WNBA PrizePicks | Courtney Vandersloot, Diana Taurasi, Chiney Ogwumike, More (Friday, May 19)
Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images. Pictured: Diana Taurasi
The WNBA season gets going tonight with four games, and the action begins at 7 p.m. ET. We have Sun vs. Fever, Liberty vs. Mystics, Sky vs. Lynx and the night wraps up with Mercury vs. Sparks.
Sean Koerner, our Director of Predictive Analytics, highlights his top WNBA selections on PrizePicks this Friday.
Picks are listed below in order of his confidence rating, with a 10-rating being the highest.
Note that Sean likes to play the following picks as a five-pack, then two- to three-packs based on the selections he likes the most, hence why he provides confidence ratings.
What is PrizePicks? A daily fantasy operator — meaning they’re available in more states (30) than sports betting is! — PrizePicks offers a unique opportunity with its ability to combine two or more selections.
WNBA PrizePicks for Friday, May 19
Betnijah Laney, Liberty, Fewer Than 1.5 3-Pointers (10)
Laney was only able to play nine games last season as she battled injuries. In 2021, when she was averaging 33 minutes per game and was by far the leading scorer on the Liberty she only cleared this number in nine of 32 games.
After the Liberty brought in a few superstars, she is going to be more of a role player and it’s hard to see how she clears this number more than 50% of the time.
I’m projecting her closer to 1.0 with a 71% chance of staying under 1.5.
Chiney Ogwumike, Sparks, More Than 6.5 Rebounds (9)
Chiney Ogwumike should benefit from the Sparks being short-handed tonight and the best market to take advantage of that is her rebounds. She should play 28-31 minutes tonight and, last season, whenever she played 26+ minutes she averaged 9.2 rebounds and cleared this number in four of five games.
I’m projecting this closer to 8.5 with a 70% chance of clearing 6.5.
Nneka Ogwumike, Sparks, More Than 16.5 Points (7)
The Sparks will be without Jasmine Thomas and Azura Stevens tonight and Dearica Hamby is expected to have her minutes monitored. I expect Ogwumike's usage rate to be even higher than normal tonight against the Mercury and we are getting some decent value on her here.
I’m projecting this closer to 19.5 points with a 65% chance of clearing 16.5.
DeWanna Bonner, Sun, Fewer Than 3.5 Assists (7)
Bonner only cleared this in nine of 33 games last season and with Jonquel Jones gone, I expect her to shoot at a higher rate this season. I’m projecting her closer to 2.8 with a 67% chance of staying under 3.5.
Courtney Vandersloot, Liberty, Fewer Than 6.5 Assists (7)
It’ll be interesting to see how the Liberty handle having Vandersloot (second in assist per game last season) and Sabrina Ionescu (third in assists per game last season) play together.
Both of their assist rates will likely take a hit as a result and I think we are getting more value in Vandersloot’s number here considering she has only had limited practice time with her new team after being knocked out a couple of weeks due to a concussion this month.
The Liberty may ease her into action tonight and play her 25-30 minutes. I’m projecting this closer to 5.6 with a 64% chance of staying under 6.5.
Diana Taurasi, Mercury, More Than 2.5 3-Pointers (7)
The Mercury will be without Skylar Diggins-Smith, Shey Peddy and Sophie Cunningham for tonight’s game. Taurasi will likely be chucking up plenty of 3s tonight as a result. I’m projecting this closer to 3.3 with a 62% chance of going over.
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