On Monday night, the NBA tips off December with a nice nine-game schedule, headlined by a pair of matchups on Peacock. The first game of the doubleheader takes place in The City Beautiful at 7:30 p.m. ET, where the Orlando Magic host the Chicago Bulls at the Kia Center. The two teams have similar records and it should be a close game to enjoy on Monday night. Let’s take a look at the players who will be available and find some strong options from the many available player prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Overall in the game, the Magic are 8.5-point home favorites, with the game total set at O/U 239.5 points. Since that total is elevated, it could be a slightly higher than average night for scoring on both sides.
The Magic have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games and are 12-8 on the season after getting a big win on Friday in Detroit. The Bulls played on the road Friday and Saturday, losing to the Hornets and Pacers to slide to 9-10. The two teams met in the second game of the season, and the Bulls won 110-98.
Let’s take a look at the player prop bets available for Monday night’s rematch and find a few player prop bets to smash.
Bulls at Magic Best Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Nikola Vucevic 30+ Points + Rebounds + Assists (-117)
Former Magic center Nikola Vucevic will return to Orlando, where he played parts of nine seasons before joining the Bulls for the last five-plus seasons. Vucevic has been up-and-down this season, but he is averaging 29.8 PRA (points, rebounds and assists) on the season and has delivered 30 PRA exactly in each of his last two games, playing 31 and 30 minutes in back-to-back games.
Overall, he has at least 30 PRA in 10 of his 18 games (56%) and five of his seven most recent contests.
Against the Magic at the beginning of the season, he had only 25 PRA, but he went over 30 PRA in three of his previous four games against his former team.
While he has run hot and cold this season, he and the Bulls should be desperate for a win and go hard in his return to Orlando. At almost even money, I like the value in this player prop bet to back Vucevic to get to at least 30 PRA.
Jalen Suggs over 2.5 3PM (+129)
The Magic have carefully managed Suggs’ workload in the early part of the season, but he’s starting to get more minutes and usage. Especially with Paolo Banchero (groin) out, Suggs should have the green light again on Monday night and get plenty of opportunities in this very favorable matchup against the Bulls.
Suggs played a season-high 34 minutes last Friday and has had two recovery days since then. In those 34 minutes, he took 11 three-pointers. While he made only two of those 11 shots against the Pistons, the opportunities are definitely there for him to go over this plus-money prop. He has taken at least five three-point attempts in six of his last seven games, and if he gets 30+ minutes again in this matchup, he should get enough chances to make three threes.
He has posted at least three 3PM in each of his last four games against the Bulls, and he averaged 3.0 3PM in his last three home games.
While most of the Magic’s props have been inflated to compensate for the favorable matchup, I still like getting this one at plus-money since Suggs knocking down three triples seems well within the realm of possibility on Monday against the Bulls. I also like the over on Suggs’ assists at over 5.5 at +106.
Franz Wagner under 24.5 points (-110)
I’m a big fan of Wagner and love his dynamic upside, but I think this line is set too high for him in this matchup. Wagner has the ability to go off for 25+ points and go over this prop in any contest. However, he hasn’t been regularly called upon for that much usage, even with Banchero out.
In his last six games, Wagner has finished under this scoring line five times, only going over it in a home game against the Knicks last Saturday.
Wagner had 17 points in the first meeting between these two teams, and he has been under 25 points in 13 of his 20 games this season (65%).
I’m not entirely convinced the Magic don’t turn this into a blowout by the fourth quarter, so I’m comfortable taking the under on Wagner’s points, since I expect it’ll be other players like Jalen Suggs and Desmond Bane that pick up the scoring slack on Monday.
