Before the Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday, there’s afternoon basketball and I have three prop bets from the action.
The pregame narrative: LaMelo Ball picked up right where he left off in his return to action on Feb. 7. I’m buying in and backing him to stuff the stat sheet again. I also have picks on Jalen Duren and Tyrese Maxey.
Check out the best NBA prop bets for Feb. 9.
Best NBA prop bets
Best bet: Ball over 39.5 points/rebounds/assists (-115)
This is a hefty line but with Ball’s 35.7% usage rate (second in the NBA behind Joel Embiid), he can easily clear this total on any given night.
The dynamic point guard missed five games but returned to play the San Antonio Spurs on Friday and recorded 38 points/rebounds/assists in a normal 36-minute workload.
Ball shot 9-of-26 (34.6%) from the floor and saw himself at the free-throw line a measly two times en route to 24 points.
Those stats are below average for Ball, who scores 28.0 points on 41.6% shooting and attempts 5.4 FTs per game.
Slightly better efficiency or a few more trips to the line would’ve done the trick on Friday and I expect a better performance tonight.
Key stat: In his last game vs. the Pistons on Nov. 21, Ball had 35 points, six rebounds and nine assists (50 PRAs).
Quick picks
Duren to record a double-double (-109): In just 19 minutes of action on Friday, Duren had 13 points and 13 rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers.
It was the big man’s 22nd double-double of the season and his 10th in the last 12 games.
During that time, he’s averaging:
- 14.5 points
- 12.1 rebounds
- 72.2 FG%
- 27.5 minutes
All of those numbers are up from his season averages. It appears Duren is earning the trust of head coach J.B. Bickerstaff as he progresses in his second year in the NBA.
And tonight, he has a rather soft matchup against the Charlotte Hornets. They allow the eight-most points and sixth-most rebounds to centres, per Fantasy Pros.
Maxey over 29.5 points (-112): This is quite the line but I still want in.
Maxey has been torching opposing defences, averaging 32.1 PPG since Jan. 6.
In that 17-game span, he’s cleared this 11 times. It’s also worth noting that the fewest points he’s scored in a game during this run is 27 and it was on Friday.
I’m expecting a huge bounce-back effort — if you can call it that — vs. the Milwaukee Bucks who allow the most points per game to PGs (26.7).
Picks made at 8:41 a.m. ET on 02/09/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.