The NBA has six games lined up on Friday, and in the latest game of the night, the Toronto Raptors head to the Mile High City to take on the Denver Nuggets in a non-conference contest between teams searching for a playoff spot. With tipoff at 9:00 p.m. ET, this game is a nice finale for the NBA, so let’s highlight a few strong player prop bets that make sense to consider adding to your betting card.
Overall in this matchup, the Nuggets are 6.5-point home favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook, with a game total of 237.5 points, the highest point total on the board.
The Nuggets are the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference at 42-28, while the Raptors are the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference at 39-29. Toronto has won three straight after beating the Bulls by 30 on Wednesday in Chicago, while the Nuggets are coming off a loss on the road to Memphis on Wednesday and have gone just 7-8 since the All-Star break.
Of note on the injury report, Collin Murray-Boyles is doubtful for the Raptors, while the Nuggets listed Peyton Watson as out as their only injury issue.
Raptors at Nuggets Best Prop Bets
Brandon Ingram o21.5 Points (-122)
Ingram has played 66 games in his first full season with the Raptors, averaging 21.9 points in 34.1 minutes per game. Ingram leads the team with a 27.8% usage rate, and has been especially strong since the All-Star break.
In his 13 games since the break, BI has averaged 22.1 points and gone over this prop line seven times. He was well on his way to going over it again on Wednesday, making 6-of-7 field goal attempts before he was able to exit the game early with the score so lopsided.
Ingram had scored at least 22 points in each of his three previous games, while logging over 38 minutes in each contest. Since he’ll likely be back to a full workload in a closer game on Friday, Ingram has a good chance to get over this prop line on Friday in Denver.
In his career, he has played the Nuggets 22 times, and he has gone over this prop line in four of his last six head-to-head matchups. When he faced them on December 31 earlier this season, Ingram dropped 30 points.
Jamal Murray o34.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists (-119)
Murray is averaging 36.6 PRA (points, rebounds and assists) on the season, but he has been struggling to score lately. He has is shooting only 29.4% from the field over his last three games, going 10-for-34 against the Lakers, Sixers and Grizzlies.
After struggling in back-to-back games, Murray looked better on Wednesday, scoring only 19 points, but making 6-of-13 field goal attempts and adding 12 assists and eight rebounds for 39 PRA. Even without his best scoring game, he was able to get over this PRA prop line, which is why I prefer this line to his straight-up points line.
Murray has gone over this prop line in six of his last nine games, and he had 34 PRA in his first matchup this season against the Raptors. In this rematch, which the Nuggets need to shake off their loss to the Grizzlies, Murray has the potential to go off with a huge point total, or to stuff the stat sheet like he did in his last game. Either way, I like his chances.
Sandro Mamukelashvili o11.5 Points + Rebounds (-128)
With Murray-Boyles doubtful, Mamukelashvili will likely stay very involved in the Raptors’ second unit. Mamu is averaging 15.7 points and rebounds per game, but his usage has fluctuated depending on who else is available for the Raps. Jakob Poeltl has played nine of the team’s last 10 games and will likely start on Friday, but Mamu should still get enough work to go over this prop line.
On Wednesday, he came off the bench and played 22 minutes, scoring 17 points and adding four rebounds to smash the this prop. He has gone over this prop line in seven straight games, while Murray-Boyles has missed each of Toronto’s last nine contests.
Mamukelashvili averaged 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in those nine games, for a total of 14.1 points and rebounds during that stretch. If Murray-Boyles remains out against Denver, Mamu makes sense as a player prop.
Bonus Parlay Pick: Bruce Brown Jr. o6.5 Points (-117)
If you’re building an SGP (Same Game Parlay) from this Friday night matchup, one option to boost the odds even higher is to back Brown to go over this points prop line. Adding the fourth player prop into the mix boosts the SGP all the way up to +1000 for these four Raptors-Nuggets bets.
Brown is coming off an ugly one-point game against the Grizzlies, going 0-for-4 in 20 minutes. Before that, though, he had gone over this prop line in five of his previous seven games. Brown should be extra motivated facing his former team, and has a good chance to bounce back with at least seven points off the bench.
