Find the analysis for our WNBA player props for Arike Ogunbowale and Jonquel Jones on Tuesday, August 20.
Tuesday night’s WNBA slate features three games, including the league’s-best New York Liberty versus the six-win Dallas Wings (at 7 p.m. ET).
The Liberty are riding a six-game win streak and have strung together 19 wins in their past 21 outings, thanks to elite play from their monstrous trio of Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
On the other hand, the Wings have struggled mightily, but they have one of their best players — forward Satou Sabally — back in the lineup. Sabally had a superb first game back in action last week against the Connecticut Sun, but Dallas still got rolled.
Will Sabally provide enough ammo for the Wings to rack up their seventh win of the season against the surging Liberty?
Andrew Norton's WNBA Player Props for Tuesday, August 20
Dallas Wings Player Prop: Fade Ogunbowale
Help has finally come for the Wings.
After an injury-riddled start to the season — which often resulted in Ogunbowale being forced to play “hero ball” on offense — the Wings finally have Sabally back in the lineup.
Sabally impressed in her first game back, posting a line of 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against the Sun.
Her presence naturally means fewer shots for Ogunbowale, who hasn't exactly been efficient this season. In fact, she's shot merely 36% from the field, including a stretch of just 33.6% shooting in her past eight outings.
Against a defense that holds opponents to the second-lowest field goal percentage (41.9%) in the WNBA and ranks second in defensive rating, it's challenging to see Ogunbowale posting 21 or more points, especially with a reduced volume now that Sabally is back in the lineup.
Pick: Arike Ogunbowale Under 20.5 Points (-115 Via DraftKings)
New York Liberty Player Prop: No Offensive Output for Jones
Dallas’ defense is abysmal; that much is true. The Wings rank last in defensive rating and allow the most points per game in the WNBA.
Additionally, they allow the most points in the paint and only pull down 68.2% of defensive rebounds.
It's been an awful season in general, but that end of the floor has been shockingly bad; their defensive rating has dropped nearly seven points from last year to this year.
However, that horrendous defense will likely help the Liberty’s other primary scorers — like Ionescu and Stewart — more than it will Jones.
Jones has been leaned on more for her rebounding and interior defense than her offensive output in the last few weeks; she's scored 15 or more points just once in her past seven games.
Further, Jones’ volume has been quite low recently, as she's averaged merely 9.4 field goal attempts per game since June 30.
With Sabally (6-foot-4) back in the lineup and 6-foot-7 center Teaira McCowan patrolling the middle, I expect Dallas to play better interior defense and allow fewer offensive rebounds than usual, even against an elite team like New York.
