Zach Thompson details his best player prop bets for Saturday’s NBA playoff matchup between the Hawks and the Knicks.
The 2026 NBA Playoffs start with a beautiful quadruple-hitter on Saturday with games throughout the afternoon and evening. The third of the four matchups is Game 1 of the series between the No. 6 seed Atlanta Hawks and the No. 3 seed New York Knicks. Madison Square Garden is sure to be hyped up for Game 1, which tips off at 6:10 p.m. ET. Let’s get fired up for tip-off by breaking down a few strong player prop bets to consider from this Hawks-Knicks matchup.
Overall, the Knicks are 6.5-point home favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook, with the game total set at O/U 218.5 points. New York holds -275 odds of winning the series, while the Hawks sit at +220 to pull off the first-round upset. These teams played three times this season, with the Knicks winning two of the three games, including a very close, three-point game in Atlanta two weeks ago, where CJ McCollum’s potential game-tying three came just after the buzzer.
The Knicks finished the regular season at 53-29, including an impressive 30-10 home record. The Hawks finished one game clear of the Play-In Tournament at 46-36, finishing on a 19-5 run over the last 24 games of the regular season.
The injury report is pretty clean for both teams, with only Jock Landale (ankle) listed out for either team. With all the regular pieces in the rotation, let’s take a look at which Knicks-Hawks player props can deliver good value this Saturday in Game 1.
Hawks at Knicks Best Prop Bets
Karl-Anthony Towns o15.5 Rebounds + Assists (+103)
Towns will be ready to play plenty of minutes as the Knicks get their playoff chase underway, and KAT has turned in strong rebound and assist numbers to go with his scoring this season. On the season, he averaged 11.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, but he should be able to get a little bit more than those averages in his heavier workload based on his recent form.
In six of his last 10 regular-season games, Towns had at least 16 rebounds plus assists, including 18 in his recent matchup against Atlanta. He had 14 and 16 rebounds plus assists in his two matchups against the Hawks earlier in the season, finishing just under and just over this prop line.
Towns averaged 11.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists during his 18 playoff games last season, going over this prop in six of those contests. Since he has been doing more work on the glass and as a plamaker this season overall, his added minutes should push him past this prop line Saturday night.
Dyson Daniels o22.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists (-115)
Daniels has had to fill a wide variety of roles for the Hawks this season, playing as the team’s primary point guard at times, primary scorer for some games, and even as a three-point specialist, which isn’t typically his strength. He always brings great defense, though, and the Great Barrier Thief will be asked to help keep Jalen Brunson under wraps in this series.
Although he impacts the game on both ends of the floor, Daniels’ offense took another step forward this year, as he averaged 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.9 assists for 24.6 PRA (points, rebounds and assists) per game.
He didn’t play in the last game of the regular season for Atlanta, but he had a triple-double with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 boards for 35 PRA against the Cavs in his most recent contest.
He has gone over this PRA prop in 14 of his last 19 games, averaging 13.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists for 26.5 PRA. He had 11 points, 12 assists and three rebounds to go over this prop against the Knicks during that stretch as well.
Like Daniels, Hart is a versatile player who can help fit a variety of roles for his team depending on the game flow. He has scored at least 10 points in each of the Knicks’ last eight Eastern Conference First Round games, and he’ll have a big role in this matchup with the Hawks.
Hart averaged 12.0 points per contest, but he was held under that average in four of his last five games, with the one outlier being a 26-point performance against the Celtics. In the game before that, he only had two points against the Hawks.
Still, Hart has so much playoff experience and logs so many minutes that he should get to at least 11 points on Saturday night. Before that five-game sample size, he went over this prop in eight of his previous 12 games.
Hart had at least 12 points in six straight games against Atlanta before that two-point game earlier this month, so he should be able to erase that memory with a better scoring output on Saturday night, when he’s sure to play as many minutes as he can handle.
Bonus Parlay Pick: CJ McCollum o17.5 Points (-123)
If you’re building a SGP (Same Game Parlay) for Game 1, adding in McCollum to get at least 18 points boosts the odds up to a solid +900 for the four Knicks-Hawks bets in this post.
McCollum has scored 15+ points in each of his last 19 playoff games, and he finished the season with good momentum, averaging 19.6 points per game over his last 15 games and going over this prop line eight times. He had 17 against the Knicks, and it would have been 20 with overtime on the way if his heave didn’t come just after the buzzer. McCollum is a huge part of the offense in Atlanta and will get another chance to rise to the occasion in the postseason on Satudray night.
