The New York Knicks are 2-2 over their first four games, which have all been against teams that made the Eastern Conference playoffs last season. On Friday, they’ll potentially have a reprieve against the Chicago Bulls, who lost in the NBA Play-In Tournament, as the Knicks have faced one of the toughest schedules in the league to open the 2025-26 NBA season. Karl-Anthony Towns has played all four games for New York despite being at less than full health, and his scoring outputs have been heavily tied to New York’s results. Although the Bulls are 4-0 this season, the Knicks are still 4.5-point favorites on Friday, and the SportsLine’s Inside the Lines Team expects Towns to be aggressive from deep, going Over 1.5 made 3-pointers at +100 odds as one of its Friday NBA player prop best bets. You can find even more best bets at the Inside the Lines live blog.
Targeting NBA player props will be a popular way to approach Friday’s NBA betting at online sports betting sites. With NBA odds available for almost every player in every game at sportsbooks, the ITL team’s model, which simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, can help you find value to add to your Friday NBA picks at various sportsbooks. They can also help new users take advantage of sportsbook promos like the latest Underdog Fantasy promo code CBSSPORTS2 to claim $100 in site credits with a $5 entry:
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past seven seasons. The model entered Week 2 of the 2025-26 NBA season on a sizzling 161-120 roll on all top-rated NBA picks, returning nearly $4,000. It also went 24-11 (69%) on top-rated NBA against-the-spread picks last season. Anyone following its NBA betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
Best NBA player prop picks on Friday:
- Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks, Over 1.5 made 3-pointers (+100)
- Jalen Johnson, Hawks, Over 8.5 rebounds (+105)
- Anfernee Simons, Celtics, Over 2.5 made 3-pointers (+100)
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Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks, Over 1.5 made 3-pointers (+100)
“It’s not a coincidence that KAT is only 2-for-11 from 3-point range and averaging 11.5 points their last two games, and the Knicks have lost by 10 at Milwaukee and 8 at Miami,” SportsLine data analyst Stephen Oh said. “The Knicks’ offense is 3-point dependent and they’ve gone from averaging 34 attempts per game to 45 so far this season. Chicago is defending the heck out of the three to start the season, allowing just 26% 3-point shooting. The Knicks will need KAT to shoot threes because he can get open looks with his extreme combination of height, range and 3-point percentage. Since last season, his Over 1.5 rate is higher on the road (58%) than at home (50%), and for what it’s worth, he averaged 3.7 makes (3-0 Over) vs the Bulls last season.”
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Jalen Johnson, Hawks, Over 8.5 rebounds (+105)
“Between new additions (Kristaps Porzingis) and a deeper bench, his minutes and rebounds are down significantly vs. last season,” Oh said. “But I don’t see him going from a 10 rebound per game player to just a 7 rebound per game player. This line is based on his minutes going down 15% vs. a season ago (15% drop of 10 is 8.5). He’s 0-4 Over 8.5 this season, and while I could definitely see him settling into an 8.5 rebound role this season, he can’t regress to 8.5 without a few nine or 10 rebound games. Last season, this was a 27-9, 75% lock. Other power forwards who averaged 8-to-10 rebounds averaged +1.9 more (9.5) at Indiana vs. what they averaged vs Indiana on their own home court.”
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Anfernee Simons, Celtics, Over 2.5 made 3-pointers (+100)
“He had two makes in the season debut vs. Philadelphia when Boston lost by a point, but started slowly from distance as a Celtic, going 5-for-17,” Oh said. “But he’s 10-for-19 the last two games combined and they were both big Celtics wins. This is basically a plus-money bet on a line under both his average and his projection.”
BetMGM is offering the best odds, and you can bet on Simons with the latest BetMGM promo code, which gives new users up to $1,500 back in bonus bets if your first bet loses.
Want more Friday NBA picks?
You’ve seen the model’s NBA picks for some popular NBA player props for Friday. Now, see NBA projections for every player prop at SportsLine.
Also at SportsLine:
NBA expert Mike Barner is 12-7 (+362) in his first 19 NBA picks this season. See his latest NBA predictions here.
