Over the last couple of months, the Charlotte Hornets have been one of the NBA’s best teams with the sixth-highest winning percentage over that span. They’ve hit a momentary bump in the road though, dropping three of their last five contests, including one against tonight’s opponent. The Miami Heat have won seven of their past eight outings as well, so there’s momentum building in South Beach.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Charlotte enters as a 5.5-point favorite at home with -218 odds to win on the Moneyline. The game total is set at 234.5 combined points.
Here are the top Heat vs. Hornets prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for this Tuesday night matchup.
Best Heat vs. Hornets player prop bets
Kel’el Ware 14+ points (-120)
Bam Adebayo was downgraded to doubtful on the injury report earlier today, so it now appears unlikely that the big man will suit up. That means heavy minutes for Kel’el Ware, who has taken a slight step forward in games that his star teammate misses.
Ware averages 11.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game this season in just 22.7 minutes a night. While his playing time has wavered at times, he’s seen at least 26 minutes in seven straight outings and is positioned to get even more work without Adebayo. In games that the latter doesn’t play, Ware posts an improved average of 13.4 points and 11.9 boards, also seeing a slight uptick in shot volume with an extra 1.4 FGA as well. The big man has put forth some quality numbers in these eight chances, recording double-digit points six times along with double-digit rebounds in six games as well.
In particular, we’ll focus on Ware’s scoring prop tonight. He’s recorded 14+ points in each of his last six games without Adebayo, bringing us a hit rate of 75% on that line when the star misses time this season. That’s encouraging, even against good Hornets defense. The value here looks solid, so I’m very happy getting this prop for Ware.
Kon Knueppel over 3.5 3PM (-112)
There’s never been a higher-upside rookie when it comes to three-point shooting than Kon Knueppel. The Hornets’ prized lottery pick shattered the rookie record for made threes earlier this season and continues to climb with a league-leading 236 made shots from distance on the campaign.
While he averages 3.5 made threes per game this season, Knueppel has been particularly effective since the All-Star break. Over the course of these 13 games, he’s averaging 4.1 made threes per game while shooting 46.5% from deep, a couple of percentage points higher than his season-long mark of 43.8%. He’s gone over tonight’s line of 3.5 3PM in seven of those 13 contests, hitting exactly three to flirt with this line in three more of those outings.
Beyond the appeal Knueppel brings to begin with as a sniper, the matchup is a prime one for overs in general. The Heat lead the NBA in pace, are second in scoring at 120.4 PPG, and give up the fourth-most 3PA per game (39.3) while sitting 20th in 3PM allowed (13.7). The conditions are ripe for something of a shootout in this spot, so I’m hammering the over on 3.5 made threes for the young star.
