January 27 NBA Player Props – Over/Unders & Picks for Lakers vs 76ers, Warriors vs Timberwolves

• The Lakers face the Sixers and the Warriors take on the Timberwolves on Thursday night
• Steph Curry, LeBron James and Joel Embiid are all expected to take the court
• Read below for the latest NBA player props and best bets

Thursday night might only have two games, but they’re a couple of tantalizing matchups. Philadelphia hosts the Lakers, and is favored by just 2.5 points despite Los Angeles’ woes this season.

The Warriors welcome the Timberwolves to San Francisco. Even with Draymond Green’s continued absence, the Timberwolves are 5.5-point dogs. Golden State is just 8-6 in January after dominating the league in the opening months of the campaign, and they are only 21st in offensive rating over the last 10 games. Minnesota is fifth in net rating over that span.

NBA Player Props – January 27th

Odds as of Jan 27 at FanDuel Sportsbook

Is this the game that gets the Lakers on a run? With LeBron projected for near 30 points and LA just a short dog in the Lakers vs 76ers odds, it should be a competitive game in Philadelphia.

Curry Will Shoot Himself Out of Slump

Steph Curry is in an almighty slump. He’s hit just 29.1% of his threes in January, and his scoring is at below 21 points per game. Golden State’s offense has lost its verve without Draymond Green, and Curry is left to create much more for himself.

Curry has made less than three triples in each of his last two, but hit this over in the four games prior. He’s still averaging 10.6 attempts from downtown this month, second to only Fred VanVleet. This historic slump (by his own Hall of Fame standards) is not putting Curry off launching shots from deep, even if the quality of the looks isn’t exactly what Steve Kerr would want.

The Warriors face a Timberwolves team which ranks 25th in opponent three-point rate. CJ McCollum and Anfernee Simons got up 22 three-point attempts in Minnesota’s last game, and the Nets shot just under 40% from three in the game before that with Patty Mills and Kyrie Irving combining to go eight-for-18.

While Curry made just three treys in his only previous outing against Minnesota this season, he still hoisted nine attempts.

The two-time MVP is going to keep shooting — the Warriors need him to. Minnesota gives up a lot of three-point attempts. Sure, the odds are shorter than we’d like, but this line has just got too low for a player shooting as many threes as Curry is.

• Pick: Steph Curry over 3.5 threes (-156)

Embiid Set for Another Big Scoring Output

It’s not often a points line is set at 33.5. Joel Embiid has absolutely earned such a number against the Lakers on Thursday night, however, thanks to a string of MVP-level performances.

Embiid has been the best player in the NBA over the last month or so, and he’s averaging 34.5 points per game in January on 61.3% true shooting. He’s scored 38 or more in each of his last four games despite playing just 32.1 minutes per game over that period.

The Lakers welcomed back Anthony Davis a couple of days ago, which should make Embiid’s night more difficult. Davis is going to be carefully managed on his return, though, and it’s not like the former Pelican has locked up Embiid in the past. He played just 24 minutes against Brooklyn.

Regardless, the quality of the defense hasn’t made that much difference to Embiid lately. Only two games ago, he dropped 38 on Jakob Poeltl, one of the best defensive bigs in the Association.

The Lakers have played a lot of smallball over the last few weeks, a trend many expect to continue in non-Davis minutes. LeBron James isn’t going to spend much time guarding Embiid, even if he’s the nominal five. Do the Lakers dare leave Stanley Johnson to deal with the All-NBA center? Playing Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan messes up the balance of the team.

Los Angeles gives up the third-most free throw attempts in the league. Embiid is averaging 11.8 attempts from the stripe this month. He had 20 free throws attempts against New Orleans last time out.

No one has an answer for Embiid right now. The Lakers’ defense is 24th over the last 10 games, and while it should improve with Davis, there’s still value on backing the over here.

• Pick: Joel Embiid over 33.5 points (-118)