3 MUST BET NBA Player Props Tonight | Jonas Valanciunas & De’Anthony Melton 12/17/21

The sports weekend is set to get off to a strong start this evening with eight games scheduled across the NBA. While injuries and health and safety protocols have created chaos around the league, bettors can look to use these developments to their advantage when betting on NBA player props. You can easily enhance your NBA handicapping process further by including the redesigned Awesemo OddsShopper Tool as well as NBA betting tips today. Thanks to this tremendous tool, finding the best player props and bets is as simple as three quick steps: Filter, sort, bet.

With help from OddsShopper, the following article highlights three must-bet prop predictions for Friday’s NBA action.

Best NBA Player Props & Betting Picks Tonight

With OddsShopper, finding the best NBA betting player props is fast and simple. All users have to do is filter the prop selections, sort the page and find the best pick to bet. The process is extremely quick and highly effective. Try out the tool for yourself tonight with the three featured prop bets below!

Jonas Valanciunas Under 13.5 Rebounds (-124, FanDuel)

Few players are more capable of posting a double-digit rebound total on any given night than New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas. In fact, his 12.1 average rebounds per game on the season rank fourth in the NBA entering Friday’s action. While that mark is certainly impressive, it is also nearly 1.5 boards lower than tonight’s NBA player props line of 13.5. While Valanciunas is coming off of a massive 16-rebound effort two nights ago, keep in mind that the Pelicans played overtime in that game.

It should be noted that the Milwaukee Bucks will likely be without two of their primary rebounders in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis due to health and safety protocol. Even so, it is still asking a lot for Valanciunas to secure the 14 boards necessary to clear this inflated prop total. Awesemo’s projections peg him for 11.68 boards this evening. With OddsShopper showing -124 as the preferred price, this under prediction carries a massive expected ROI of 37%. Make sure to shop the odds carefully, as the optimal price holds up to 16 cents in value over competing sportsbooks.


The Latest Sports Betting Content from Stokastic Odds


De’Anthony Melton Over 8.5 Points (-127, SugarHouse)

At this point Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins seems to be one of only a few people who doubt De’Anthony Melton’s talent. Despite once again seeing his minutes whittled down, Melton has proven capable of scoring double-digit points in 20 minutes or less. He did just that on Monday, with 15 points on 4-for-9 shooting in 20 minutes of action. Despite being locked into a reserve role, Melton comes into Friday averaging 10.1 points per game on the season. He has scored 11 or more in six of the Grizzlies’ last 10 games.

One must also consider the fact that the Grizzlies face the Sacramento Kings this evening, who have one of the worst defensive teams in the league. They enter Friday’s game ranked 29th in points allowed (114) and 25th in opponent field goal percentage (46.5%). OddsShopper projects Melton for 10.90 points, over two more than the NBA betting line. The resulting expected win probability for this prop bet tonight is 72%.

Patrick Beverley Over 3.5 Assists (-141, FanDuel)

For whatever reason, the props market continues to list Patrick Beverley’s assist total well below his per-game average. Tonight’s over/under of 3.5 assists equals the line oddsmakers set on Wednesday. All Beverley did two nights ago was go out and dish eight assists to smash the over. He is now distributing 4.7 assists per game on the season.

Perhaps there was some concern about Beverley continuing his strong assist numbers with fellow guard D’Angelo Russell returning to the lineup this week from injury. It does not appear to have had any negative impact whatsoever. With the opposing Los Angeles Lakers expected to be short-handed in tonight’s game due to health and safety protocol, Beverley should once again cash the over for willing bettors. OddsShopper currently lists the best odds for this over prediction at -141. With a projection of 4.66 assists, OddsShopper gives this wager an expected ROI of 18% at the optimal price point.

Thanks for reading to the end of this article! If you appreciate this free content and want to see more of it every day, you can help us out by sharing this article on social media!

Check out Stokastic's Best Bets home page for more sports betting picks and predictions.

Author

DFS Winners from the Stokastic Community

Subscribe to the Stokastic newsletter

DFS advice, exciting promos, and the best bets straight to your inbox

Stokastic.com - Daily Fantasy Sports and Sports Betting Data, Tools, & Analytics

Please play responsibly. Only customers 21 and over are permitted to play. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.