With the clock winding down on the San Antonio Spurs’ 117-114 win over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, Victor Wembanyama changed the tide of the game in a hurry. First, he drained a 28-foot three-pointer from the right wing, rebounded Harrison Barnes’ block of Tre Jones’ layup, and isolated at the top of the key before calling game with a triple that found nothing but the bottom of the net.
This season, the 21-year-old has ascended to even greater heights than he had in his first two seasons in the NBA. So far, he’s averaged 25.7 points, 12.8 rebounds, and a league-leading 3.9 blocks per game, and San Antonio is 8-2, good for second in the Western Conference.
Tonight, the Spurs will host the Golden State Warriors for an 8 p.m. ET clash. With a win, San Antonio would move to 6-0 at home.
The Spurs are 3.5-point favorites for tonight’s game at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the total set to 232.5. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around San Antonio’s gargantuan phenom.
Best Victor Wembanyama Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Victor Wembanyama O25.5 Points (-104)
Wembanyama scored 26 or more points in four of his first five games of the season before cooling off, posting four games in a row below his total while dealing with constant double-teams. It was only a matter of time before he woke up offensively, though, and he did so in a major way with a 36-point effort against Chicago that included 23 points in the second half alone. The Bulls didn’t double-team him at all, and while I don’t expect Golden State to throw zero doubles at him, it can’t afford to do so every possession now that De’Aaron Fox is back on the floor. The Warriors will have to survive with at least some one-on-one.
Plus, Golden State has struggled mightily in recent games, allowing 120 or more points in three of its last four, and while it has had the ninth-best defensive rating overall, that’s mostly because of two anomalous performances against the LA Clippers and Indiana Pacers, who have arguably been the league’s two most disappointing teams this season. The Warriors have allowed the 13th-most points in the paint and the seventh-best field goal percentage on restricted-area shots, and Wembanyama has taken a career-high proportion of shots at the rim this season while canning them at a 78.1% clip. Golden State has also gotten pretty lucky with shooting on wide-open threes, but it can’t expect so much fortune against Wembanyama, who has hit nearly 40% of those shots this season.
Victor Wembanyama U3.5 Blocks (+114)
Of course, Wembanyama could easily record four blocks in the first half alone, like he did on Monday against Chicago, but he’s recorded three or fewer blocks in three of his last four games in part because opponents have been so scared to challenge him at the rim. That could be the case for Golden State, which has been blocked fewer times this season than any squad besides the Spurs. That’s a direct result of the Warriors’ play-style: they’ve launched among the most threes in the league. Golden State has attempted the sixth-fewest restricted-area tries per game, as well as the seventh-fewest from the non-restricted paint.
