NBA Best Parlays of Week 5

We didn’t do so hot on our parlays last week, so we’re looking to have a nice bounce back Thursday, kind of like a few of the NBA teams on the slate. For you anxious bettors, our Stay Safe Double Parlay should tickle your fancy, and for those looking for more value, big games from LeBron James, Donovan Mitchell, and Julius Randle should get our big money parlay back on track as well.

The reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers have had a couple of days off to stew in a brutal 115-113 loss to the Golden State Warriors in their last time out, so we’re expecting them to come into Thursday night angry and ready for a rumble against what some say is the class of the Eastern Conference in the Milwaukee Bucks. In L.A.’s loss to the Warriors, it seemed that the big guns just couldn’t be bothered in the second half as they let a 19-point lead slip away.

Don’t expect that to happen again on Thursday. LeBron James and Anthony Davis both had subpar performances against the Warriors and now they’re going up against a real title contender led by the reigning MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo—you’d better believe they’re going to bring their A game. Not to mention that LeBron has historically dominated Giannis, winning 15 of 20 all-time meetings between the two.

The Lakeshow has covered the spread in their last four straight road games against teams with a winning home record. In that same vein, the Bucks have failed to cover the spread in their last four straight games versus teams that have won over 60 percent of their games. For some reason L.A. is the underdog in this game, so to add a little value to this Thursday’s Safe Double Parlay, we’re taking the Lakers’ moneyline at +101 odds (22Bet) as one of our top picks.

We’re going to pair that wager with an NBA point spread play in the Utah Jazz-New Orleans Pelicans showdown. This matchup will be the second straight game they’ll play against one another as part of the NBA’s new scheduling strategies to reduce traveling and COVID exposure. That new scheduling method has also forced the young Pelicans onto the road for what will be their fifth straight game, and they haven’t been great away from the Bayou.

New Orleans has lost four of their past six on the road, and have failed to cover the spread in three of their past four away games as underdogs. They’re coming up against a buzzsaw of a Jazz team who are currently on a six-game winning streak both SU and ATS. It seems Jazz has also been a good foil for Pelicans lately, with New Orleans going just 4-11-1 ATS in their last 16 meetings. Just to be safe (this is the Safe Double after all), we’re going to take an alternate -3.5 point spread for the Jazz at slightly higher -182 odds.

After whiffing on three of the four NBA picks in our accumulator last Thursday, we’re going to take it down a notch with a simpler treble this week. Don’t worry, we’re still talking big value and big money just like the name suggests. There being just three games on the docket for Thursday night, we’re going to pick our favorite player prop from each matchup to fill out our Big Money Treble Parlay on Thursday.

The King had a tough go in L.A.’s last game, going just 6-for-16 for 19 points in a seemingly apathetic performance. LeBron doesn’t often stay down though, as evidenced by his 29.0 point average in his last eight contests following a game in which he scored under 20 points and shot 40 percent or worse from the field. LeBron has also been great against Giannis in his career, avering 27.8 points in 20 meetings, including 30+ points in five of the last six. Take the reigning Finals MVP to bounce back nicely and cover the over on his 25.5 points prop at decent -137 odds (22Bet).

The next leg of our parlay will be the over on Donovan Mitchell’s 24.5 points prop at solid -120 odds (22Bet). Mitchell has scored 25+ points in five of the six games during his team’s current winning streak and has been finding his range as well, hitting 3.8 triples per game on 48 percent shooting from deep during that span. The Pelicans also give up more long balls per game (16.2) than any other NBA team. The 25.6 points Spida has averaged in 12 career meetings with the Pelicans is also the 24-year-old’s third-highest mark against any team.

We’re going to ride with Julius Randle’s over 33.5 points + rebounds prop at -137 odds (22Bet) for the final leg of our Big Money Parlay. He’s got 10 double-doubles in his last 13 games and during that span the Kentucky product has been averaging 23.1 points and 11.5 rebounds. Randle and the Knicks head to the Bay to take on the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night and we don’t see him slowing down. Expect the big guy to keep on chugging against a huffing and puffing Warriors team playing it’s third game in four days.