On Thursday night, a playoff-caliber showdown between the Toronto Raptors and Minnesota Timberwolves at 8 p.m. EST pits a couple of excellent rosters against each other at the Target Center. While Wolves star Anthony Edwards (foot) is questionable to play, this should still be a great matchup between a teams with legitimate hopes of making a splash come postseason time.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Minnesota is a 4.5-point favorite at home with -205 odds to win on the Moneyline. The game total is set at 224.5 combined points.
Here are the top Raptors vs. Timberwolves prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for this matchup.
Best Raptors vs. Timberwolves player prop bets
Scottie Barnes under 17.5 points (-107)
A jack-of-all-trades star for the Raptors, Scottie Barnes just earned the second All-Star nod of his five-year career, and deservedly so. The 24-year-old forward is second on Toronto’s roster in scoring and playmaking with 19.0 points and 5.5 assists per game, also pacing the team with 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks. With the franchise experiencing a renaissance of sorts at fifth in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 35-26 record, it’s tough to deny the role that the former No. 4 pick has played in putting the Raps back on the map.
However, his game as a scorer has taken something of a step back as of late. Barnes has appeared in five games since the All-Star break, averaging just 15.2 PPG over this sample. Over this admittedly small batch of contests, he’s been held under tonight’s line of 17.5 points four times, with the lone exception an 18-point outing in which he just barely squeaked over that mark. If we go back a little bit further, he’s averaging only 16.7 PPG over his 10 appearances since the start of February as well. Over this larger split, he’s remained under 17.5 points on seven occasions out of those 10 tries.
The higher-scoring performances simply haven’t been there for Barnes over the last month or so, especially while sharing the floor with Brandon Ingram. It is worth noting that the latter is questionable to play tonight due to a thumb sprain though, so there’s a little bit of risk involved if he doesn’t suit up, allowing Barnes to work with more shot volume. Still, the odds on this under look pretty solid given the results as of late, so I’m not hesitating to fade him against a Timberwolves defense that includes Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert in the frontcourt along with plenty of other length.
Jaden McDaniels over 19.5 PTS + REB (-108)
I’m typically not one to target combo lines when I write up player props, but this one simply looks too nice to ignore. We need to give some serious kudos to Jaden McDaniels, who’s taken a step forward in his development this season to become an even better two-way player than he was last season. The 6-foot-9 forward averages a 15.2 PPG on shooting splits of 52.5% from the field and 44.1% from three, all of which are career-best marks. He’s also pulling down 4.4 boards a night as well with 2.2 stocks and 2.8 assists, the latter of which is another career high. He’s a really good basketball player and fits like a glove on this Timberwolves roster.
The reason we’re focusing on McDaniels here is because he’s been playing his role incredibly well and is riding a hot streak at the moment. His combined PTS + REB average this season sits at 19.9 per game, but he’s put up 23.0 PTS + REB in his six appearances since the All-Star break. His first game back when the season resumed was pedestrian with seven points and eight boards, but the next five since then have put his skills fully on display. In order, those stat lines read 19/6, 29/6, 12/7, 20/1, and 16/7. He’s gone over tonight’s line of 19.5 PTS + REB in four of those last five contests, and given the quality of matchup tonight, he should be counted on to rise up again.
In the event that Edwards doesn’t play, there’s even more reason to believe in McDaniels. In 10 games without the star on the floor this season, McDaniels is second on the T-Wolves in points (18.8) and FGA (13.3) per game, also bringing in 4.9 rebounds. That makes for a grand total of 23.7 PTS + REB per outing in Edwards’ absence. You can feel good about this prop even if he plays, but even better if he doesn’t.
