WNBA First Baskets Scorers & Picks: Tuesday (7/28)
It's Tuesday in the W with the 2026 WNBA Regular Season getting underway this weekend. I'm back after a successful 2025 season, cashing nearly 54% of our picks. As always, I'm breaking down the top WNBA First Basket Scorer picks.
Let’s get into the lone game of WNBA action for Tuesday, July 28, with our best First Basket Scorer props! Be sure to check with our WNBA Prop Bet Cheat Sheet when building your tickets.
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Tuesday's Best WNBA First Basket Scorer Bets
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
New York Liberty vs. Los Angeles Sparks
Nneka Ogwumike has quietly drained seven First Baskets this season in 25 games for a whopping 28% cash rate. That is an incredible rate this deep into the season, and receiving a return pushing 6x is crazy value. Two of those seven cashes have come in the previous five games, including #7 two games ago on July 19. If you tailed me that day, you cleaned up a nice 4.5x return.
The next-closest player in this game is New York’s Jonquel Jones, with four First Baskets in 26 games (15.4%) this season. Jones is coming in fresh off her All-Star Game MVP performance on Saturday night in Chicago, where she posted a 22-point/13-rebound double-double in just 22 minutes. Jones is as hot as they come right now and is scoring early and often. She has posted double-doubles in six of her last seven games, even taking out the ASG exhibition. The Liberty would be smart to look to that consistency as they search for it in the win column in the second half.
Connecticut Sun vs. Washington Mystics
Shakira Austin has scored the First Basket in 8-of-25 (32%) games this season. Austin cashed this prop when these two teams last met back on June 26 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Brittney Griner took the first shot, but missed, opening the door for an Austin rebound and layup on the other end.
For Connecticut, Olivia Nelson-Ododa has scored the First Basket in three of her last five games and is offering a 5.69x return. ONO is one of four players in this game with three First Baskets on the season, but none of the other four have had all of them in the past few weeks. If you want to fade Austin, Nelson-Ododa is the play.
Luke Monaldo is a featured writer at BettingPros. Follow him on Twitter @MoKnowsSports, Discord @alydar1227 AKA The GIFTing Crooner, and on TikTok @The GreatLoudini. For more from Luke, check out his archive.