Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham is featured in Wednesday’s top NBA prop picks.
The pregame narrative: Cunningham has been crushing it from long range and I like him to stay hot tonight. Additionally, my best bet is on Brook Lopez for tonight’s eight-game NBA slate.
Check out the best NBA prop bets for Jan. 8.
NBA prop bets
Editor’s note: Kawhi Leonard was ruled out after this story was published.
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Best bet: Lopez over 10.5 points (-106)
This is a light line for a starter who’s getting over 30 minutes a night.
Of course, there’s reason for that. Lopez plays alongside two high-usage scorers with huge volume: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
That eats into his scoring upside but Lopez’s production has significantly improved of late.
Lopez has cashed this seven times in his last 10 games and he’s cleared it with ease most nights, hitting the 20-point mark three different times.
The Spurs surrender the fifth-most points to centres, per Betting Pros, making this an even more enticing play.
Key stat: Lopez is averaging 14.7 points and 2.1 triples over his last 10 games.
Quick picks
Cunningham over 2.5 threes (-129): The Pistons guard came well short of his prop lines when he faced the Brooklyn Nets earlier this season but I expect him to feast tonight.
The Nets are 25th in defensive rating and 27th in opponent 3-point percentage.
Cunningham has improved efficiency and volume this season and he’s more dangerous from the perimeter.
The Pistons are also down an offensive weapon in guard Jaden Ivey and Cunningham has exploded in consecutive games without him.
- Cunningham has scored 32 and 40 points, respectively, in his last two games.
- He nailed four triples in each outing and has reached that mark four times in his last six contests.
- The 23-year-old topped this line 11 times in his last 15.
Leonard over 1.5 threes (+110): This is an excellent number to back Leonard in his third game of the season.
The Los Angeles Clippers’ oft-injured star has topped this in both games, taking five attempts from deep in each contest despite limited minutes.
He played 21 minutes last game following 19 in his season opener, taking a healthy 11 shots from the field in both outings.
Leonard has averaged at least 1.9 triples per game on good percentages in each of the last five seasons coming into this year.
He gets the Denver Nuggets on a back-to-back tonight.
Denver’s defence has struggled coming into the evening, ranking 23rd in defensive rating over its last 10 games and in the bottom half of opponent 3-pointers allowed.
Picks made at 3:00 p.m. ET on 01/08/2025.
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.