The Best NBA Player Props to Bet on Oct 22 – Best Prop Bet for All 4 Teams
By Chris Amberley in NBA Basketball
Published:
- The NBA season rolls on tonight with a mini two-game slate
- I’m expecting a big night from the Cavs Donovan Mitchell
- Keep reading for my best NBA player props to bet on Oct 22, including the best prop bet for all 4 teams in action
Thursday’s NBA betting slate brings a pair of heavyweight matchups featuring some of the league’s biggest superstars. Tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Philadelphia 76ers, while the Denver Nuggets take on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Home-court headliners like Joel Embiid and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will look to capitalize on their own matchups while backed by their stingy defenses. Navigating these tough assignments requires finding the right betting angles.
Keep reading for my best NBA player props to bet on Oct 22, including the best prop bet for all 4 teams in action.
Best NBA Player Props to Bet on Oct 22
Finding the most-favorable odds across different sportsbooks and prediction markets is crucial. Below is my top NBA player props to target for each team in action tonight, isolating the best line and price available in the market.
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Best NBA Prop Bet for All 4 Teams on Thursday
Cavaliers Prop Pick: Mitchell 27+ Points (+113 at Novig)
Cleveland opens its 2026–27 campaign in Philadelphia, and the offense will flow directly through its perennial All-NBA guard. Across 70 regular-season appearances last year, Donovan Mitchell was an elite perimeter scoring machine, pouring in 27.9 points per game while draining 3.2 three-pointers per night and commanding a 31.2% usage rate.
Philadelphia’s defense struggled to contain athletic, high-volume scoring guards last season, yielding 116.1 points per game and frequently conceding open pull-up looks in drop coverage. Mitchell routinely thrives against the Sixers, averaging 28.4 points across their head-to-head meetings over the past two years. Backing Mitchell to open his season with a 27+ point scoring clinic is Cleveland’s top betting angle.
Before making any bet tonight, scan the prediction market apps to find the best price.
76ers Prop Pick: Embiid 8+ Rebounds (-133 at Kalshi)
In his regular-season debut on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, Joel Embiid was an immediate, dominant force on the glass. The imposing center pulled down 11 total rebounds (nine defensive, two offensive) across 33.4 minutes of action against a physical Knicks frontline. With Philadelphia dealing with early-season frontcourt injuries, Embiid is shouldering a heavy interior burden rather than floating on the perimeter.
Taking on a Cleveland squad that starts Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Embiid will be permanently stationed near the basket on defense to deter rim runners and secure defensive rebounds. Kalshi’s milestone contract on Embiid recording 8+ rebounds at -133 (or Over 7.5 at standard books) offers tremendous value. His relentless activity on opening night demonstrated that his conditioning is sharp and his minutes are unrestricted. Look for Embiid to control the interior on his home floor and clear this 8-rebound milestone with room to spare.
Nuggets Prop Pick: Jokić 11+ Assists (+137 at Novig)
Denver travels to Paycom Center for its season opener, and the three-time NBA MVP odds winner enters as the ultimate offensive equalizer. While a line of 10.5 assists would give most players pause, it sits comfortably within Nikola Jokić’s normal operating baseline. Throughout the 2025–26 regular season, Jokić led the NBA with 10.7 assists per game across 65 appearances, dishing out 11 or more assists in 34 of 65 games (52.3%).
Facing Oklahoma City’s aggressive perimeter pressure creates a textbook facilitator script for Jokić. The Thunder deploy long, disruptive perimeter defenders who aggressively trap ball-screens and jump passing lanes outside the arc. When defenses heat up Denver’s guards, the ball immediately flows to Jokić at the top of the key, allowing him to carve up over-rotated defenses with precision backdoor feeds to Aaron Gordon and skip passes to Jamal Murray.
The matchup history directly supports this playmaking volume: across three regular-season clashes against Oklahoma City last year, Jokić averaged a blistering 11.7 assists per game, clearing 10.5 assists in two of those three meetings (with 13- and 14-assist outings). Against an OKC frontline designed to crowd him with Chet Holmgren and weak-side rim help, Jokić will gladly pick them apart as a passer. Snagging plus-money (+102) on him to clear 10.5 assists provides tremendous analytical value.
Thunder Prop Pick: Gilgeous-Alexander 31+ Points (-113 at Novig)
The entire Oklahoma City offense runs squarely through Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Tuesday’s season opener in San Antonio proved his MVP-caliber scoring engine is completely intact. SGA dropped 32 points across 36.1 minutes for the NBA Championship odds contender, commanding an enormous 34.8% usage rate and hoisting 27 field goal attempts while accounting for 27.6% of Oklahoma City’s total scoring.
That volume is especially lethal against the visiting Denver Nuggets: across 16 matchups against Denver over the past two seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 29.1 points per game, eclipsing 30.5 points in nine of those 16 meetings (56.3%).
Denver’s drop scheme in pick-and-rolls gives SGA clean access to his lethal mid-range pull-up and foul-drawing drives. With 25+ shot attempts virtually locked in over 35+ minutes of action, taking the Over 30.5 points at -113 on Novig provides immense closing-line value.
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Sports Writer
As SBD's resident Swiss Army Knife, Chris covers virtually every sport including NFL, PGA, NBA, MLB, NCAAB, NCAAF and the Olympics. A true grinder, he'd rather pick off small edges in the player props market than swing for the fences with a 5-leg parlay.
