While the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl enraptured most of the American sports landscape over the last month and the Winter Olympics are capturing attention, the NBA has entered the stretch run of its season, with the All-Star break approaching this weekend.
While Olympians in Milan slip gold medals around their necks, the NBA will crown more proverbial kings, as DraftKings’ King of the Court promotion will run again for tonight’s four-game slate. If users opt into the contest and use their King of the Court token on a player prop bet (minimum $5 wager) with -200 or longer odds, that bet will become an eligible entrant to the contest. Any user who used their token on the player who finishes with the most combined points, rebounds, and assists tonight will receive a share of $1 million in bonus bets to be paid out the next day, proportional to the number of users who used their token on the player.
The bet doesn’t have to hit: for instance, if a user bets on the LA Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard to record 30+ points (-103) and he only scores 29 but ends up leading all players in P/R/A, that user will still be paid out their share of the bonus bets. Regardless, hitting on a bet never hurts.
The three players with the highest P/R/A over-unders are Leonard (40.5), the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama (37.5), and a tie between the New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (36.5). I’ll break down my favorite prop bets for these three players, choosing Brunson instead of James because his odds of hitting the over (-110) are slightly shorter than James’ (-107) and because James and Wembanyama will play each other.
Kawhi Leonard 2+ Steals (-110)
Leonard will make his seventh All-Star appearance this coming weekend at the Intuit Dome after recapturing some brilliant two-way form. Across the Clippers’ hot stretch — since December 20, they’re 19-6 — Leonard has averaged 30.5 points and 2.2 steals per game, nabbing at least two steals in 14 of his 22 games. His overall average for the season (2.1 steals per game) is his highest since 2014-15, when he won his first of two consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards. Leonard will be even more critical for LA on both sides of the ball now that James Harden is on the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ivica Zubac is on the Indiana Pacers.
His opponent tonight, the Houston Rockets, are a pretty good defensive team, ranking ninth in defensive rating and fifth in rebounding percentage even after center Steven Adams was lost for the season with his ankle sprain. Plus, Bennedict Mathurin might be eager to prove himself to Clippers fans in his team debut and could command a higher usage rate than ideal. However, the Rockets have some turnover issues, allowing the ninth-most steals overall, even though they’ve been slightly better after Adams’ injury. Leonard had a five-steal game when these teams faced off on December 11, including two as a result of Kevin Durant’s loosening handle.
Victor Wembanyama 35+ Points + Rebounds (-111)
Across the last 10 games, Wembanyama has alternated strong performances with more muted ones, scoring 28 or more points five times and 16 or fewer four times, recording 35-plus combined points and rebounds five times across that span. He’s coming off of a quiet 16-point, 11-rebound effort against the Dallas Mavericks in which he opted to let Stephon Castle roll with the hot hand, so his recent pattern suggests that he’s due for a good game. He’ll also be on two days’ rest, a rest split in which he’s recorded his highest career P/R despite struggling on two days’ rest so far this season.
The Lakers’ ability to stop Wembanyama could depend on whether or not Luka Dončić plays, even though the two are unlikely to spend much time — if any — guarding each other. Los Angeles has done a pretty good job guarding him in its first two attempts this season, holding him to 27 and 30 P/R, respectively, but in the long run, a team that has been among the league’s worst rim-protecting units is a bad matchup against any seven-foot-four player. The Lakers have been nearly as good on the boards as San Antonio with Dončić on the floor, but without him, they’ve been a bottom-10 rebounding team, which would leave Wembanyama with room to take advantage.
Jalen Brunson U2.5 Three-Pointers Made (-116)
Brunson has been tasked with keeping the Knicks in second in the East despite sub-optimal circumstances, with Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns all missing time with injury and Miles McBride likely to miss the rest of the regular season. As such, his efficiency hasn’t been great; even though New York is 9-1 in its last 10 games, Brunson has shot just 33.7% from beyond the arc across that span, and he’s made two or fewer threes five times, including a dastardly zero-for-eight stinker against the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
Three-point defense is just about the only thing that the Indiana Pacers have done well this season. One season after making a run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Pacers have by far the league’s worst offense, have been a bottom-10 defensive team, and rank dead last in rebounding percentage, and though trade deadline acquisition Ivica Zubac should help with all of those, he’s not yet available to make his team debut. But shades of Indiana’s Finals team are still there: just 19.4% of opponents’ shots against the Pacers have been wide-open threes, the fourth-lowest rate in the league. Brunson made more than two threes just twice in the Eastern Conference Finals, and his primary defender in that series, Aaron Nesmith, is likely to play tonight.
How to Play King of the Court
- Opt in to receive your King of the Court token in the Promotions page.
- Bet on an NBA Player Prop bet ($5 minimum wager) on DraftKings Sportsbook and apply your token (Minimum leg odds of -200 apply).
- If the player you wagered on with your token applied was the points, rebounds and assists leader that night, win a share of $1 million in bonus bets paid out the next day.
For more information on this promo, click here!
