A matchup between the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings is the focus of today’s NBA prop bets.
The pregame narrative: Pascal Siakam and Domantas Sabonis are running hot and I expect each of them to have big games in exploitable matchups. Elsewhere, back Jabari Smith Jr. from deep against the Toronto Raptors.
Check out the best NBA prop bets for Dec. 22.
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Best bet: Siakam over 20.5 points (-125)
For better or worse, Siakam has been Indiana’s lead man this season.
The former Raptor is averaging team highs in points (20.1) and field goal attempts (14.6) while shooting 52.6% from the field and 42.6% from deep.
Tyrese Haliburton is breaking out of his shooting slump but is still an unpredictable scorer with a pass-first mindset.
Siakam has cleared this total in four of his last five games and took a season-high 22 shots against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday (Haliburton took just nine).
With a high-scoring floor and a favourable matchup, Spicy P should stay hot.
- The Kings rank 26th in mid-range defence (44.2%), per Cleaning the Glass.
- Siakam takes 41% of his shots from that area of the court, which ranks in the 94th percentile among all NBA players.
Key stat: Siakam scored 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting in his only matchup against the Kings since joining Indiana.
Quick picks
Sabonis over 39.5 PRA (-125): On the other end of the court, Sabonis is having one of the best months of his career:
- 23.0 PPG
- 14.0 RPG
- 5.4 APG
- 5-4 against this line, 37+ PRA in eight games
The big man is either clearing this total or is right there on any given night. The Pacers’ rebounding and defence are suspect so this should be a good spot for him to stay hot.
Indiana has the third-worst rebounding rate (47.8%) and fifth-worst mid-range defence (44.2%) in basketball.
Sabonis ranks second in rebounding (13.3/game) and takes 29% of his shots from the midrange.
Smith over 1.5 threes (-134): Smith doesn’t take a ton of 3s but he’s fairly accurate and has a fantastic matchup this evening.
The Houston Rockets power forward is shooting 36.4% from deep and has cleared this line in nine of his last 10 starts — hitting three-plus 3s five times.
Tonight he takes on a Raptors team giving up the 10th-most 3s per game to opposing power forwards, per Fantasy Pros.
Smith canned multiple 3s in both games against Toronto last season.
Picks made at 9:31 a.m. ET on 12/22/2024.
Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.