Thursday brings us eight exciting NBA games, with seven teams playing the second leg of a back-to-back. Jazz-Pistons will kick the night off at 7 p.m. ET in Detroit with multiple players out for Utah. Grizzlies-Pacers has the highest total of the night of 247.5 and should be a fun one for Ja Morant‘s second game. Lastly, we’ll close out the night with Wizards-Trail Blazers in Portland. Let’s get to the best PrizePicks NBA plays tonight, starting with Ja Morant.
Selecting the right projections may be challenging, but with the assistance of OddsShopper’s NBA PrizePicks Optimizer and thorough research, we’ve got you covered. Let’s dive into the best PrizePicks NBA picks for Thursday!
NBA Player Predictions | Dec. 21
Ja Morant M/L 52.5 Fantasy Score
The Grizzlies will host the Pacers as 5-point home favorites and if Ja Morant wasn’t playing, this spread would likely be the other way around. This will be Morant’s first home game back, and coming off his game-winner in New Orleans, you can expect the crowd to be rocking in Memphis. Since we don’t have much of a sample size this season for Morant, let’s take a look at the Pacers defense.
The Pacers are bottom 5 in points, rebounds and assists allowed to guards in the last 10 games. On the season, they allow a league-high 50.8% shooting to the position. This is a pace-up spot against the 28th-ranked defense. Morant has no minutes restrictions and clearly is ready to run this team again, as indicated by his 39.5% usage rate in the win over New Orleans. Since the start of last season, Morant is averaging 1.43 fantasy minutes per game.
Best PrizePicks NBA Player Prediction: Ja Morant More Than 52.5 Fantasy Score
Victor Wembanyama M/L 13.5 Rebounds
Victor Wembanyama finds himself with an extremely high rebound projection today, and this is surely to come down before tip-off. The Spurs are 6-point road underdogs in Chicago against a Bulls team that ranks ninth in opponent rebounds over the last 10 games. Wembanyama missed the Tuesday game due to right ankle soreness but is expected to play tonight.
Wembanyama is averaging 11.0 rebounds per game and 10.4 on the road this season. This is a major pace-down spot for the Spurs, as the Bulls rank 30th in pace. The less-than on this projection has a 5% EV and a 57% expected win rate on OddsShopper’s Positive EV Bets tool. It also has odds ranging from -122 to -159.
Best PrizePicks NBA Player Prediction: Victor Wembanyama Less Than 13.5 Rebounds
DeMar DeRozan M/L 40.5 Fantasy Score
DeMar DeRozan has been smashing without Zach LaVine, averaging 44.6 fantasy points and 38.6 minutes in 11 games this season. This is a major pace-up spot against the Spurs, who rank 24th in defense.
The Spurs allow the most points, rebounds, assists and free-throw attempts to forwards by a wide margin. DeRozan has a team-high 27.9 usage rate without LaVine on the court. When teams played two weeks ago, DeRozan racked up 49.2 fantasy points in San Antonio. Tonight’s game is in Chicago, and at home DeRozan shoots 46.9%, compared to 41.7% on the road.
Best PrizePicks NBA Player Prediction: DeMar DeRozan More Than 40.5 Fantasy Score
Two-pick power plays and five-pick flex plays have the most expected value. If you’re looking for more picks, check out our PrizePicks Optimizer.
