It’s 1999 all over again as the San Antonio Spurs battle the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. Tonight’s Game 1 should be a treat as these teams get a feel for each other at the Frost Bank Center. There’s no doubt that the Western Conference champs’ faithful will be expecting point guard De’Aaron Fox to shake off a rough last series and get off to a hot start, but how will he look in the biggest game of his career?
Here are the top De’Aaron Fox prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for Wednesday’s Spurs vs. Knicks Game 1 in the NBA Finals.
Best De’Aaron Fox prop bets
A largely healthy season from De’Aaron Fox helped power the Spurs to this surge ahead of schedule. After playing just 17 games for the team after being acquired via trade last year, he appeared in 72 contests in his first full season with the franchise. Over that span, the speedy guard averaged 18.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds a gam with a 48.6% FG%, the second best of his career. With a usage rate of 25.0%, he also finished second on the team in the stat behind only Victor Wembanyama.
The NBA Playoffs have produced peaks and valleys for Fox, though. His averages across 16 games come in at 16.4 points, 5.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds. However, he’s shooting only 43.5% overall and 31.1% from three. Fox also missed multiple games in the Western Conference Finals, and he didn’t look like himself upon returning. Once he got back into the lineup, he broughly only 11.2 points per game with a 36.5% FG% and 22.7% 3P%. He did create 6.2 assists per outing with 5.2 rebounds though, so he found other ways to contribute.
Tonight, DraftKings Sportsbook lists Fox’s prop bet lines at O/U 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 three pointers. His combined PTS + REB + AST line comes in at 24.5.
Fox appeared in two games against the Knicks this season. In those, he had two very different outings. In December, he scored 26 points with seven dimes, one rebound and three steals while shooting 52.4% from the field. In March, he posted only seven points with six assists and one board, finishing at only 30.0% overall. That puts his average in the very small sample at 16.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists a night, shooting 45.2%. One commonality between those games was that he made just one three in each, hitting just 14.3% of deep looks across the two-game sample.
If nothing else, the under on Fox’s 15.5 points prop does look pretty good. While he came close to going over it twice last series, he stayed under that line in all five contests. His ankle injury probably had something to do with that since he relies so heavily on his athleticism to get downhill and attack the basket, especially since his scoring has taken a downtick since returning from that ailment. Granted, the matchup against Oklahoma City was a difficult one and it’s not surprising to see a downturn in efficiency against that team, but Fox also shot just 36.5% from the field.
With his three-point shooting in a serious slump and the opposing Knicks allowing the fourth-fewest points in the paint among playoff teams as well as the third fewest in the regular season, it’s probably best to fade Fox for now. If he looks more like his usual self in Game 1, then we can reconsider moving forward. For the moment though, take the under on 15.5 points.
