Best WNBA Player Props Today: McBride Shines in Big Apple

Only Built 4 Kayla Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx come to Brooklyn as big underdogs against the New York Liberty. Despite their 1-6 record, the Lynx haven’t rolled over for opponents and have covered in three straight outings, including a win over Washington as 8-point road dogs last time out.

Kayla McBride is a big part of that push from Minnesota. She dropped 24 points on the Mystics on Saturday and is averaging just short of 15 points on the season after missing two games due to personal reasons back in May.

The veteran guard has posted her best work on the road, adding an 18-point performance alongside her output in Washington on the weekend. McBride is 16 for 24 from the floor (8-for-16 on 3-pointers) in those two road stops and player models are calling for another solid day in NYC.

I have McBride projected for 17.9 points while some forecasts are calling for closer to 20 points. The WNBA prop odds have McBride’s scoring total between 13.5 (bet365), 14.5 (DraftKings) and 15.5 (FanDuel) points as of Wednesday morning, with Over 13.5 priced at -120.

The Lynx have looked to McBride as a leader both in the huddle and with her work on the floor, and she’ll need to continue to be a consistent scorer against a Liberty lineup that can manifest big offensive runs.

Given the projections, you can get McBride Over 15.5 at even money, but we’ll take the low end of this prop given Minnesota’s team total is short against a New York club that sets a slower pace and sits No. 3 in defensive rating.

Kayla McBride points: Over 13.5 (-120 at bet365)

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Powered by Howard

The Dallas Wings are in desperate need of a course correction after dropping back-to-back games to fall to .500. Given, those two losses were out East against solid foes in Washington and Connecticut and the Wings managed to come out of those games with a 0-1-1 ATS mark.

Dallas is back home hosting Phoenix as short chalk tonight and will look to forward Natasha Howard to set the tone. Howard played only 22 minutes against the Sun due to foul trouble, limiting her output to 11 points and five boards.

The 6-foot-2 veteran is counted on to wrangle rebounds for a Wings team that runs small with the loss of center Teaira McCowan to international play. She’s averaging 8.5 rebounds on the season and her WNBA prop odds have Howard’s forecast on the glass set between 7.5 and 8.5 tonight.

The Mercury are a mid-tier rebounding team in terms of rebound rate and Dallas’ offensive pace produces plenty of field goal attempts for both sides, which means available boards in bulk.

Howard’s player models call for more than 8.5 rebounds with my number at 8.95 and some setting a ceiling of 9-plus. We’ll shop around and take the lower O/U on Howard’s boards at 7.5 (-125) versus totals of 8.5 with the vig at -113 and -115.

Natasha Howard rebounds: Over 7.5 (-125 at bet365)

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So nice, we bet her twice

Natasha Howard could be in for a big night if the WNBA projections hold water on Wednesday. Not only do I like her to eclipse her rebounding total but I’m also betting Howard to top her scoring prop as well.

Oddsmakers have Howard’s point prop pegged between 16.5 and 17.5 depending on where you bet, with the lower number priced at -115 at 365 while markets like DK and FD currently show vig of -115 and -128 on the higher total.

Howard was 4-for-9 for only 11 points but did so in 22 minutes of play against Connecticut on the weekend, limited due to foul trouble. The game before, she scored 16 points on a very sound Washington defense, collecting six of those tallies at the foul line. Howard scored a season-high 25 points in a May 30 home victory over Minnesota.

She’s finding her place in Dallas’ up-tempo attack after coming over in the trade this offseason. Her scoring is up two points from 2022 and her role in the offense has erupted, averaging almost 16 field goal attempts per game versus only 12.2 for the Liberty last season.

That high-paced attack, which sits first in the WNBA in pace rating, will be revving its engines tonight, fueled by transition and points off turnovers. The Wings are creating 17 turnovers from foes per game (second most) and have translated those errors into a league-best 19.5 points off turnovers.

The Mercury just so enter Wednesday as the most turnover-prone team in the WNBA, coughing up the ball an average of 20.3 times per contest, which has led to opponents scoring an average of 21.5 off those mistakes to start the season.

Howard is glad to cash in those easy scores, putting up a team-high 6.5 points off turnovers per outing. She can also bully Phoenix on the offensive glass for put-back buckets tonight, with the Mercury giving up nine offensive boards per outing and Howard scoring 3.3 second-chance points per game.

Natasha Howard points: Over 16.5 (-115 at bet365)

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