Tonight’s top NBA prop picks feature Trey Murphy, Anthony Edwards and Cade Cunningham.
The pregame narrative: Edwards and Cunningham have juicy matchups and Murphy should be active for the hobbled New Orleans Pelicans.
Check out the best NBA prop bets for Nov. 13.
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Best bet: Murphy over 4.5 rebounds (-129)
This will be Murphy’s second game of the season and it couldn’t come at a better time.
The Pelicans, decimated by injuries, are without the following players:
- Starting PF Zion Williamson
- Starting G CJ McCollum
- Starting G Dejounte Murray
- Starting F Herbert Jones
- Backup PG Jose Alvarado
They haven’t been competing, much less winning games with their skeleton crew. Murray, the team’s prized offseason acquisition, was injured in his first game and it has been downhill from there.
The Pelicans have dropped five in a row, losing three of them by 15-plus points.
There’s big blowout potential again against the Thunder (9-2), who are 13.5-point favourites as of Wednesday afternoon.
The bottom line is that the Pelicans need bodies and Murphy needs run. He got 26 minutes on Monday, grabbing five rebounds and scoring 12 points.
I think his points/rebounds prop is a viable play but I also worry about his shooting rust (he shot 28.6% on 14 shots in his debut) and the fact that the Thunder can really hone in on him and Brandon Ingram defensively.
OKC ranks first in the NBA in defensive rating but 29th in rebounding rate. So I’m targeting Murphy on the glass.
With an uptick in minutes, the 24-year-old balled out in the second half last season.
- Pre-ASG: 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds
- Post-ASG: 17.1 points, 6.2 rebounds
He then went and topped this line in four of six playoff/play-in games, including three of four against the Thunder.
Key stat: Murphy grabbed five-plus rebounds in 19 of his final 25 regular season games last year.
Quick picks
Edwards over 3.5 threes (-143): The Minnesota Timberwolves star gets the Portland Trail Blazers for the second night in a row and third time in a week.
Here’s what he did:
- Nov. 8: 37 points & nine 3s in 30 minutes
- Nov. 12: 26 points & four 3s in 37 minutes
That first game was also on a back-to-back and he hoisted a season-high 15 attempts from deep.
His volume and efficiency (45.3% on an NBA-best 5.3 threes/game) make a 3.5 line at a reasonable price a near-auto play at the moment.
Edwards has topped this number in 10 of 11 games.
Cunningham over 14.5 assists/rebounds (-132): The Detroit Pistons guard is lighting it up and faces the Milwaukee Bucks on a back-to-back.
Milwaukee held the Toronto Raptors to 85 points last night but this is a 3-8 team that ranks in the bottom half of the league in defensive rating.
And it has been torched by guards all season, which can’t all be Damian Lillard’s fault. Lillard is in concussion protocol and missed last night. His status for tonight doesn’t impact this pick for me.
Cunningham is averaging career highs in both assists (8.3) and rebounds (7.3) and has topped this line in five straight.
He’s one of the highest-usage players in the NBA and should perform well on the glass against a Bucks team that is 20th in rebounding rate.
Picks made at 12:40 p.m. ET on 11/13/2024.
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.