NBA Player Props and Best Bets: Jamal Murray & More Picks for Sunday, Jan. 4

The NBA is back in full swing on Sunday, and I’ve got the best player prop picks for the day’s events.

Tyrese Maxey’s 36 points and eight rebounds helped the Philadelphia 76ers take down the New York Knicks, while Jaylen Brown dropped 50 points to torch the Los Angeles Clippers and move up to a 29.5-point-per-game scoring average on the year.

Sunday’s wide selection of games begins at 2:00 Eastern when the Detroit Pistons visit the Cleveland Cavaliers for a matchup between two of the top powers in the conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder will also meet the Phoenix Suns later in the evening in a battle between two of the strongest teams in the West.

Here, I will share my top NBA player prop picks and bets for Sunday, Jan. 4.

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Best NBA Prop Bets for Saturday, January 3

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Marcus Sasser under 11.5 points (-130) at FanDuel Sportsbook

Welcome to the rotation, Marcus Sasser! The absences of Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris, and Caris LeVert, among others, have opened the door for the 25-year-old Houston product to earn playing time, which he took advantage of.

Sasser scored 18 and 19 points in his last two games, both times while playing only 24 minutes. As impressive as that is, he shot 4-6 from three-point land in both matchups, which is an unsustainable standard from beyond the arc. Normal regression to the mean will make it difficult for him to cash the over, especially in limited minutes.

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Jamal Murray under 2.5 threes (+136) at FanDuel Sportsbook

Murray went 6-12 from three-point land in his second game without Nikola Jokic on Friday after he only went 2-5 on Wednesday. He cashed the under in three of his last four games, although he shot an exceptional 50.5 percent from three and made 4.0 threes per game in December.

Here’s my thinking: without Jokic to attract the focus of the defense, set great screens, and work the two-man dance with Murray, the Denver Nuggets guard will be forced to do much more individual creation off of the dribble. The Brooklyn Nets allowed the fewest made threes per game over the last few weeks (only 10.6 per game) on a low 34.1 percent standard, meaning that Murray will have his hands full.

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Collin Gillespie over 14.5 points (+102) at FanDuel Sportsbook

You know who’s quietly had a very solid season? Gillespie, a 26-year-old guard who beat this line in eight straight games and posted 46/44/94 shooting splits while averaging 16.3 points and 31.4 minutes per game during the month of December.

Everyone knows that the Oklahoma City Thunder have a phenomenal defense, but very few know that they’ve been flat-out bad at defending the three-point line, ranking 25th in three-point percentage allowed (37.2) and 26th in made triples allowed per game. Gillespie split the over/under in two matchups with OKC, but I like him to go over today.

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Jake LaRavia over 1.5 threes (-114) at FanDuel Sportsbook

As the Los Angeles Lakers continue to search for answers to remedy their multitude of issues, LaRavia has once again found himself playing heavy minutes. He logged 37 and 38 in his last two games, and he just scored 21 points while going 3-6 from downtown in his last game against, yes, the Memphis Grizzlies.

With a rematch on tap for tonight, LaRavia seems to be in line to continue playing a hefty chunk of minutes. He didn’t shoot the ball well from three lately, but he’s streaky, and the extended minutes on the court should go a long way to helping him find his rhythm against a Grizzlies squad that ranked 25th in made threes allowed per game.

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Tre Johnson under 13.5 points (-110) at FanDuel Sportsbook

The sixth pick in the NBA Draft last summer has certainly flashed, recently scoring 24 points and averaging 12.2 points on 42 percent three-point shooting for the Washington Wizards. He still went under this line in five of his last nine games, and he’s about to take on a Minnesota Timberwolves defense that ranked 11th in points allowed per game.

For as many impressive moments as Johnson created, he still attempted fewer than 10 field goals per game during December. He shot 11-15 from three-point land over his last three games, and regression to the mean should lead to him falling under his total.

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