At long last, arguably the most highly-anticipated matchup of the WNBA regular season will happen tonight when the New York Liberty gear up for a rematch of the epic 2024 WNBA Finals, which they won in five games against the Minnesota Lynx. The game will tip at 8 p.m. ET.
With Breanna Stewart sidelined for the second straight game after suffering a leg injury in the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday, it’ll once again be up to Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones to lead the team against the league’s best.
Minnesota is a seven-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set for 167. Below, I’ve detailed my favorite prop bet centered around Ionescu.
Best Sabrina Ionescu Prop Bet on DraftKings Sportsbook
Sabrina Ionescu U2.5 Three-Pointers Made (-110)
Though Ionescu scored 30, 28, and 30 points during the first three games of her Liberty career that Stewart missed — including Saturday’s defeat, which Stewart left early in the first quarter — the Dallas Wings made it a difficult proposition for her on Monday. She went just five-for-13 (38.5%) from the field and one-for-five from deep, letting Jones lead the way with 18 points. With much of New York’s offense built around Stewart’s elite slashing ability, Ionescu hasn’t had the freedom to launch as many threes as usual, as just 12 of her 35 shots have come from deep in the last two games, much lower than her 49.7% three-point attempt rate for the season.
It doesn’t help matters that she’s going against the league’s best three-point defense. This season, the Lynx have conceded a league-low seven made threes per game on just 30.8% accuracy, the second-lowest mark in basketball. In particular, they’ve taken away the zones in which Ionescu thrives; 7.3 of her 7.9 three-point attempts per game have come from beyond the break, where Minnesota’s opponents have connected on just 28.5% of their tries. Ionescu will likely be hounded mostly by Courtney Williams, who finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting last season.
