Griffin Wong shares his three favorite player prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for Monday night’s seven-game NBA slate.

Thursday night’s Christmas Day showcase will take center stage for the NBA this week, but in case you haven’t tuned in to the 10 teams that will take the court on Christmas, you’ll have an opportunity to preview five of them today: the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, and Denver Nuggets.

Tonight’s seven-game slate begins at 7 p.m. ET with a matchup between the Cavaliers and the Charlotte Hornets and ends with a 10 p.m. ET clash between the Detroit Pistons and the Portland Trail Blazers.

The action should be exciting on its own, but betting on prop bets at DraftKings Sportsbook is yet another way to spice it up. I’ve gone through and chosen the three that stick out to me, and since all three are first-year pros, let’s go ahead and brand this one “the Rookie Edition”.

Top NBA prop bet picks

Kon Knueppel 20+ Points (+109)

The top four in the 2025 NBA Draft class has to be downright historic: Cooper Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in a game, Dylan Harper is playing extremely solid two-way minutes for the West’s No. 2 seed, and VJ Edgecombe has given Philadelphia 76ers fans more optimism than they’ve had since Ben Simmons looked like a superstar…and Knueppel might be better than all of them. Flagg’s Duke teammate has averaged 19.4 points per game while hitting 40.9% of his three-pointers, helping keep the Hornets afloat despite LaMelo Ball missing 10 games and Brandon Miller missing 16. He’s scored 20 or more points in three of his last four games and missed by just one point in the exception, including a 29-point outburst in an overtime win over Cleveland last Sunday.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are a team in disarray: over the last 11 games, they’re just 3-8, a span in which they’ve had the league’s eighth-worst defensive rating. They haven’t won a game since 2024-25 Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley went down with a calf strain and have allowed at least 127 points in each of back-to-back losses against the Chicago Bulls. Across that span, Cleveland has been particularly bad at guarding the corners and the non-restricted paint, allowing the seventh-highest mark from floater range and the 11th-highest mark from the corner, and Knueppel has combined modest volume with elite efficiency from both spots.

Cooper Flagg O31.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists (-108)

It wouldn’t be a Rookie Edition without a prop bet for Flagg, who has scored 20 points in each of his last four games as his Dallas Mavericks have won six of their last nine overall. It still isn’t all perfect — his three-point shot isn’t falling, and the Mavericks have been 8.5 points per 100 possessions better with him off the court — but it’s clear that Dallas is entrusting its highly-touted rookie to do his thing, as his usage rate increased from 21.8% through the end of November to 27.1% so far in December, even with Anthony Davis returning from his calf strain at the end of last month. He’s had 32 or more P/R/A in six of his last nine games.

Meanwhile, while the New Orleans Pelicans have been in decent form to rise out of the West’s cellar, that hasn’t extended to the defense. Even in their last 10 games, in which they’ve gone a solid 4-6, the Pelicans have allowed the fourth-most points, 10th-most rebounds, and second-most assists per game. Plus, New Orleans clearly hasn’t figured out exactly how it wants to guard Flagg: in the teams’ two matchups this season, Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy III each guarded him for at least 35 partial possessions. He also feasted against Pelicans rookie Derik Queen in a smaller sample size (12.1 partial possessions), scoring 18 points on eight-for-12 shooting. Flagg averaged 36.0 P/R/A per game across those matchups.

Ace Bailey 2+ Three-Pointers Made (-137)

Bailey hasn’t received quite as much attention as Flagg and Knueppel, but the fifth overall pick has been plenty solid in his own right, showing off his scoring bona fides for a surprisingly competitive Utah Jazz team that very nearly upset the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic in back-to-back games. Since being elevated into the starting lineup on November 10, Bailey has averaged 2.1 made three-pointers per game while canning 38.1% of his triples, and he’s made at least two in 11 of his 18 games. While Lauri Markkanen had missed each of the previous two games while managing a groin injury and is expected to return tonight, Markkanen has been in the lineup for all but three games, so Bailey should still get plenty of shots.

The Nuggets have looked like an entirely different team since losing Aaron Gordon. In their last 14 games — a span in which he played just three minutes before sustaining a hamstring strain — Denver ranks fourth-to-last in defensive rating and has conceded the 11th-most made threes on the sixth-worst percentage. Part of that is a matter of luck, as opponents have shot the second-best percentage with the nearest defender between four and six feet away, but the Nuggets have given up plenty of easy shots, allowing the sixth-most catch-and-shoot threes, as well as the second-most from the corner. Since joining the starting lineup, Bailey has shot 37.1% from the corner and 38.0% on catch-and-shoot threes.