Welcome to Props Daily! Three games got the NBA season underway last night, and there’s plenty to unpack.

First up, Detroit. The Celtics were up by 22 points and looked like they had the game wrapped up. Well, the Pistons had other ideas. Detroit came all the way back to beat Boston 121–113. Blowing a 22-point lead on opening night? That’s a rough way to start the season.

Then we headed to Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks were celebrating their first championship in 53 years. The rings came out, the banner went up, and everything was looking great. Until the game started.

The Sixers spoiled the party with a 106–100 win. New York struggled to buy a bucket all night, shooting under 40% from the field. After decades of waiting to raise another banner, the Knicks probably had a better start to their title defense in mind.

And finally, we got a Western Conference Finals rematch in San Antonio.

SGA clearly hadn’t forgotten how last season ended. He dropped 32 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and added 4 assists as OKC beat the Spurs 116–104. A little revenge for that Game 7 loss, and a pretty good way to announce you’re back.

That’s opening night done. We’ve got 11 games on the schedule tonight, so there’s plenty more basketball coming.

Let’s get into it.

First, we have Tre Jones over 9.5 points as Chicago travels to Toronto.

Jones averaged 13.1 points in 27 minutes per game last season, which gives us a reasonable starting point for this line. He also averaged 9 points in his two appearances against Toronto, so the matchup hasn’t always produced big scoring nights for him.

The interesting part is his playing time. If Jones gets similar minutes this season, he should have plenty of opportunities to reach double figures.

Next, we’re looking at Anthony Edwards under 28.5 points against Miami.

Ant-Man has averaged 23.4 points across 12 career games against the Heat, although he was much more productive in their two meetings last season, scoring 33 and 26 points.

He can easily put up 30 on a good night, but his longer history against Miami has generally been below tonight’s number. We also don’t know how Minnesota’s offense will look against this new-look Heats team.

Finally, we have Luka Dončić under 32.5 points against Golden State.

Luka has averaged 30.7 points in 24 regular-season meetings with the Warriors, although he scored 43 against them in last season’s opener before finishing with 26 in their next meeting.

He’s obviously capable of clearing this line comfortably, and Golden State’s defensive changes make the matchup more interesting. Still, 33 points is a high number, even for Luka, and his longer-term scoring history against the Warriors gives us a reason to consider the under.

It’s opening week, so there’s still plenty to learn about how these teams will play this season. We’ll be following the results closely as our models begin incorporating the new games.

What do you think of these lines?

We’ve only covered three picks here, but there’s plenty more to explore across tonight’s NBA slate. You can find more projections on our Game Pages, along with additional picks on the Quick Bets page.

We’re also keeping an eye on Thursday Night Football, with the Patriots taking on the Bears tomorrow night. We’ll have more on that matchup in tomorrow’s edition.

In the meantime, come join us on Discord to share your picks, discuss the games, and hang out with the Propsguru community.

Enjoy tonight’s games, and we’ll see you tomorrow.

— Propsguru