3 NBA Player Prop Bets for Friday 10/27/23

Player props can be useful in a variety of ways -- from taking advantage of them straight up to measuring a player's potential to produce in daily fantasy basketball on FanDuel. Here, we're going to focus on the former.

Using a wealth of statistical data, including numberFire's daily basketball projections, here are some NBA player prop bets that look appealing via the NBA odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Please note lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published.

NBA Prop Bets

LaMelo Ball Over 20.5 Points (-113)

In the Charlotte Hornets' season opener, LaMelo Ball scored 15 points off a 26.7 field-goal percentage (FG%) -- given this abysmal shooting performance, paired with Ball's track record, I can't help but side with the over on his points prop tonight while it's decently low (by Ball's standards).

Last season, Ball averaged 23.3 points per game off a 41.1 FG%. While this field-goal percentage is nothing to brag about, it is significantly better than how he shot on Wednesday -- a performance I'm choosing to categorize as an outlier.

In games where Ball played more than 21 minutes last season (he averaged 35.2 minutes per game on the season, so I am taking out two outliers), he scored 21-plus points 73.5% of the time.

Tonight, he will face a Detroit Pistons team that allowed the fourth-most points per game last year. Detroit also gave up the ninth-highest three-point percentage to starters, which is great news for Ball, who averaged the third-most three-point attempts per game last year.

Ball shot 11 three-pointers and played 31 minutes in the season opener (he averaged 10.6 three-point tries and 35.2 minutes last year), so we know the opportunity to score couldn't be more open.

No mountains need to be moved -- Ball simply needs to have an average shooting performance to put this prop in solid standing tonight.

Isaiah Stewart Over 8.5 Rebounds (+100)

Despite the 11-game NBA slate for tonight, I'm staying with the same game for this second prop because the value is too good to ignore.

Isaiah Stewart grabbed 14 rebounds in Detroit's season opener, which was a big jump from his average of 8.1 boards per night from last season. This makes sense given that he saw 35 minutes on the court on Wednesday, compared to an average of 28.3 minutes per game last season.

Though 35 minutes may be too high of a bar to reach tonight, the Pistons are a bit short-staffed now that starting forward Bojan Bogdanovic is out with an injury, so I would expect Stewart to still be in the range of 30-plus minutes.

He will be facing a shot-heavy Hornets team that averaged the sixth-most shot attempts per game last season. Even though Charlotte was shooting the ball at a super high rate, they managed to rank 22nd in field goals made per game, resulting in the team giving up the second-most rebounds.

This is probably why Stewart was able to grab an average of 13.5 rebounds (11 and 16) in two games against Charlotte last season, and that is why I won't turn down the chance to get this prop at even money.

It just so happens that I'm into two props from the Pistons-Hornets game, but FanDuel Sportsbook is offering a 50% profit boost on a Same Game Parlay or Same Game Parlay Plus for NBA Games on Friday -- so if you are interested in the two aforementioned props, I'd consider taking advantage of this promo.

Ivica Zubac to Record a Double-Double (+250)

Beyond the players who seem to almost always go for double figures in points and boards (Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, etc.), Ivica Zubac is one of the stronger double-double candidates in the league. Unlike the aforementioned studs -- whose odds to record a double-double tonight stand at -1300 and -450, respectively -- Zubac comes into tonight's game with intriguing plus odds.

Last season, Zubac nearly averaged a double-double, ending the year with 10.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. He showed out for the Los Angeles Clippers in their season opener on Wednesday, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

While 32 PR (points and rebounds) might not be on the table for Zubac tonight, I do think he has a decent chance to record a double-double, especially in this matchup against the Utah Jazz.

Last season, the Jazz struggled defensively against the center position. They permitted the seventh-most points and 11th-most rebounds to centers. Utah also allowed the third-most field-goal attempts to centers, paving the path for Zubac to average 13.3 points and 10.5 rebounds against them across four games last season.

The Jazz didn't make many moves in the offseason, so we should plan on seeing similar results this year. Though there is only a one-game sample size so far, we can see that Utah allowed the third-most points and ninth-most offensive rebounds per 36 minutes to centers, so it seems their defensive rank against centers may stick.

Zubac finished eighth among all NBA players (55 game minimum) in putback field-goal attempts while the Jazz allowed the third-most putback points per game last season -- so we could see Zubac parlaying offensive rebounds into points tonight.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.