Player props can be useful in a variety of ways, from leveraging them directly to measuring the potential a player creates in daily fantasy basketball on FanDuel. We'll focus on the former here.
Using FanDuel Research's daily basketball predictions powered by NumberFire as a guide, here are some NBA player prop bets that look attractive from FanDuel Sportsbook's NBA odds.
Note: Lines and projections may change throughout the day after this article is published..
NBA prop bets
Immanuel Quickley Magic Raptors top scorer (+180)
Paolo Banchero owns the shortest odds (+145) on the top scorer market for Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors, but that spot should belong to Immanuel Quickley.
Three of Toronto's starters will be absent for this game: RJ Barrett (20.8 points per game), Scottie Barnes (19.9 points) and Jacob Poeltl (11.1 points).
Take into account that Gary Trent Jr. (12.3 points) is questionable and is unlikely to leave the Raptors with a scorer aside from Quickley.
Barnes has missed five games, during which Quickley is averaging 22.8 points per game.
Barnes and Barrett missed their second consecutive game. Quickie scored 29 points and 25 points without them in the lineup. His shooting volume has increased to 20.0 field goal attempts (FGA) per game, but don't expect much of a change tonight. He has the green light to take over.
Banchero and Franz Wagner are legitimate candidates to be the top scorers in this match. After all, Orlando's implied team total of 113.5 is higher than Toronto's implied team total of 104.5.
However, Quickley has a higher shooting potential than Banchero (17.6 FGA per game) and Wagner (15.7 FGA), and both players will give each other points in the points column.
FanDuel Research predicts Quickley will be at the top of this market. They project Quickley to score 23.4 points, Banchero to 22.5 points and Wagner to 18.6 points.
Kentavious Caldwell Pope 8.5 points or more (-115)
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is averaging 10.1 points per game, scoring over 8.5 points in 63.3% of his games.
The market believes there is only a 53.5% chance that KCP will score 8.5 points or more tonight. I think you should challenge them on this point.
The Denver Nuggets will face the San Antonio Spurs in a game that could be headed for a blowout loss.
San Antonio's defensive rating is the eighth-worst in the league, and it can't hold up against Denver's seventh-best offense.
However, KCP performed well against lower-ranked opponents. Against bottom-10 defenses, he averages 10.2 points and has scored 8.5 points or more in 13 of 20 games.
The Spurs play at the third-fastest pace in the NBA, while Denver plays at the fourth-slowest pace.
KCP did a great job playing the pace game. He has played 10 games against teams ranked in the top seven in pace. He averaged 12.9 points per game this split, scoring over 8.5 points in eight of 10 games.
San Antonio also allows the fifth-most points per game to shooting guards, so I think the over is an advantageous team.
CJ McCallum 7.5+ Reb + Ast (+104)
CJ McCollum is averaging 8.6 combined rebounds and assists (RA) per game, and I think he can reach his RA tonight despite a tough matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers.
These +104 odds mean a 49.0% chance. This should get some attention, as McCollum has exceeded the 7.5 RA in 34 of 49 games this season, and has exceeded it in 69.4% of his games.
Over the Clippers' last 15 games, they are giving up the 14th-most rebounds and ninth-most assists to guards per game. Over the same period, LAC has his fifth-worst defensive rating in the league, so perhaps this matchup isn't as tough as it seems.
The New Orleans Pelicans play at the 15th slowest pace in the NBA, and the Clippers play at the 10th slowest pace. While a slow game environment could be grounds for concern, there is actually a very positive correlation between McCollum's RA numbers and his play in slow games.
McCollum has played in 10 games against teams ranked in the bottom 10 in terms of pace (not including the one game he left early due to injury). In this split, he averaged 9.3 RA, and in 9 out of 10 games he had above 7.5 RA.
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The above authors are employees of FanDuel and are not eligible to participate in public daily fantasy contests or place sports wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of his FanDuel. Following the author's advice does not guarantee success. If you decide to participate in daily fantasy contests or bet on sports, you must do so at your own discretion.
