The NBA is back with a jam packed slate this Thursday, featuring a total of 13 matchups on the slate for tonight.
Below, we've compiled a few plays to use on PrizePicks and Underdog for Thursday's NBA games from RotoGrinders — coming from both the NBA pick'em analysis page and the projections page. You can get all the plays with a RotoGrinders subscription.
NBA PrizePicks & Underdog Plays for Thursday, December 19
- RJ Barrett Less Than 39.5 Points, Rebounds, & Assists
- Dennis Schroder Less Than 13.5 Points
- De'Andre Hunter More Than 18.5 Points
RJ Barrett Less Than 39.5 Points, Rebounds, & Assists
Nets vs. Raptors, 7:30 p.m. ET
This all comes down to whether or not Scottie Barnes plays, and if he does end up playing, this number is drastically too high.
RJ Barrett eats up a ton of usage without Barnes in the lineup, but reports are hopeful that Barnes plays tonight, so I'm getting out ahead of this, as the projection will probably drop 4-5 clicks if he does.
The matchup isn't a great one, with the Nets playing at one of the slowest paces in the league this season and Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith also being solid defenders.
If you want, you can wait on the Barnes news, but you're going to have to be quick before the projections readjust.
Pick: RJ Barrett Less Than 39.5 Points, Rebounds, & Assists
Dennis Schroder Less Than 13.5 Points
Warriors vs. Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. ET
Dennis Schroder is expected to make his debut with Golden State on Thursday. He'll enter a crowded rotation and square off against a tough defense.
Schroder was having his best offensive season since the OKC days, but his new situation is entirely different than the disaster he leaves behind in Brooklyn. He had a 23.1% usage rate with the Nets, which was his highest since 2019-20. It bumped up to a team-leading 26.7% after Cam Thomas went down.
Golden State's core offensive players (Steph Curry, Jonathan Kuminga, Andrew Wiggins, Buddy Hield) all have usage rates above 21%. They have only one player (Curry) averaging more than 30 minutes per game. It's a deep and multidimensional rotation that didn't lose any pieces in the Schroder trade.
De'Anthony Melton was the only notable player that went to Brooklyn in the deal, and he only played six games this season before tearing his ACL. Schroder will likely carve out a decent role in the 2nd unit, but that probably won't happen right away.
Memphis is 6th in defensive rating this season and up to 4th over the past 10 games. They have limited point guards to the 9th-fewest points per game. They play fast, so the game environment should be solid.
It's just hard to see Schroder playing a huge role in his first game with the team, especially given the competition around him.
Pick: Dennis Schroder Less Than 13.5 Points
De'Andre Hunter More Than 18.5 Points
Hawks vs. Spurs, 8 p.m. ET
By Jim Turvey
De'Andre Hunter has really gotten into a groove over the last few weeks, as he's settled in after an early-season injury.
He's cleared this number in eight of his last nine games — every game except his most recent, in which he landed on 15 (on 16 field goal attempts).
Despite the presence of Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs are a below-average defense, so I don't see any reason to be scared off Hunter in this spot.
