Today’s NBA Player Prop Picks: Leonard Cashes From Deep Against Minnesota

It’s a jam-packed night of NBA action with 10 games on the board for basketball bettors to dive headfirst into, and that means a cornucopia of options in the player prop market.

Tonight, there will be a buzz around a certain Hornets’ big man, and Bam Adebayo should have a busy night cleaning up the glass against the Thunder. Plus, make sure you grab the value on this Kawhi Leonard prop while you can.

Here are my best NBA player props for Wednesday, December 14.

NBA player props for December 14

• Plumlee double-double
• Adebayo Over 10.5 rebounds
• Leonard Over 1.5 made 3s

Picks made on 12/14/2022 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

Today’s best NBA player props

The odds widgets below represent the best odds currently available for each betting market at regulated sportsbooks.

Mr. Consistency

It was supposed to be a campaign where the Detroit Pistons took the next step forward in their development. But with a season-ending injury to Cade Cunningham and a 7-22 start, it’s on to next year for Detroit.

And while the Charlotte Hornets aren’t doing much better in the standings, they’ll be able to use their bigs to put a sting into the Pistons. The Hornets’ big that can really make a buzz in this matchup is center Mason Plumlee. 

Plumlee is having a solid season for the Hornets, averaging 9.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this season. This basically means there is potential for the Hornets' big man to record a double-double almost every time he takes the court.

But there is a real reason to like that potential tonight. Not only do the Pistons rank 29th in defensive rating, but they really struggle when it comes to battling down low. 

Detroit surrenders the second most points in the paint per game in the NBA while ranking 20th in rebounding rate and 24th in opponent rebounds per game. 

This game sets up well for Plumlee to record his 11th double-double of the season and his fourth in his last seven games.

Mason Plumlee Prop: To record a double-double (+230)

Bam Bam!

To put it nicely, the Miami Heat have been inconsistent through the first quarter of the NBA season. However, the one guy they can rely on night in, and night out is Bam Adebayo. The Heat big man could have a massive night on the boards when Miami visits the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.

On top of putting up a career-high 20.8 points per contest, Adebayo is hauling down 9.5 rebounds per game. He's also been putting in extra work cleaning the glass lately, bumping that number up to 12.4 rebounds over his last four games. 

Those numbers have a great chance to continue against the Thunder, as OKC generally runs a small-ball lineup for the majority of their minutes. And while that has helped the Thunder’s offense, it has left them vulnerable on the boards.

As a result, OKC ranks dead last in the NBA when it comes to opponent rebounds per game and 27th in rebounding rate. 

The Thunder simply don’t have the type of players you need to bang with Adebayo on the boards. While his rebounding total is a little inflated at 10.5, the combination of the matchup vs. the Thunder, the fact he’s gone Over this number twice in his last four games, and the close-to-even-money price tag make this a very worthwhile bet.

Bam Adebayo Prop: Over 10.5 rebounds (-105)

Fun guy from beyond the arc

Kawhi Leonard may be on a minutes restriction for the Los Angeles Clippers right now, but at least he is playing regularly, and he's making the most of those minutes. That is providing us with some betting value when the Clippers host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

Right now, we are getting nice plus money on for Leonard to go Over 1.5 made threes in this matchup. That’s because Leonard is only attempting 3.6 threes per game and is hitting just 21.3% of those shots so far this season.

However, over the last three contests, Leonard has started to let it fly a little more, bumping that number up to 4.7 and hitting two threes twice over that stretch. On top of that, this is a guy who has hit an average of 38.2% of his shots from beyond the arc over the course of his career.

Now Leonard gets to go against a Wolves defense that is one of the worst in the NBA when it comes to defending the perimeter. Minnesota clogs the interior with Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns on the floor at the same time, but that can leave them exposed to the 3-ball.

In fact, Minnesota allows the third most 3-pointers per game while ranking 28th in opponent 3-point shooting percentage, allowing teams to hit 37.8% of their attempts from deep.

Kawhi is a tough matchup for anyone when he is healthy, but he is an even tougher matchup for Minnesota tonight. Back him to hit two or more threes at plus money while we still can.

Kawhi Leonard Prop: Over 1.5 made 3-pointers (+124)

Pages related to this topic