It’s an absolutely loaded hump day in the NBA with 13 games on the slate, which means there is a cornucopia of betting options in the player prop market.
Today, we highlight a pair of big men who are crushing it right now. Joel Embiid will try to keep up his torrid scoring pace when the 76ers host the Magic while Nikola Jokic has been a beast on the glass for the Nuggets.
Check out our NBA player prop picks for Wednesday, January 19, as we bank on some of the NBA's best to do their thing.
NBA player props for January 19
Picks made on 1/19/2022 at 11:45 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Today’s best NBA player props
Mo Money Jo Problems
The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a tough loss to the Washington Wizards but Joel Embiid is showing no signs of slowing down. The 76ers big man is averaging 31.6 points over the last month and will look to keep rolling against the lowly Orlando Magic.
Embiid has been an absolute force, putting up 31 or more points 12 times over his last 14 games while shooting 53.5 percent from the field, including 39.1 percent from 3-point range, and now gets a juicy matchup against the Magic.
Orlando has lost 12 of its last 13 games and ranks 25th in defensive rating. The Magic have also struggled mightily with opposing centers, ranking 26th in points allowed to big men. And on top of it all, one of the Magic’s best shots to slow down Embiid is Wendell Carter Jr., and he is questionable with a hamstring injury.
But the real beauty of this bet is that Embiid is putting up these points no matter how the game has gone. He's done it in big wins, big losses, and everything in between. That includes putting up 31 points in a 10-point win over the Magic back on Jan. 5. This number is too low to say no to.
Pick: Joel Embiid Over 28.5 points (-105 at DraftKings)
King Darius conquers
The Cleveland Cavaliers have suffered a ton of injuries to their backcourt this season, but that has created the opportunity for Darius Garland to step up. And he has. The third-year man out of Vanderbilt looks like he is having his breakout season, averaging 19.7 points on 46.8 percent shooting from the floor while adding 7.9 assists per game.
Garland will look to have a big game tonight against the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls. But the Bulls will also be down several guards for this matchup. Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball will both miss this game, while Alex Caruso is questionable.
That won’t help a Bulls’ defense team that ranks 19th in defensive rating and has really struggled with opposing guards. The Bulls rank dead last in the NBA when it comes to opposing guard scoring, allowing them to shoot 45.9 percent from the field.
That means Garland could be a problem in this matchup. The Cavs’ guard is averaging 21.6 points per game while shooting 47.1 percent over his last 12 games. He has also put up 21 or more points nine times over that 12-game stretch. So, seeing Garland’s point total at 19.5 looks a little low.
Pick: Darius Garland Over 19.5 points (-120 at FanDuel)
Chairman of the boards
The Denver Nuggets have struggled with consistency this season thanks to a multitude of injury issues, so they have been leaning on Nikola Jokic more than ever, and they’ll need him to be his usual dominant self if they want to cover the 7.5 point chalk tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The reigning MVP is arguably having an even better season than he did a year ago averaging, 25.3 points on 56.6 percent shooting while adding 13.9 boards and 7.4 assists per game, but The Joker has been an even bigger beast on the glass on late.
Jokic is averaging a massive 15.5 rebounds per game over his last 12 games and has hauled down 13 or more boards eight times over that stretch of games. Now, he gets to face a Clippers team that really struggles with cleaning up the glass.
Los Angeles is in fact, one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA. The Clippers rank 28th in the NBA in rebounding percentage and next-to-last in opponent rebounds per game. With Jokic bringing down 35 boards in two games against the Clippers this season, we love him to go Over his rebounding total at plus money.
Pick: Nikola Jokic Over 13.5 rebounds (+105 at FanDuel)
Did you know that if you played today’s NBA props as a parlay, you could win $63.38 on a $10 bet?
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