Underdog Fantasy NBA Basketball Pick 'Em Plays 01/17: Kyrie Irving, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard & More!
Underdog is back with their Pick ‘Em bets for the NBA season. We will be going over the best bets for tonight and help give you the edge to make some money tonight and every Tuesday night. This should be a fun slate of games so let’s take advantage of some great odds.
Top NBA Underdog Fantasy Player Props
Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets (40.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists)
It’s been a bit of a struggle for Kyrie and the Nets since Kevin Durant went down. The bar set here he hasn’t yet hit this month. It’s been eight games since the last time Irving went off for 40.5 points + rebounds + assists. However, there is no team to get right against quite like the San Antonio Spurs and he should do just that tonight.
The Spurs are dead last in the league in defensive rating and are giving up more points per game than any team in the league. Their 121.7 points per game allowed are more than two points more than the next closest team. That’s a bigger gap in points per game than any two teams side by side in the rankings. To put that into perspective the 25th-ranked defense in points per game is closer to the 29th than the 30th-ranked Spurs are to the 29th-ranked Pistons. That number has climbed even higher as of late as the Spurs have given up 137 points per game over their past three.
When it comes to assists the Spurs aren’t much better allowing the third-most assists per game in the league ranking 28th. They are just half of an assist per game away from being dead last in this category too. In a shocking turn of events, the horrific Spurs aren’t the worst at rebounding. They aren’t great, but they aren’t horrible. They rank 20th in the NBA when it comes to total rebounds allowed per game. There is no excuse for Kyrie to not take advantage of this matchup.
The Pick: Higher (40.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists)
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets (46.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists)
Jokic is out here making a case for his third-straight MVP award. The guy is a walking triple-double and puts up numbers in bunches. He has already faced the Trail Blazers twice this season and cruised past this line in both games, putting up totals of 48 and 52. The matchup isn’t incredible, but they aren’t good enough to slow down the big man.
The Blazers’ defense ranks 13th in points per game and 21st in defensive rating. They are allowing the 15th-most assists per game, just below the league average. However, they are good on the boards allowing the third-fewest in the NBA. Nonetheless, Jokic has still averaged nine rebounds per game against them this season.
The Pick: Higher 46.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers (31.5 Points)
Lillard has been red hot coming into this game. He has scored at least 30 in five straight games and that includes both a 40 and 50-point game. This is an average matchup for him that he has already taken advantage of this season. The Nuggets rank 14th in the league in points per game and 16th in defensive rating. He has easily surpassed this mark in both games against Denver this season totaling 74 points in those two games. He is hotter now than he has been all season putting up five straight 30-point games for the first time this year. We are betting on all these trends to continue tonight.
The Pick: Higher 31.5 Points
Keldon Johnson, San Antonio Spurs (30.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists)
We don’t have a ton of faith in Johnson’s ability to hit this mark tonight. The matchup isn’t good and we aren’t sure how good he is right now either. Brooklyn ranks fifth in points per game allowed with just 110.6 this season and that number has actually improved since the loss of KD. The Nets are also third-best when it comes to slowing down opponents from piling up assists and 18th when it comes to allowing rebounds.
When it comes to putting up this total, Johnson has only done it once in the past four games and the matchup won’t help his case. These teams just played on January 2 and we saw Johnson total just 27 with 22 points, three assists, and two rebounds. We expect much of the same tonight. We are putting our money against him tonight.
The Pick: Lower 30.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists
Fantasy SP has worked diligently to bring you next-level sports betting analytics, prop betting tools, public betting splits, and so much more! Become an Edge+ member today!
#underdog
