Best PrizePicks NBA Player Picks Today: Value on Turner, Wembanyama, and Williamson

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The NBA is back in a big way with a 13-game slate on Monday night. There are plenty of ways to make money on this slate, and PrizePicks has you covered when it comes to NBA pick’em DFS.

If you’re new to the site, be sure to take advantage of our special PrizePicks promo code. With the code “GRINDERS,” you can claim a 100% match bonus on your first deposit of up to $100.

Remember, you can also keep tabs on the best PrizePicks picks of the day with our Fantasy Pick’em Tool. We’re constantly updating this throughout the day in order to account for the latest news, but there’s still value to be found earlier in the afternoon as well.

NBA PrizePicks Predictions Today

Myles Turner More Than 37.5 Fantasy Points

The Pacers came up short in their quest for the NBA Cup on Saturday night in a loss to the Lakers. Tonight, they’ll look to get back on track when they head to Detroit to face the Pistons. The only thing more disappointing than losing the In-Season Tournament Final would be to become the team that loses to a Pistons squad that comes into this one as losers of 19 straight games. Indiana is a healthy 7.5-point road favorite in this one.

The Pacers are still a bit thin up front with Jalen Smith out of the lineup. Aaron Nesmith, who spends most of his time masquerading as a small-ball 4, is also questionable. Myles Turner is only averaging around 27 minutes per game on the season, but he’s up over 32 minutes per game through 4 outings in December. That includes 25 minutes in Saturday’s game in which he was mired in foul trouble.

You can’t ask for a better bounce-back spot than this one against the miserable Pistons. Detroit is also very thin in the frontcourt, as Jalen Duren and Marvin Bagley are both expected to be out of the lineup. That’ll leave Isaiah Stewart and James Wiseman to try and tangle with Turner all night long. Advantage: Turner.

Blocks are a big part of Turner’s game. Detroit is also yielding more than 6 blocks per game this season, which is the fourth-highest rate in the league. You get 3 points per blocked shot with the PrizePicks scoring system, so Turner has an obvious path to a big score tonight.

Victor Wembanyama More Than 3.5 Blocks

The Spurs are riding a gruesome 16-game losing streak of their own heading into tonight’s clash with the Rockets in Houston. One of (the only?) bright spots for San Antonio has been Victor Wembanyama, who looks exactly as advertised a couple of months into his first foray into NBA basketball. Through 20 games, the No. 1 overall pick is averaging 19 points, 10.2 rebounds, and nearly 3 blocked shots per game.

Wemby is 7’4” with an 8-foot wingspan and incredible athleticism, so blocks are always going to be a major part of his impact defensively. Wembanyama has exactly 4 blocks in 3 of his last 4 games, while we saw him reject 8 shots against Memphis a couple of weeks ago. We’ve also seen his minutes rise, as he’s averaging around 32 minutes per game over his last 8 games.

The Rockets are middle of the pack in terms of blocked shots per game allowed at 5.1, but our PrizePicks tool is confident in Wemby’s chances of turning away at least 4 shots again tonight despite the tough matchup.

Zion Williamson Less Than 10.5 Rebounds + Assists

Now that Wemby Fever has swept through the league, it’s easy to forget that we’re only a couple of years removed from Zion Williamson receiving similar hype coming out of Duke. Injuries have derailed Zion a bit early in his career, but he’s been one of the best scoring bigs in the league when healthy. Unfortunately, the rest of his game leaves plenty to be desired.

Despite being among the most athletic players the sport has ever seen, Williamson isn’t a very good rebounder. Let’s not forget he’s only 6’6”, and he spends most of his time among taller trees down around the basket. Zion has never averaged more than 7.2 rebounds per game in a season, and this year he’s only grabbing an average of 5.6 caroms a night.

Williamson has improved as a playmaker, however. He averaged a paltry 2.1 assists per game as a rookie, but he’s more than doubled that number (4.8) so far this season. The Pels do face a daunting matchup tonight against a Timberwolves team that enters this one leading the NBA in defensive efficiency.

Image Credit: Getty Images

About the Author

tcsmith031
Taylor Smith (tcsmith031)

Based in Southern California, Taylor Smith (aka tcsmith031) has been working for RotoGrinders since 2018 in a number of different capacities. In addition to contributing written content for NBA, MLB, and NFL, Taylor is also a member of the projections/alerts team and makes regular appearances as an analyst on NBA Crunch Time. Follow Taylor on Twitter – @TayeBojangles