NBA First Basket Prop Picks: Bet Deandre Ayton and Brandon Ingram to Score Early

NBA First Basket will break down some of his favorite NBA plays of the day here, and will track all his bets in The Action Network app.

Deandre Ayton & Brandon Ingram

The New Orleans Pelicans host the Phoenix Suns, who are without Devin Booker, in Game 3 Friday night.

Deandre Ayton has won 72% of all opening tip-offs this year and has won all four tips when jumping center against Jonas Valanciunas. The Suns score first 56% of the time while the Pelicans score first just 40% of the time.

New Orleans gives up first baskets to opposing centers in 30% of games (tied for the fifth-worst in the league). Ayton started the season slow — over his first 44 starts Ayton scored the first team field goal for the Suns just nine times. Over his last 17 starts, though, Ayton has scored the first team field goal in 10 of those games.

I played this at +450, but the line is moving quickly and DraftKings currently offers the best value at the time of writing.

In addition, I’m adding in a Pelicans player because the Suns' offense may be less efficient without Booker. I am also playing Brandon Ingram's first basket prop line, which varies across books, but is +800 on FanDuel. Ingram is having a great series so far offensively against the Suns.

I’ll be adding in some exact method bets  as well when they become available.

Plays

• Deandre Ayton: +425 Risk (0.7 units)
• Brandon Ingram: +800 Risk (0.3 units)
  

  Suns-Pelicans First Basket Data

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