NBA Player Props | Picks for Zion Williamson, Paolo Banchero (Friday, March 8)

Earlier this week, Zion Williamson threw down a few memorable dunks and made headlines after the game with his comments on the Dunk Contest. It wouldn't shock me if there were a few more of those tonight against the 76ers.

Elsewhere, the Magic will be at Madison Square Garden to take on the Knicks in an important game in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Magic have won five straight and vaulted into the fourth seed ahead of the Knicks, who have seven of their last 10 games. Paolo Banchero will look to help the Magic continue their win streak in this possible playoff preview.

Check out my NBA player props for tonight's NBA slate on a pair of former No. 1 overall picks.

North Carolina sports betting apps are live for pre-registration! North Carolina sports betting will go live on March 11. Learn more.

NBA Player Props | Picks for Zion Williamson, Paolo Banchero (Friday, March 8)

The Pelicans have cruised to dominant wins with balanced scoring in their last two games, so they have not needed a ton of scoring from Williamson. However, he is still averaging 22.4 points per game over his past 15 games, which is on par with his season average. He has cleared this line in eight of those 15 games, including three 30-point games in that stretch.

Williamson has also scored 26 and 33 points in his last two games against the 76ers. Those games came when the Sixers were defending at a high level under both Doc Rivers and now Nick Nurse. However, over the last 15 games, Philadelphia is 29th in Defensive Ratings. This season, the Sixers are also 20th in points allowed in the paint, which is where Williamson does most of his damage.

Recently, the Sixers have allowed Bobby Portis, Grant Williams and Dorian Finney-Smith to go over their points lines recently. They also gave up 30 points to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaren Jackson Jr. Tonight, we only need 22 points from Williamson, who has the upside for more. He's +390 to score 30 points at DraftKings.

While we will be looking for 22 points from Williamson, we'll need 23 points from Paolo Banchero tonight, although that hasn't been an issue of late. Banchero has scored 25 points in three of his last four games and he scored 22 in the other. He's averaging 23.5 points per game over his past 15 games and hit this over in nine of those.

Banchero has scored 20 points in five of six career games against the Knicks, including two of the Magic's three games against them this season with 29 and 36 points. The Knicks have been struggling defensively of late, ranking 25th in Defensive Rating over their past 15 games. Because of injuries, New York has had to play smaller lineups with Precious Achiuwa, Bojan Bogdanovic and at times even Josh Hart at power forward.

I expect Banchero to take advantage of those matchups tonight. He has attempted at least 16 field goal attempts in each of his past five games, during which he's shooting 50.5% from the field. He has also gotten to the free throw line five times in four of those games, including three games with nine free throw attempts.

All of this leads to me betting this over, and maybe even another 30-point game from Banchero, who's +420 at FanDuel to score 30.