Thursday’s Best NBA Player Props: Betting Trae Young Assists, More

Thursday’s best NBA player props focus on two of the slate’s three games:

• Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic: 7 p.m. ET
• New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks: 7:30 p.m. ET

As a reminder, you can dig deeper on these and many other prop bets by using our FantasyLabs NBA Player Props Tool. It leverages our projections against five of the most popular online sportsbooks and grades each prop on a scale of one to 10.

Hornets G/F Nicolas Batum

The Pick: Over 3.5 assists (+105)

Batum is having his worst season as a member of the Hornets, but there's still reason to be optimistic about this prop.

Tony Parker remains out of the lineup, which means Batum will have more opportunities to run the offense when Kemba Walker is off the court. Batum has increased his assist rate by a team-high +5.1% in 10 games without Parker this season, resulting in an average of 5.0 assists per 36 minutes.

Batum has also played at least 34 minutes in each of his past four games, so there's definitely some value in the over at the current number.

This is one of the highest rated bets in our prop tool, and I love the idea of grabbing it at better than even money. That said, I’d still be willing to play it up to -120.

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Hawks PG Trae Young

The Pick: Over 8.5 assists (-130)

The Hawks decided to buy out Jeremy Lin, so Young could be in line for a huge finish to his rookie season.

Young played more than 38 minutes in his first contest without Lin and responded with 22 points and 14 assists. Young has averaged 9.1 assists per 36 minutes this season, so this line feels low if he’s going to continue to see that much playing time.

Young is also in an excellent spot against the Knicks, who rank 28th in defensive efficiency. The Hawks are currently implied for 116.5 points, which is the second-highest mark on the slate.

I'm buying all the Young stock I can get in the props and DFS markets. I like the over on his assist prop up to -150.