Best WNBA Player Props Today: Gray and Young Keep At It

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Jonquel jumble

It’s not often that a team can add an MVP from just two seasons prior and have them immediately become an afterthought. That’s kind of how Jonquel Jones offseason trade to the New York Liberty has gone, as Breanna Stewart has stolen all the headlines (a 45-point game will do that admittedly) both as the best player on the Liberty as well as the most explosive scorer. When people say the Liberty have a lot to figure out with the depth of talent on their super team, the biggest thing they have to do is build a plan to get Jones involved.

Jones is a defensive force, and a fearsome rim protector, who can also stretch out behind the arc and shoot, and has a variety of post moves. But she’s a dependent offense player, who needs to be set up and fed the ball in the right spots to produce. That was just as true with her previous team (and opponent today), the Connecticut Sun, as it is with the Liberty. 

Far too often, Jones would get lost in the jumble of a game while inferior offensive players jacked up shots. Jones averaged 19.4 points in her MVP season, but that fell to just 14.6 last year, and through two games with the Liberty, she’s barely touching the ball and averaging just 9.5. 

I’m not worried about Jones’ long-term fit with New York, but I do think it will take several games to get her in rhythm and for the team to know how and when to look for her on offense. Until then, I like this Under.

Jonquel Jones prop: Under 13.5 points (-135 at bet365)

Gray matters

When you have a team full of bonafide All-Star scorers like the Las Vegas Aces, whatever passing you can collectively scrounge together becomes incredibly valuable. There are many mouths to feed on this team, and making sure they all get quality opportunities as well as enough of them to keep them happy and cohesive is a daunting task indeed. While some might think passing to a team of All-Star scorers would be easy, the social and chemistry dynamics at play on such a team make it anything but.

Luckily, the Aces have Chelsea Gray in the fold, who, in addition to being incredibly skilled as a passer, is the consummate game manager. Gray is not afraid to feed the hot hand as a point guard, nor to take over herself when the game calls for it (or the entire series, as was the case in the WNBA Finals) but her preference is to keep the team on an even keel and get everyone a touch as much as possible.

Gray has dialed back the scoring from her scorching playoff run to open the season, but the jump she made in assists per game in that stretch has held steady at seven per game. Getting that at even money makes this an obvious value pick.

Chelsea Gray prop: Over 6.5 assists (+100 at bet365)

Jackie of all trades

The Aces are a team with so much All-Star talent, it would be easy to get lost in the shuffle (that’s how the reigning Finals MVP Gray can manage to somehow not make an All-Star last season). In order to stand out on the Aces, your play has to be nothing short of transcendent, which is an appropriate way to describe Jackie Young’s start to the season.

Through two games, Young is averaging 26.5 points on 75.8 eFG%, which is about as hot of two-game stretch as you’ll ever see in the WNBA. It’s incredible to think back now that the question mark hanging over Young’s early career development was her jump shot. In her first three seasons with the Aces, 28.6% from deep on just .9 attempts. So far this season she’s bombing away and hitting 63.6% of them on 5.5 shots per game.

The rest of the Aces are playing equal-opportunity ball and picking their spots, while Young has decided that every spot is her spot, and taking over every game despite playing alongside a collection of players who are mostly bound for the Hall of Fame in the future. 

Young is backing it up though, and her teammates don’t seem to mind, instead feeding off her energy and getting her the ball to attack again and again. This is the kind of ego-free basketball that rarely follows a championship season. I’m expecting Young’s aggressiveness and confidence to carry over into a third contest on Saturday.

Jackie Young prop: Over 17.5 points (-114 at FanDuel)