are fourth in the Western Conference at 31-19 and have dropped two straight games to start the week, both at home. They have won three straight road games as they head to Oklahoma City and try to silence the Thunder.
Let’s take a look at the top player prop bets from both the Rockets and Thunder in this Saturday afternoon matchup. These picks can be used as standalone plays or combined in a Same Game Parlay (SGP), as indicated at the bottom of the post.
Rockets vs. Thunder Best Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Cason Wallace over 3.5 assists (+102)
Without SGA, the Thunder offense looks dramatically different since he does so much work as both a scorer and creator. One player who has picked up a bigger role in the last two games has been guard Cason Wallace, who had five assists in the game that SGA left with his abdominal injury and five assists in his first game out last Wednesday.
Wallace started and played 34 minutes in that game against the Spurs, and he has been in the starting five for three straight games and six of his last seven. The 22-year-old, third-year guard will have to step into a more involved role without SGA and could continue to excel in assists over the next week while SGA is out.
SGA is extremely durable and only missed two other games this season. Wallace played in one of those contests, also going over this prop line in that matchup and finishing with four dimes. In his 49 games this season, Wallace is only averaging 2.1 assists, so getting to four definitely isn’t a sure thing. However, with more work available at point guard while playing at home in this contest, I expect him to get a big enough workload to get over this prop.
Reed Sheppard under 10.5 points (-112)
Sheppard has been boom-or-bust this season for the Rockets, and he has cooled off after a hot stretch earlier in the season. The second-year guard is still averaging 12.4 points per game on the year, but he has come in under this prop line in five of his last seven games.
Sheppard moved into the starting lineup in place of Kevin Durant for one of the two games he went over this prop total, and he still just managed to get over with 11 points. In his two games since then, he only had nine and seven points in losses to the Celtics and Hornets.
Aaron Holiday is back from his injury and getting a few minutes and points off the bench, which limits Sheppard’s contributions. The rest of the rotation is pretty healthy coming into this contest, which leaves Sheppard in a limited role.
The Thunder have been a tough matchup for guards all season, and while SGA’s loss radically impacts their offense, the defense should still be strong as they look to limit Sheppard and the Rockets this Saturday afternoon.
Jaylin Williams over 4.5 rebounds (-106)
Isaiah Hartenstein missed 16 games with a calf injury, returned for three games, and then missed Wednesday’s game with an eye injury. He isn’t on the injury report for this game, but he has played limited minutes in his three games back, still leaving plenty of opportunities for Jaylin Williams to step up and produce at least five rebounds.
Williams played 40 minutes without I-Hart on Wednesday and went off for 24 points and 12 rebounds. While that doesn’t seem likely to happen again, he has at least five rebounds in three straight games and five of his last seven. He’s averaging 5.1 boards per game on the season, and the Rockets don’t have Steven Adams to go with their jumbo-sized bully lineup.
Even with Hartenstein in the mix, Williams should still be able to grab at least five boards Saturday afternoon. He has shown both a good ceiling and a solid floor in a variety of game scenarios.
Bonus Parlay Pick: Kevin Durant O23.5 Points (-121)
If you’re building an SGP (Same Game Parlay) from this Friday night matchup, adding in the over on Durant’s points raises the odds to +1100 for these four Rockets-Thunder bets.
Durant has averaged 29.6 points per game against his former team in his 17 regular-season matchups against them. He had 19 and 23 points against them this year, but went over this prop line in 10 of his last 11 games before that. KD is off the injury report after missing a game with an ankle sprain, and he had 31 points against the Hornets on Thursday, shaking off a mini shooting slump from long range. Durant has at least 24 points in six of his last eight games overall and 28 of his last 40 contests. He should be fired up for a chance to deal his former team and the top team in the conference a loss. Catching them without SGA should give him a chance to carry Houston to a win while scoring over this prop line.
