NBA Picks & Predictions: +EV Best Bets for Friday (10/23)
Welcome to the first Friday of the 2026-2027 NBA season. We've got some great games on deck today. Some great for watching, others for betting, and some for both. This article highlights the three best value NBA picks of the day with assistance from the BettingPros Market Based EV page.
These are bets with a better chance of winning than the odds suggest. Below are my top three picks.
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Friday’s Best +EV NBA Picks
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Houston Rockets Moneyline (+170)
Houston had an easier season opener than San Antonio, facing the Dallas Mavericks while the Spurs took on the Oklahoma City Thunder. But that gave Houston a chance to see if the offseason paid off, and it did. The offense was much more efficient with Fred VanVleet back on the floor, and Kevin Durant chipped in 30 points.
San Antonio had a tougher matchup, and some of the issues are unlikely to happen in back-to-back games. For one, Victor Wembanyama won’t go 1-for-13 from the floor again. Overall, the team will shoot better than 39% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc.
Yes, it was a bad night for the Spurs against a very good team, but it is also a young team built around a young Wembanyama, and it’s already dealing with injuries to a few key players. Houston has youth, but also enough veteran talent to beat a Spurs team still working out the kinks.
Cooper Flagg 30+ Points (+226)
Kyrie Irving will take some time to get back into playing shape. In the interim, Dallas will continue to lean on Cooper Flagg. Expecting back-to-back 30+ point nights may be asking a bit much, but Flagg just put up 32 against a solid Houston Rockets defense. However, the Pacers’ defense is nothing special, and they allowed 120 points to New Orleans in their opener.
Plus, Indiana will want to pick up the pace, giving Flagg more chances to score. It's risky, but it’s a solid value play at +226 odds.
OG Anunoby Over 2.5 Made Three-Pointers (+128)
On the surface, this may not seem like a good idea since OG Anunoby went 1-for-9 in the Knicks’ season opener versus the 76ers. But this tells us one thing - that they are going to have him shoot early and often.
Anunoby shot 38.6% from three last season. Detroit went 15-of-40 from long distance against Boston in their opener and had two players hit five threes.
This matchup favors Anunoby hitting at least three shots from deep tonight.