I’m recommending two players on the prop market for tonight’s 11-game NBA slate.
The pregame narrative: I like James Harden to make it rain from deep and Wendell Carter Jr. to clean up on the glass.
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Best bet: Harden over 2.5 threes (+100)
The Los Angeles Clippers star has fallen under this number in all three games.
That said, Harden is chucking the ball from deep and is back in score-first mode as the No. 1 option with Kawhi Leonard out.
The veteran guard has the ball in his hands a lot — he’s third in the NBA in usage — and is averaging 8.7 attempts per game. We have to go back to the 2019-20 season for the last time Harden had that volume.
While he’s been cold, hitting just 19.2% of his shots from deep, he’s averaging 37.7 minutes a game. As long as Harden is on the court and hoisting 3-point shots without another alpha playing alongside him, I’ll target him at this number.
Tonight he gets the Portland Trail Blazers, who have allowed opponents to shoot a healthy 37.5% from distance early on.
Quick pick
Carter over 9.5 rebounds (-134): The Orlando Magic centre gets the team that drafted him tonight: the Chicago Bulls.
Carter isn’t a big offensive piece but he’s the team’s best rebounder and has started the season with four consecutive double-digit rebounding games.
Only nine players are averaging more than his 11.3 per game.
After seeing his minutes dwindle last year, he’s just up over 30.0 minutes a night for the first time in his career. It’s a sizeable jump from the 25.6 he logged a season ago when he averaged a career-low rounding total (6.5).
Carter averaged at least 8.5 rebounds in three of the four prior years and Orlando has been significantly better on the glass than Chicago.
Picks made at 2:44 p.m. on 10/30/2024.
Chris joined NorthStar Gaming from Covers.com where he was a publishing editor and wrote betting content. Before that, he was the sports editor at VICE Canada, worked for theScore and covered the Blue Jays for MLB.com. In addition to filling out the lineup card each day for the editorial team, Chris writes frequently himself, primarily on the NBA and MLB.