We have a couple of new inductees into the Banned List Hall of Shame: Trae Young and Clint Capela. I mean, what the absolute f*ck was that?!? The 6-foot-10 guy plays 27 minutes and gets THREE rebounds. How? How does that happen? Trae? Well, I got nothing. This dude just refused to shoot the ball early, and then when he did decide to shoot, he really put the ICE in the Ice Trae nickname. Of course, they just HAVE to give us those performances when we include them in our NBA parlay picks. Not anymore. They’re banned! YOU CAN’T HURT ME ANYMORE! Now GTFOH!
Now it’s time for our top NBA parlay picks for today, Thursday, January 18th, including an NBA player prop pick for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Need more action? Check out our NBA betting tools or our NBA betting promos — including the new MEGA PROMO from BetMGM!
NBA Parlay Picks Today: +495 Bet for Thursday
Shai Gilgeous Alexander 25+ Points & Thunder ML (NBA Player Prop)
What if I told you I had a bet on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that has won in 86% of his last 21 games? Can I interest you in something like that?
That’s right, SGA has gone for 25+ point sin 18 of his last 21 games, which is good for, yep, you guessed it, an 86% rate. Go me for using a calculator.
Now, the Thunder take on the Jazz tonight. And somehow, the Jazz are 9-1 in their last 10 games. Don’t ask me what kind of voodoo magic they’re working with over there, but, something is going on.
However, they’re getting one of the best teams in the Western Conference coming into the Delta Center tonight, and you know, the man who is fourth in the NBA in scoring.
This feels like a spot where the Jazz are getting too much credit from the books with this latest winning streak, and we’re getting SGA off back-to-back subpar performances.
I think he bounces back in a big way tonight to help the Thunder end their two-game losing skid, so we’re going Shai for 25+ points and Thunder moneyline for the first part of our NBA parlay picks today.
Scottie Barnes 18+ Points (NBA Player Prop)
Obviously, the big news out of Toronto yesterday was Pascal Siakam being traded to the Indiana Pacers.
But, what the REAL news should’ve been was that Scottie Barnes — and a teammate we’re going to talk about shortly — is going to be absolutely UNLEASHED.
With Siakam gone, there will be infinitely more opportunities for Barnes to get involved — not that he wasn’t before, but even more so now. The usage right is gonna be going #ToTheMoon.
Looking at the previous three games before last night, Barnes shot 10, 12 and 13 times. But, immediately jumped to 16 last night with Siakam gone. And, even 16 might be low going forward.
The Raptors are clearly saying Barnes is #TheDude, and they’re building around him. They’re going to give him every chance to become what they think he can be, and it starts by taking charge of the offense.
Look for another game with upwards of 20 jacks for Barnes tonight, and let’s fire up the 18+ points prop.
Immanuel Quickley 20+ Points + Assists (NBA Player Prop)
Ahh, yes, the man who we teased in the prior section. Immanuel Quickley has also been unleashed from the thwarting thumb of Tom Thibodeau since being acquired by Toronto — damn, that was a lot of words starting with T.
Anyway, Quickley has flourished in the starting point guard role for the Raptors, and has almost a 25% usage rate since making his debut on Jan. 1.
This man has been cookin’ lately, averaging 18.7 points, 5.4 assists and 5 rebounds per game with the Raptors. So, we’re going to go to the points + assists streets for this leg of our NBA parlay and take the alternate line of 20+ points + assists.
He’s cleared this 20+ mark on points alone in five of his nine games with Toronto, and six overall — and finished on the hook in another.
Obviously, most of the usage will go through Barnes and Quickley, so let’s capitalize before the books price them in an area we can no longer bet them.
New York Knicks -4.5 Alt Spread (NBA Betting Pick)
OK. This doesn’t take much brain power, friends, and I don’t feel like writing a ton here.
The Knicks are better than the Wizards, who will be without one of their best rebounders in Daniel Gafford tonight. They’ll still have Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma, but that has done them exactly … well, nothing, they only have 7 wins on the year.
New York is on a back-to-back, and they might sit someone, but even if they DO, they’re still drastically better than Washington. So, instead of taking the massive spread of 12, let’s take the alt line of -4.5.
Knicks at home, only having to win by a slight margin — even if someone sits — I like this spot.
Final NBA Picks & Parlay Bet Today
Leg 1: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 25+ Points
Leg 2: Thunder ML
Leg 3: Scottie Barnes 18+ Points
Leg 4: Immanuel Quickley 20+ Points + Assists
Leg 5: Knicks -4.5 Alt Spread
= +495 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook
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