Today’s NBA Player Prop Picks: CP3 Keeps Boarding Up

It’s a lighter day on the NBA schedule with just four games on the board, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of basketball betting value to be found in the player prop market.

Today, we focus on a pair of point guards as Ja Morant looks to continue his hot streak against the Pistons, and Chris Paul has been Mr. Everything for the Suns — even on the glass — while they deal with some COVID issues.

Check out our NBA player prop picks for Thursday, January 6, as we bank on some of the NBA's best to do their thing.

NBA player props for January 6

• Valanciunas Over 28.5 points + rebounds (-125)
• Morant Over 26.5 points (-110)
• Paul Over 4.5 rebounds (-130)

Picks made on 1/5/2022 at 12:25 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

Today’s best NBA player props   

Value-ciunas

It sounds Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry might miss tonight’s matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans after suffering a quad injury in last night’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

The Warriors will likely take things easy with their star guard, as this is the second half of a back-to-back and his splash brother Klay Thompson is soon expected to finally return to action for the first time since 2019. 

Despite potentially no Curry, the Warriors are still 2.5-point favorites against a struggling Pelicans team that has lost four of five straight up and against the spread. But a bright spot for New Orleans has been center Jonas Valanciunas. 

The Pels’ big man is averaging 18.9 points and 12 rebounds per game this season, and while the Warriors are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, Valanciunas was a problem when they last met, going for 20 points and hauling down 15 boards.

JV has also gone for more than 28 combined points and rebounds six times over his last nine games. He should be able to do some damage against a Warriors team coming off a tough loss in Dallas last night. 

Pick: Jonas Valanciunas Over 28.5 points + rebounds (-125 at DraftKings)

Piston punisher

Ja Morant’s streak of consecutive 30-point games ended at four after putting up 26 points his last time out against the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

But we can maybe give the Memphis Grizzlies star point guard a bit of a break on that one. It was the Grizzlies' second game in as many nights, and he still hit an incredible game-winning shot. Morant will look to get back at it when the Grizz host the Detroit Pistons tonight.

Morant has, of course, been killing it lately. The point guard is averaging 33.2 points while shooting 54.9 percent from the floor and adding 6.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists over his last five games. 

Now, he gets a juicy matchup against a Pistons team that is playing its second game in as many nights, ranks 29th in opponent field goal percentage, and 23rd in opponent points in the paint, where Morant puts in some of his best work. 

The concern here is obviously a blowout win for the Grizz where Morant gets pulled early, but the Pistons waved the white flag pretty early in last night’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets so they should be relatively fresh for this game tonight, and had played a little better prior to that loss.

Detroit should keep it close enough that Morant puts in the work to go Over his point total.

Pick: Ja Morant Over 26.5 points (-105 at DraftKings)

Boarder patrol

The Phoenix Suns are showing how much depth they have because, despite a COVID outbreak, they have still won three of their past four games. They’ll look to stay hot when they welcome the Los Angeles Clippers to town on Thursday night.

It sounds like Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, and JaVale McGee will all miss this one in health and safety protocols. But fear not, Suns fans, you still have the ageless Chris Paul to pick up the slack, even on the glass.

Since the Suns have been down some of the big men recently, Paul has made sure to do his part on the boards. CP3 has pulled down at least five boards in each of his last seven games. Now, he faces a Clippers team with their own set of issues. 

Between injuries and COVID, the Clippers have been shorthanded for the last several weeks and have lost seven of their last 10 games. Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Nicolas Batum are all out for this matchup. That won’t help a team that ranks 27th in both rebounding percentage and opponent rebounds per game. 

Bet on Paul to keep cleaning up the glass and go Over his rebounding total once again.

Pick: Chris Paul Over 4.5 rebounds (-130 at FanDuel)

Pages related to this topic