NBA Rivals Week continues tonight with a pair of games on ESPN, the second of which sees the reigning champs duel with a former champion himself. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander face off against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. setting up a clash between MVP-caliber talents.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Oklahoma City is a -9.5 favorite with -345 odds to win on the Moneyline. The game total is set at 226.5 combined points.
Here are the top Thunder vs. Bucks prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for Wednesday night’s matchup.
Best Thunder vs. Bucks player prop bets
Giannis Antetokounmpo over 5.5 assists (-126)
The Bucks are not a very good basketball team as evidenced by the 18-24 record they hold on the campaign. They’re 5-5 across their last 10 games and it’s unlikely that improves much tonight against the reigning champions, especially with Kevin Porter Jr. and Myles Turner both ruled out due to injuries. However, that does open the door for more playmaking from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who’s been on a nice little stretch as far as racking up dimes goes. While he’s only exceeded five assists twice in eight games this month, the superstar big man has at least five helpers in six of those eight and flirts with this 5.5-assist line just about every night.
The absence of Porter Jr. does improve the outlook for Antetokounmpo’s playmaking. The former has the second-highest usage rate of any Bucks player with 500+ minutes played at 23.2% and averages 13.9 potential assists, the NBA’s ninth-highest mark. With Giannis surely handling the rock more tonight, he should command plenty of attention and be able to find teammates to hit for open looks. He’s hit at least six assists in 11 of his 28 contests and the environment is right to do so again here, even in a difficult defensive matchup.
Ajay Mitchell 15+ points (+110)
There’s no Jalen Williams tonight for Oklahoma City as the All-Star continues to deal with a hamstring issue. That means additional run for Ajay Mitchell, one of the young sleepers in this Thunder core. While he typically operates off the bench and may do so tonight as well, the second-year talent averages 15.4 PPG on 12.1 shots with Williams out of the lineup. That’s a decent uptick compared to his 12.7 PPG on 9.2 field goal attempts when Williams does play. The logic there is simple enough, right?
It certainly tracks that Mitchell can see increased opportunities tonight with his teammate sidelined, but I like him to hit 15+ points tonight even more due to his recent form. The 6-foot-4 guard has posted 15+ points in five of his last seven games, but that’s not all. The two exceptions to that trend were nights he took fewer than 10 shots (with five in one and eight in the other). Each of those contests in which Mitchell did hit the 15-point mark came with double-digit shot volume. You can do the math there, but Williams’ absence leads to an increased workload, allowing Mitchell to continue making an impact.
