Top 3 NBA Betting Picks for Friday, October 8th (2021)
Just a couple of weeks remain until the 2021-22 NBA regular season gets underway as teams try to navigate the new landscape of vaccine requirements and player eligibility. Up until then, nearly every night offers preseason games to get in on the action, as sportsbooks are now posting earlier than ever in many cases.
Let’s take a look at tonight’s action and see where the value remains.
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1. Bucks +5.5 | -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook
Perhaps no team is more at the center of the vaccine issues in the league than the Nets, whose star point guard Kyrie Irving to this point has refused to get vaccinated and is at risk of missing games as a result. On the other side of this game, the returning champion Bucks come into this season refocused and ready to defend their title with much of their championship team returning.
In a matchup we’ll get to see again in a few weeks, except then it will be for real, I like the Bucks to bounce back from a poor performance earlier in the week and keep this one close in Brooklyn.
2. Spurs -3 | -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook
In what will be their first back-to-back of the season, the Heat head from Houston last night to San Antonio today to take on a Spurs team who last played Tuesday at Detroit. In the Heat’s win on Thursday night, most of the starting five saw action including Jimmy Butler who got his first minutes of the season.
In this one, I expect a lot of DNP-Rests for this Heat team and for coach Pop to be pushing for more of a concerted effort, with a team largely still trying to find their footing for what the 2021-22 campaign will look like.
3. Warriors -2.5 | -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook
In tonight’s primetime west coast slot, we get another matchup we’ll see in a couple of weeks as the Lakers take on the Warriors in Golden State. While the big news in the offseason in LA was the arrival of Russell Westbrook, the Warriors get a star of their own in the return of guard Klay Thompson who is inching his way back into the lineup following an Achilles injury.
While neither will likely see action tonight, I do expect the Warriors to play their starters longer and a look at both benches shows a much deeper rotation for Golden State.
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