It’s a great ball night with seven games on the NBA odds board. That means there are plenty of NBA player props to dig into for hungry basketball betters.

Tonight, I highlight an undervalued Cavaliers player, plus dish out two assists props, including one for Kyrie Irving who is expected to return to action for the Mavericks as they host the Nuggets for the second straight game.

Here are my NBA picks for Tuesday, Jan. 14.

-105 at bet365

The Cleveland Cavaliers lead the Eastern Conference with a 33-5 record. While the Indiana Pacers ended the Cavaliers’ latest winning streak on Sunday, I like Cleveland to bounce back here.

Obviously, Donovan Mitchell is the fuel that fires this Cavaliers engine but sportsbooks still seem to overlook teammate Jarrett Allen. 

The 26-year-old makes up one-half of the Cavs’ Twin Towers with Evan Mobley, but it feels like Mobley gets more of the attention. Allen is averaging 14.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game this season but sportsbooks continue giving us point totals we can attack. Not that I’m complaining.

Allen has a point total sitting at 12.5. The center is putting up 18.1 points per game over his last eight contests and this matchup against the Pacers is a juicy one.

Indiana ranks 20th in defensive rating and gets beaten up on the inside, ranking 24th in opponent points in the paint per game. 

Allen has gone Over this point total in five of his last eight games and the only reason I think we’re getting this number is because he had just 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting in Sunday’s win vs. Indiana. Expect him to be more involved in what is a good matchup and go Over this point total. And it doesn’t hurt that our Covers NBA Prop Projections have Allen down for 15.3 points tonight.

Prop bet #2: Coby White 5+ Assists

+140 at bet365

You can make the case that the Chicago Bulls are exceeding expectations, entering tonight’s matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans with an 18-21 record and holding the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference. 

The Bulls have been clicking, now ranking 12th in offensive rating, helping them go 6-2 against the spread over their last eight. 

Chicago is unselfish with the ball, ranking sixth in assist rate, and I like the Bulls to keep dishing out the dimes tonight against the Pelicans. New Orleans has been pretty bad at stopping buckets this season, sitting 28th in defensive rating, 29th in opponent effective field-goal percentage, and 25th in opponent assists per game.

That has me looking at the assists prop for Coby White. The Bulls guard is averaging 4.7 assists per game but he has taken his playmaking to the next level lately, upping his helpers per game to 5.8 over his last eight.

White’s assists prop is 3.5 for this matchup with the juice not surprisingly heavily on the Over. So instead, let’s take White’s alt assists of 5+ at solid plus money, a number he’s cleared five times over this eight-game stretch.

Prop bet #3: Kyrie Irving Over 5.5 Assists

+105 at bet365

Who would have thought that Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving would be so critical to the Dallas Mavericks’ success? 

Doncic has missed the last nine games while Irving has missed six of the last seven. Not shockingly, the Mavericks are 3-6 straight up and 2-7 against the spread during that period. Luckily, the Mavs are expected to get Kyrie back when they host the Denver Nuggets for the second straight game.

Double lucky is Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon are all day-to-day. So, while the Nuggets won the meeting between these two in this same building 112-101 two days ago, the lineup could look a lot different. And more importantly, the Mavs lineup should have more offensive punch.

Irving was playing very well before getting hurt, averaging 24.3 points, which includes shooting a remarkable 44.1% from 3-point range while adding 4.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. 

Dallas’ offense should flow through Irving tonight, and I’m betting he happily tries to get his teammates involved in the action. While Denver is always a tough opponent, its defense has faltered this season.

The Nuggets are 17th in defensive rating and have been getting killed by the extra pass, ranking dead last in opponent assists per game.

The last game Kyrie played against Denver was back on Nov. 22. Luka didn’t play that game, either, and Irving went 7-for-19 from the floor with six assists and Dallas won 123-120 as four-point underdogs.

NBA odds today

Here are the full NBA odds for all of today’s matchups.

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