{"id":391032,"date":"2026-01-05T10:31:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=391032"},"modified":"2026-01-05T10:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:31:06","slug":"nba-prop-picks-and-predictions-january-5-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/nba-prop-picks-and-predictions-january-5-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Best NBA prop picks Jan. 5: Bet on Avdija, Edgecombe to stay hot on Monday night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>VJ Edgecombe is on a scoring binge and I expect that to continue against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tonight&#8217;s NBA props narrative:<\/strong> The Philadelphia 76ers rookie is averaging 21.2 points over his past nine games entering tonight&#8217;s home date vs. the Nuggets. Elsewhere, Deni Avdija will put his high-volume assist production to the test in a matchup built for offence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-8f1effd0-db18-40a8-916e-091372420d9e\">Check out my top NBA prop picks for Jan. 5, featuring a prediction on Dillon Brooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Join NorthStar Bets &amp; start betting on the NBA<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-0a4ee124-09d4-4260-81c9-fd6fe232dbb3\">NBA prop picks Jan. 5<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-479767b6-5872-497b-ac44-239c07c7e3d5\"><strong>Best bet:<\/strong> <strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>Avdija over 8.5 assists (-129)<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday&#8217;s game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz has the highest projected total of the night (243 points), and it&#8217;s easy to see why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Utah and Portland both rank inside the top five in pace (i.e., possessions per game).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Jazz are allowing the most points per game in the NBA (126.7).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Overs are 6-1 in the past seven meetings between these Western Conference teams \u2014 including a 136-134 win for the Blazers back in October.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjcxODg0JnA9MzEwMjU%3D\">Bet on prop markets for a high-flying Jazz vs. Blazers matchup<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With all of that in mind, these teams should be trading buckets with ease. And I expect Avdija to help facilitate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jrue Holiday&#8217;s calf strain early in the season elevated Avdija into the role as Portland&#8217;s top passer. He&#8217;s averaging 8.3 assists in 24 games without Holiday \u2014 after averaging 4.6 assists in 12 games with the veteran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those assist numbers have ratcheted up even higher in recent games. Avdija is 7-2 vs. this prop in his past nine, good for 9.6 APG in that span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, he&#8217;s finished with a double-digit assist total in four of his past five. With the scoring potential of tonight&#8217;s matchup against the defensively inept Jazz, that&#8217;s very much in play again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-479767b6-5872-497b-ac44-239c07c7e3d5\"><strong>Key stat<\/strong>: Utah is allowing an NBA-high 30.1 assists per game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"product_only\"><a href=\"cacheembed:122594\">Embed: #122594<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best NBA picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Edgecombe over 16.5 points (<b>&#8211;<\/b>114)<\/strong>: The 76ers are catching the Nuggets at a good time, and I like Edgecombe to take advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Denver will be playing its third road game in four nights (without its all-world centre Nikola Jokic, to boot). On Sunday, the Nuggets coughed up 127 points to the lowly Brooklyn Nets in a loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enter Edgecombe, who has scored more than 20 points in seven of his past nine games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&#8217;s putting up plenty of 3s right now, which certainly helps the scoring upside. In that nine-game span, Edgecombe is shooting 39.1% on 7.7 attempted 3s per game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjcxODg0JnA9MzEwMjU%3D\">Full betting markets for Monday&#8217;s NBA slate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joel Embiid is probable to play for the Sixers, but the two-time scoring champ shouldn&#8217;t bite into too many opportunities for Edgecombe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first-year guard has cashed this bet in five of his past six games with Embiid in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NBA player prop predictions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong>Brooks over 19.5 points (<\/strong><\/strong>-108)<\/strong>: Yesterday, I backed Brooks to go over 18.5 points at a -124 price against the toughest defence in the NBA. He came through, dropping 22 points on the OKC Thunder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t get a lot easier for Brooks tonight in Houston, as the Rockets are sixth in defensive rating while playing at the league&#8217;s third-slowest pace. Still, I see value here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brooks is averaging a career-best 21.4 PPG.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He has 20+ points in 16 of 29 games (hitting the 18-point mark 23 times).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brooks is 12-8 vs. this line since Nov. 21, and he finished with either 18 or 19 points in five of the outliers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Don&#8217;t miss out \u2014 bet on tonight&#8217;s NBA prop markets<\/a><\/strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Better yet, the Mississauga, Ontario native has already cashed this bet twice against his former team. He had 23 points in Houston on Dec. 5 and 29 points at home against the Rockets on Nov. 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 29-point effort was on the second half of a back-to-back, which makes tonight&#8217;s no-rest scenario less daunting to bet on, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-84329f2b-7888-4034-9979-03e8608897e5\"><em>NBA prop picks made at 9:50 a.m. ET on Jan. 5, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Sign up to NorthStar Bets today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VJ Edgecombe is on a scoring binge and I expect that to continue against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Tonight&#8217;s NBA props narrative: The Philadelphia 76ers rookie is averaging 21.2 points over his past nine games entering tonight&#8217;s home date vs. the Nuggets. Elsewhere, Deni Avdija will put his high-volume assist production to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":391034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-391032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NBA prop picks Jan. 5: Best bets, predictions &amp; odds | The Boost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NBA prop picks Jan. 5, 2026. 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