The NBA is stranding us with just three games on the Saturday night slate.
Worse yet, all three of these games have blowout potential, with double-digit spreads. It's treacherous terrain to navigate, but we've found a trio of bets with solid value for this evening, backing a great matchup, an All-Star hopeful's hot streak, and one of the NBA's best 3-and-D guys to snap out of a slump.
Here are our free NBA player prop picks for Saturday, January 22's action.
NBA player props for January 22
Picks made on 1/22/2022 at 12:05 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Today’s best NBA player props
Board man gets us paid
Two elite ATS teams face off tonight when the Thunder visit the Cavaliers, and Cavs center Jarrett Allen has a great matchup for rebounding props.
He'll be squaring off with 6'8" Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, one of the league's smallest "centers". Not surprisingly, the lack of size hinders OKC's impact on the glass, owning the NBA's 24th-ranked rebounding rate.
To make matters worse for OKC, they have the NBA's worst true shooting percentage, meaning there will be plenty of bricks thrown up for Allen to feast on.
This game's anticipated slow pace gives us slight pause, but Allen hauled down 13 rebounds a week ago when these teams met. He's topped tonight's total of 11.5 in three of his past six games, and double-digits feels like his absolute floor, given the matchup.
A certain book's giving us plus money on the Over, so we're obliging.
Pick: Jarrett Allen Over 11.5 rebounds (+104 at FanDuel)
Darius dishes
Darius Garland wants your All-Star vote.
The Cavs' breakout PG has been torching opposing defenses to the tune of 25.3 points and 12.5 assists over his past four games, doing his part to keep Cleveland's offense humming despite injuries to, literally, every other point guard on their roster.
Garland's dished double-digits assists in five of his past six games, including a season-high 18 a week ago against Oklahoma City, whom Cleveland just happens to be playing again tonight.
Garland's en fuego right now and having the kind of breakout season that suggests a regression may not be immediate. Keep riding him while he's hot and paying plus money for a total he's aced with consistency over the past two weeks.
Pick: Darius Garland Over 9.5 assists (+110 at Caesars)
Bridge over troubled shooting
Sometimes you have to zig when the trends tell you to zag. Especially when you're getting the right price.
Enter Mikal Bridges, who has been shooting worse than a generic James Bond henchman over his past few games from 3-point range. At 3-19 in his last five outings, Bridges is in a pretty awful slump, but averaged 1.9 threes per game last season and is a career 38% shooter from distance. He's not going to suck forever.
The Pacers don't concede a ton of threes on the season, but with Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner both out tonight, most of their typical gamescript can be thrown out the window.
Phoenix will likely lean less on Devin Booker and Chris Paul tonight in what should be a fairly comfortable win (Phoenix is a -11.5 favorite). This should afford Bridges more looks as he progresses back towards the mean.
We probably wouldn't fire this bet at -110, but at +150, we don't think it gives Bridges enough credit against a decent-at-best Indy perimeter defense.
Pick: Mikal Bridges Over 1.5 threes made (+150 at bet365)
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