2024-25 NBA Player Props: We Pick Who Will Lead the League in Points, Rebounds & Assists

Anthony Edwards made a huge jump last season that saw him average a career-best 25.9 points per game. With KAT now in New York, our NBA best bets expect another scoring surge from Ant this season.

Andrew Caley - Senior Betting Analyst at Covers.com
Andrew Caley • Senior Betting Analyst
Oct 15, 2024 • 15:50 ET • 4 min read
Anthony Edwards Minnesota Timberwolves NBA
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We're a week out from a fresh NBA season tipping off, which means we're running out of time to get our NBA futures bets in.

Don’t worry; I’ve got you covered. One of the best places to find value is in the season-leader NBA odds for scoring, rebounds, and assists.

 I break down each category and bring you my favorite NBA picks for each below.

Scoring leader: Anthony Edwards Timberwolves

Best odds: +3,500 at DraftKings

I came really close to selecting Steph Curry at 75/1, with the idea being he has a total “eff everyone” season and goes nuclear from beyond the arc, with Klay Thompson now playing for the Mavericks. However, the player who stands out the most is Anthony Edwards at 35/1.

Ant seems to make another leap in his development each and every season, and this year should be no different. He’s coming off a year where he made his second consecutive All-Star game, his first All-NBA team, and finished seventh in MVP voting.

He ranked 12th in scoring per game at 25.3 points per contest but scored the sixth-most points in the NBA last season. Since his rookie season, he’s shot 36.1% from 3-point range on 7.4 attempts per game while owning a very respectable .526 effective field goal percentage during that period.

He's rarely gotten hurt, missing just 16 games over the last three seasons, and most importantly, the Minnesota Timberwolves have officially handed him the keys to the franchise. They shipped out long-time teammate Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. 

No disrespect to those guys, but they are a big step down from KAT. And unlike Edwards, Randle has dealt with some injuries in the last couple of seasons. So, expect Ant to shoulder even more of the scoring load this season.

Meanwhile, guys above Edwards on this odds board — like Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid — also regularly deal with injuries. Don’t be shocked if we see another jump from ANT this season.

Rebounding leader: Jalen Duren Pistons

Best odds: +1,800 at DraftKings

I bet you thought I'd pick another 20-year-old in this spot, didn’t you? Maybe the reigning Rookie of the Year out in San Antonio, perhaps?

While Victor Wembanyama was a force on the boards in his rookie season, when it comes to cleaning the glass, Jalen Duren of the Detroit Pistons might be even better.

Duren came into his own last season season, putting up 13.8 points per game while pulling down 11.6 rebounds per game. Those rebounding numbers were fifth-best in the NBA last season and a deeper dive says we could see another jump this season. 

The center out of Memphis had a rebounding rate of 19.4% last season. That was better than top rebounders Domantas Sabonis (19.2), Rudy Gobert (19.1), Nikola Jokic (18.2), Anthony Davis (17.6) and Wemby (17.4).

And like Wemby, Duren put up those numbers in under 30 minutes per game. I think both see a bump in minutes played this season, but Duren looks to have the most potential as an offensive rebounder. 

Of the rebounders mentioned, only Gobert had a better offensive rebounding rate. That’s going to be very important when you consider the Pistons don’t appear to be much better at shooting the ball this season. 

Another year of development for a kid just turning 21 this season, combined with more minutes and poor shooting, make these odds particularly enticing. 

Assist leader: Luka Doncic Mavericks

Best odds: +800 at DraftKings

We had a new assist king last season, with All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton taking the crown after dishing out 10.9 dimes per game. However, Haliburton isn’t even the favorite to retain his crown heading into the new season.

That designation belongs to Trae Young. The Hawks point guard led The Association in assists two seasons ago with 10.2 and was sitting at 10.8 last year before injuries limited him to just 54 games.

Unlike with scoring and rebounding, there doesn’t seem to be a breakout player ready to make the jump and challenge the stars of this category. It’s basically Haliburton, Young, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic before a pretty sizeable dropoff. When it comes to the odds, the big dropoff happens after Haliburton and Young.

While Haliburton has been cleared for action, I would keep an eye on his leg injury which hampered most of his summer training. With Young once again the top dog in Atlanta and Dejounte Murray gone, passing the ball could become a little more of an afterthought.

That has me looking squarely at Luka Doncic, who's on the board at +800. Playing in his first full season beside Kyrie Irving, Doncic had his best assist season as a pro. The five-time All-Star was second in the NBA with 9.8 assists per game and also ranked second in assist rate at 42.8%.

While the Pacers and Mavericks play at relatively the same rate, Luka’s usage rate and minutes per game are much higher. 

Doncic should keep up this style of play this season while I wouldn’t be shocked at a bit of a regression from Young and Haliburton. I'd much prefer the guy at +800 as opposed to someone near even money on a season-long futures bet.

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Senior Betting Analyst

When his dreams of becoming the next Steve Nash died, all Andrew “Taco” Caley wanted to do was write about sports, something he’s been doing at Covers for more than a decade. A Journalism School grad from Holland College in Charlottetown, PEI, Andrew previously worked at The Chronicle Herald and Star Metro, but knew in his heart that his future lay in sports. He began at Covers as a news editor and has now done everything under the sun when it comes to content. His work has been seen on TSN, Sportsnet, VSiN, and CBS.

These days Andrew’s betting expertise is focused on his favorite teams – the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors. He’s also an avid college football fan and bettor. He can’t be friends with you if you don’t appreciate a Service Academy Under. You can also call him Covers’ Sixth Man, as he regularly steps up to guest host Before You Bet and our MLB and NCAAF release shows.

The sportsbook where he does the bulk of his betting is bet365 thanks to its numerous prop betting options and competitive odds. His best advice? Find the balance between the numbers and what you see on the playing field. Then find the best price using multiple books. And don’t ask him where the nickname Taco comes from. It’s not an interesting story. Seriously.

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