NBA Odds & Best Bets Today: Schedule, Picks for Wednesday
Check out today's NBA best bets as we look to target a series of home underdogs on the eight-game slate in the Association.
Home underdogs figure prominently on Wednesday's NBA schedule, and we’re wagering on three of them. The Orlando Magic travel to Detroit for the second game of a back-to-back set, and the Pistons will look to win one as the home underdog. The Washington Wizards face the shorthanded Phoenix Suns at home, and the Golden State Warriors will try to capture another victory at home even with Stephen Curry sidelined.
The New Orleans Pelicans are big favorites at home, so we’ll round out today's NBA best bets with one home favorite. All of our home favorites have the best odds via Caesars Sportsbook while the Pelicans’ spread bet is a standard -110 at most of our Best NBA Betting Sites.
Here are our NBA best bets for Wednesday (odds via DraftKings Sportsbook and Caesars; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Check out our NBA best bets.
Wednesday’s NBA Schedule and Odds
(Odds via DraftKings)
- Orlando Magic (-1.5) at Detroit Pistons
- Phoenix Suns (-2.5) at Washington Wizards
- Brooklyn Nets (-6.5) at Atlanta Hawks
- Los Angeles Lakers at Miami Heat (-8)
- Milwaukee Bucks (-4.5) at Chicago Bulls
- Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans (-6.5)
- Denver Nuggets (-2.5) at Sacramento Kings
- Utah Jazz (-3.5) at Golden State Warriors
Wednesday’s NBA Best Bets
- Spread: Pelicans -6.5 (-110 via DraftKings) vs. Timberwolves
- Upset: Pistons (+105 via Caesars) vs. Magic
- Upset: Wizards (+118 via Caesars) vs. Suns
- Upset: Warriors (+143 via Caesars) vs. Jazz
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NBA Top Picks
Spread: Pelicans -6.5 (-110) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Pelicans have won three straight games with Zion Williamson on the sidelines, but Williamson is slated to return for Wednesday's home date with the Minnesota Timberwolves. New Orleans is 11-7 against the spread at home and 8-6 ATS as the home favorite. The team is 11-9 ATS this season following a win, while the Wolves are just 6-11 ATS on the road and 2-7 as road dogs. Minnesota is only 8-13 ATS against Western Conference opponents.
Minnesota is still without Karl-Anthony Towns, and the team is dealing with multiple frontcourt injuries, leaving the defense exposed to the Pelicans' duo of Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas down low. T-Wolves center Rudy Gobert has played poorly of late, making this a favorable spot for New Orleans’ big men to wreak havoc in the paint.
The Pels should have no problem covering this spread in front of the home crowd.
Upset: Pistons (+105) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
We love a good home dog, and we’ll target one on Wednesday in the Motor City. The Pistons are small 1.5-point underdogs at home against the Magic, and while we could wager on the spread, it’s a more profitable venture to pursue the moneyline for plus-money odds. Detroit is 6-9-1 ATS as the home dog and 7-9-1 ATS overall at home. The Magic are 7-8-1 ATS on the road and just 1-3 ATS as the favorite in any location. This is the first game this season in which Orlando is favored on the road.
Both of these teams are headed for the 2023 NBA Draft lottery, and neither stands out as the clearly superior team in this matchup. That’s why we’ll take the team that’s home for the second straight game and that just lost in overtime to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. Meanwhile, Orlando is playing the second leg of a back-to-back after falling to the Lakers at home on Tuesday.
Our money will be on the rested Detroit squad.
Upset: Wizards (+118) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Suns just aren’t the same team when Devin Booker isn’t on the court, and he’s questionable to play Wednesday while dealing with a lingering groin injury. Book missed six of the Suns’ last nine games, and Phoenix went 2-4 in those contests. He played four minutes on Christmas Day against the Denver Nuggets before re-aggravating the injury, and the Suns went on to lose in overtime.
The Suns are just 4-6 straight up as road favorites this season, while the Wizards are 3-3 as home underdogs. Winners of two straight games, the Wizards will look to carry the momentum of Tuesday's win over the Philadelphia 76ers into a victory on the second leg of the back-to-back set. Washington is 4-3 SU when playing on no rest.
We’ll take the home dog in a favorable matchup against a shorthanded opponent playing its third straight road game.
Upset: Warriors (+143) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just like the Suns without Booker, the Warriors aren’t the same team when Curry is sidelined. That statement isn’t quite as true when the team is in San Francisco, as the Dubs have won two straight at home without Curry. In fact, Golden State has won three of its last five games with Curry out of action.
The Warriors are 2-0 as home underdogs this season, and they’ll make it 3-0 on Wednesday. The home/road splits are pretty astonishing. Golden State is 14-2 straight up at home and just 3-16 on the road. The Utah Jazz are 7-12 on the road compared to 12-5 at home, and Utah is just 1-3 as the road favorite.
Even with Curry and Andrew Wiggins sidelined, we’re taking the team with the best home-court record in the Association.
NBA best bets made 12/28/2022 at 9:45 a.m. ET.
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