Welcome back the NBA with this steals parlay

NBA is back in action tonight, a welcome return for many! When we last were writing about hoops, we started to find a groove in the steals prop market. On the first night back, is it so inconceivable to suggest some sloppy offense is coming? That would seemingly benefit these props once again, so we'll go ahead and see if there's still some magic in that market worth exploiting.

Guard this steal parlay well

A scan through the slate offered up a few intriguing swipe options in the NBA, and notably it's a trio of guards that stand out.

The first is Donovan Mitchell. Cleveland's star guard has a 1.5 steals line, but it's for good reason, as he's nabbed 2+ steals in eight of his last 10 games. He and the Cavs are facing an Orlando team that turns the ball over at the third-highest frequency, and Mitchell has piled up seven steals in his past two meetings with the Magic. Mitchell has hit this mark in eight straight home games.

We turn then to Russell Westbrook of the Clippers, facing off against his former club the Oklahoma City Thunder. No team turns the ball over more often than Oklahoma City, so there should be plenty to go around for the Clippers tonight. Westbrook has a steal in seven straight games and he's averaged nearly a steal per game in 13 career meetings with the team where he started his career.

The final leg for tonight comes from Washington's Jordan Poole. Poole has been logging steals like they're going out of style. Prior to the All-Star break, Poole had 10 steals in his final five games, and he's racked up 17 swipes in his past 10 games. The Nuggets allow the seventh-most steals per game to opposing PGs, and Poole has five steals in his last four meetings with Denver.

The bet: Donovan Mitchell over 1.5 steals, Russell Westbrook over 0.5 steals, Jordan Poole over 0.5 steals

The odds: +266 on DraftKings

Good luck!

In the news ...

Auston Matthews becomes fastest U.S. born player to score 50 goals in NHL history — Toronto's Auston Matthews netted his 50th goal on Wednesday night in just his 54th game (and chipped in his 51st), becoming the fastest American-born player to reach that threshold. Despite this scoring explosion, Matthews is still just +300 to win the Hart Trophy behind Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov. An intriguing market to consider is on FanDuel under "League Specials," that being: Matthews to score 75+ goals at +750. It has been 31 years since a player has reached 75+ goals, but with 28 games to go and only 24 goals away, the Maple Leafs star could hit the mark at this pace.

Mexico Open at Vidanta tees off today — We have you well covered if you're hankering for some golf bets on this fine Thursday. The Mexico Open gets going today, and Action Network's squad of experts has tossed out numerous names of note to back for the weekend. One of interest is backing Stephan Jaeger to finish in the Top-20 at +125, with Action's Jason Sobel confident that his high floor of play should keep in the mix in what is a weakened field. Jaeger has six top-20 finishes in his past 14 starts. YB's Jack Dougherty likes Carson Young to finish in the Top-40 at +115. Young's long iron skill-set seems to suit this course well, and he finished T-15th last year on this course.

With Shohei Ohtani set to only hit this year, NL Cy Young race is wide open — Shohei Ohtani revealed his spring training plan yesterday, saying the elbow feels good and that he will be getting plenty of at-bats ahead of the season starting. His mammoth contract with the Dodgers of course has his pitching prowess baked into it, but since he will not be throwing this season due to injury, that opens up the Cy Young race in the National League. Matt Wiesenfeld covered the market for us, pointing out a few potential value futures worth placing. Atlanta's Spencer Strider at +550 is his favorite bet, as he led the NL in wins and strikeouts last season and is only just 25 years old. Don't sleep on Ohtani's new teammate, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, making his MLB debut after dominating in Japan. Yamamoto is being paid like an ace and should pile up the Ks immediately. He is 13-1 to take home some hardware this season.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll. Follow him on Substack: griffybets.substack.com.