The ball is dropping on 2021, so we’ll try to close the year in style with some winning NBA player prop bets and there's plenty of value to be found all day with 10 games on the board this New Year’s Eve.
We plan on rolling into the New Year by backing the red-hot Ja Morant as the Memphis Grizzlies host the San Antonio Spurs. Can Morant keep pouring in the points after putting up 74 over his last two games?
Check out our NBA player prop picks for Friday, December 31, as we bank on some of the NBA's best to do their thing.
NBA player props for December 30
Picks made on 12/31/2021 at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Today’s best NBA player props
Still no luck
The Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics open the New Year’s Eve NBA action with an afternoon matchup of teams (like so many others) dealing with a COVID outbreak at the moment. Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, Jayson Tatum, and Marcus Smart are among the key players who will miss this game.
So, the Celtics will turn to Jaylen Brown to pick up the slack, and he hasn’t shied away from it. Brown is averaging 29 points over his last five games and has put up 26 and 30 in these last two games where the C’s have been without Tatum.
Unfortunately for Brown and the C’s, Mikal Bridges is still on the floor for the Suns. Bridges is one of the best wing defenders in the NBA as he is basically a black hole of arms when opposing players enter his space.
He leads a Suns team that ranks second in the NBA in defensive rating and third in opponent field goal percentage. With Tatum, Smart, and even Dennis Schroder out for the Celtics, it will allow Bridges and the Suns to key their defense on Brown.
We’re betting on Bridges and the elite Suns’ defense lock down Brown and keep him below his elevated point total in this one.
Pick: Jaylen Brown Under 26.5 Points (-105 at FanDuel)
Ja-dropper
Ja Morant is closing 2021 with a bang. The Memphis Grizzlies guard has been ridiculous in his last two games, putting 33 and 41 points against the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively. Morant will look to keep roaring when the Grizz host the San Antonio Spurs on New Year’s Eve.
Morant has been super-efficient in those two games, shooting 51.9 percent from the floor, and while the Spurs enter this matchup as a decent defensive team, they have struggled against opposing guards.
The Spurs rank next-to-last in the NBA when it comes to points allowed to opposing guards, giving up 74.2 points per game while ranking 20th in opposing guard field goal percentage. And it certainly doesn’t help that Dejounte Murray is out for this matchup.
Look for Morant to take over one more game in 2021 and bet the Over on his points total, which is set a touch too low at 25.5.
Pick: Ja Morant Over 25.5 Points (-115 at FanDuel)
Rude awakening
Karl-Anthony Towns recently proclaimed himself the “greatest big man shooter of all time” (and got a hilarious and accurate response from Dirk Nowitzki) but the Minnesota Timberwolves would probably have liked it if he improved his work on the defensive end as well.
The Timberwolves are one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA and will be at a huge disadvantage when they visit one of the Association’s best when it comes to cleaning up the glass in the Utah Jazz.
Now, the T-Wolves big man will miss this game due to testing positive for COVID, and do-it-all shooting guard Anthony Edwards is also questionable as he is recovering from the illness. That certainly doesn’t help a team that ranks 27th in the NBA in rebounding percentage and opponent rebounds per game.
Utah’s penchant for cleaning up the glass is led by a big man Rudy Gobert, who does his best work on the defensive end. Gobert has always been a force on the boards but he has taken his game to the next level.
Gobert is averaging 15.4 rebounds over his last 14 games and has hauled down 16 or more boards seven times over that span, which includes grabbing 17 rebounds against the Wolves in their matchup back on Dec. 23. Look for Rudy to ring in the New Year in style by dominating the boards.
Pick: Rudy Gobert Over 15.5 Rebounds (-110 at DraftKings)
Did you know that if you played today’s NBA props as a parlay, you could win $59.68 on a $10 bet?
Use our NBA parlay calculator to create your own parlays and see their potential payouts.
