Saturday features seven games on the main slate starting at 7 p.m. ET, with a plethora of high-scoring games. There are three player props to break down tonight with star players involved.
Let's dive in and win that weekend money. Here are my top three NBA player props and picks from Saturday's slate.
NBA Player Props & Picks
Tyrese Haliburton, Over 10.5 Assists (-118)
Spread | Pacers -1 |
Time | TV | 7 p.m. ET | NBA League Pass |
Best Line | FanDuel |
With the Nets and Pacers coming in as the fourth and fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, respectively, this should be a fantastic showdown.
This line has flipped five points, as the Pacers now sit as one-point home favorites. They're 8-4 at home this year, while the Nets come in at 5-7 on the road.
Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton is ascending into a superstar. Not only is he averaging a career- and team-high 19.5 points per game, but he's leading the league in assists with 11.0 per game.
Capturing 11 assists in a player prop is a tall ask, but Haliburton has cashed this over in 12 of his last 15 games.
The Nets have really turned around their defense as they've gotten healthy. However, since they're playing on a back-to-back tonight, they will not have Ben Simmons and potentially Nic Claxton. Claxton missed last game due to an injury, and Simmons isn't playing back-to-backs after returning from injury.
Despite the Pacers shooting just 45.3% from the field, Haliburton leads the league with 21 potentials assists per game. He has over 3.3 more potential assists than the next closest player.
Picking up dimes is what Haliburton does best, and he will get plenty of opportunities with a total of 229.5.
Stephen Curry, Under 1.5 Steals and Blocks (-130)
Spread | Celtics -3.5 |
Time | TV | 8:30 p.m. ET | ABC |
Best Line | DraftKings |
The Golden State Warriors have finally reached .500 but have lost back-to-back games.
Despite playing at home — where they're 11-2 this season — the Warriors are 3.5-point underdogs as they host the Boston Celtics, who own the best record in the league 21-5 and have won 17 of their last 19 games.
Even though the Celtics have the best record in the league, their Defensive Rating ranks only eighth after leading the league last season. Not having Robert Williams controlling the paint has been a big loss.
The Warriors may find success led by Stephen Curry, which is why we will take his defensive prop.
The Celtics are arguably the best team at taking care of the ball. They average 13.2 turnovers per game and a league-best 6.3 steals allowed. Most of their turnovers are offensive charges or throwing the ball out of bounds. There will not be many opportunities for Curry to rack up steals and blocks.
In general, Curry isn't known for his defensive abilities. We could just take this Curry prop at under 1.5 steals, but there's more value in adding blocks to the equation.
Our model still has Curry projected for 1.2 steals and blocks tonight, as he has gone under this prop line in 17 of his 23 games (73.9%).
Jerami Grant, Over 21.5 Points and Assists (-113)
Spread | Trail Blazers -5.5 |
Time | TV | 10 p.m. ET | NBA League Pass |
Best Line | FanDuel |
After a recent cold streak, the Portland Trail Blazers have gotten back on track by winning two of their last three games with their only loss coming on a buzzer-beater against the Nuggets last game.
They're 5.5-point home favorites against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, as this total continues to rise, now sitting at 231 points.
The Timberwolves rank middle of the pack in Defensive Rating but play at the second-fastest Pace in the league this season. They're allowing 115.8 points and 26.6 assists per game, which ranks tied for the third-highest in the league.
That will set the table for this Jerami Grant points and assists player prop.
In his first year with the Trail Blazers, Grant is averaging a career-high 22.8 points per game while shooting 47.2% from the field and a very impressive 45.3% from behind the arc. He has scored 22 or more points in six of his last seven games while also averaging 3.6 assists per game during that span.
Our model has Grant projected for 25.7 points and assists in this high-scoring matchup. Grant can easily cash this over by points alone, but adding the assists is a nice bonus.
With no Karl-Anthony Towns for the Timberwolves, Grant will see a much better matchup against Kyle Anderson.
He has gone over this line in seven of his last eight games with his one miss being 21 points and assists.