WNBA Best Bets Today | Our Expert Picks for Friday, May 31
Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images. Pictured: Phoenix’s Natasha Cloud.
We have a four-game slate in the WNBA tonight, including two evening/late-night matchups when the Dallas Wings take on the Connecticut Sun and the Phoenix Mercury meet the Minnesota Lynx.
Our WNBA writers came through with three Friday night best bets, including a spread pick in Wings vs. Sun and a player prop for each game.
Read on to see all three of our WNBA best bets for Friday, May 31 — and be sure to check back tomorrow for even more WNBA picks and predictions.
WNBA Best Bets
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our WNBA betting staff is targeting from Friday's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 p.m. | ||
| 7:30 p.m. | ||
| 9:30 p.m. | ||
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our WNBA Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Wings vs. Sun
By Jim Turvey
The Connecticut Sun are undefeated on the season (6-0), but they sit just 2-4 against the spread on the season. The Dallas Wings are 3-2 overall but 4-1 ATS.
However, I want to be on the Sun's side of things Friday.
The Wings have scrambled impressively this season, losing two of their three best players but still sitting over .500. However, I see a lot of fool's gold. The two wins they have since losing Natasha Howard were a game in which Arike Ogunbowale went for 40 and a one-point win over the worst team in the league in the Layshia Clarendon-less Sparks).
Now, they'll go up against a Sun team that once again has a suffocating defense and has as strong a winning culture and continuity as any team in the league.
Maddy Siegrist has been outstanding the last two games for Dallas, but she's going to be in for a far stiffer test against the Sun on Friday. The same exact thing can be said of Monique Billings and even Sevgi Uzun to a degree.
The Sun flipped over their backcourt this season, but the early returns have been outstanding. DiJonai Carrington is your early-season MIP, and Brionna Jones has looked excellent after missing the second half of last season.
I make this game around Sun -9.5, so there's a bit of wiggle room here.
Pick: Sun -7.5
Arike Ogunbowale recently had a 40-piece and has cleared this over in three of her five games to start the season. However, she's now facing a Connecticut Sun defense that is again the best in the league.
Ogunbowale was very streaky against the Sun last year and cleared this over only once in four tries — even as she scored 30, 25 and 23 in three of the four games.
Ogunbowale will be forced to take tough shots for the duration of the game, and while the volume isn't going anywhere, she may have her worst shot-quality game of the season. And so far, she's good for about nine RA per game, which dropped to 7.8 per against the Sun last year.
Pick: Arike Ogunbowale Under 33.5 PRA
Mercury vs. Lynx
By Jim Turvey
Cloud has reached double-digit assists three times this season, has cleared this in four of her seven games, and is averaging 7.1 per game. So, why is this an under look?
The Mercury will once again be without Bec Allen on Friday, and she had established a very strong early rapport with Cloud.
Cloud's assists per 100 possessions sits at 36.7 but plummets to 18.2 without Allen on the court this season. It's admittedly not the largest sample since this is their first year playing together, but Cloud clearly loved whipping the ball to Bec in the flow of this Nate Tibbetts offense.
Phoenix also now faces the No. 1 defense in the W so far this season in the Minnesota Lynx, a team that allows the third-fewest assists per game. The Lynx also allow the fewest made 3s per game, which should really eat into the Mercury's natural flow.
It's going to be an uphill battle for Cloud to rack up assists on Friday, so I'll like this number wherever the books land.
Pick: Natasha Cloud Under 6.5 Assists
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