Griffin Wong previews tonight’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs with his favorite player prop bets.
For the San Antonio Spurs, it’s been no Victor Wembanyama, no problem so far. Since the gargantuan Frenchman first was diagnosed with a calf strain, San Antonio is 5-2, won its group in the Emirates NBA Cup, and is holding onto early playoff positioning in the stacked Western Conference. Wembanyama and Stephon Castle are both without official timelines to return, putting their participation in next Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal — and Wembanyama’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy — in jeopardy.
It’s been a similar story for the Memphis Grizzlies, who are without each of their top three point guards — Ja Morant, Ty Jerome, and Scotty Pippen Jr. — and have somehow won five of their last six games. Morant and Jerome are both dealing with calf strains, with Morant set to return some time in the next few weeks and Jerome and Pippen both out until at least the start of 2026.
The Spurs are 5.5-point favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook (-205 on the Moneyline), with the point total set at 232.5. Memphis is +170 on the Moneyline. Below, I’ll lay out my three favorite prop bets for tonight’s contest.
De’Aaron Fox 25+ Points (-108)
San Antonio has been competitive without Wembanyama and Castle primarily because of Fox, who has averaged 26.1 points per game across his last seven games and topped the 25-point mark in six of the seven. Across that span, Fox ranks 11th in usage rate among the 64 players who have played at least 210 minutes, and he also ranks 13th in the league in touches. He’s combined that usage with efficiency: among the 13 players who have posted a usage rate north of 29% and averaged at least 30 minutes per game, Fox’s 56.0% effective field goal percentage ranks sixth.
Meanwhile, though the Grizzlies have had the 10th-best defense over the last nine games (a span in which Morant has taken the court for less than six minutes), their defense is mostly driven by center Zach Edey, who’s limited opponents to just a 35.7% field goal percentage at the rim in his eight games this season and is averaging 2.3 blocks per game, with a block percentage that trails only Wembanyama’s. Memphis’ rim-protecting twin towers might limit Fox’s drives, but he has a pretty well-balanced game and is capable of scoring from all three levels. Fox had 26 points the last time these teams faced off on November 18, a game in which he struggled against Vince Williams Jr. and Jaylen Wells but shot three-for-four against rookie Cedric Coward.
Zach Edey 15+ Rebounds (+223)
These are incredibly friendly odds for Edey to do something that he’s done in each of the past four games that he’s both started and finished (he snagged just one board in the Grizzlies’ loss to the Denver Nuggets on November 24, when he left the game in the first quarter after taking a shot to the head from Nikola Jokić). He’s coming off of his career-best game — a 32-point, 17-rebound affair in a win over the Sacramento Kings — and should be playing with plenty of confidence. It all depends whether or not the Canadian can stay on the floor, but the Spurs haven’t been great at generating fouls without Wembanyama.
Expectedly, San Antonio hasn’t been as competitive on the boards without a seven-foot-four player who just so happens to lead the league in defensive rebounding percentage. Since Wembanyama’s injury, the Spurs have allowed the 13th-most rebounds per game and posted the 12th-lowest total rebounding percentage, and their 44.8% total rebounding percentage without him overall this season would be the worst in NBA history. Seven-foot-one Luke Kornet has the size to contain Edey, but he doesn’t have Wembanyama’s athleticism or instincts. Plus, he’s an elite rim protector, so Edey might have offensive rebounding opportunities.
Cam Spencer 3+ Three-Pointers Made (+174)
The second-year pro has broken out this season into one of the league’s elite shooters, draining 46.0% of his triples in 20 minutes per game as injuries have forced him into Memphis’ rotation. All in all, he’s made three or more triples in eight of his 21 games, and his three-point percentage is the sixth-highest among the 138 players who have played at least 15 games, averaged at least 20 minutes per game, and attempted at least three triples per game. Since Morant’s injury, he’s seen an uptick from 17.8 minutes per game to 23.9 minutes per game and has made at least three long-range shots in five of his last seven games.
Meanwhile, Wembanyama’s absence has impacted San Antonio’s three-point defense as well. In the first 12 games of the season, the Spurs’ opponents attempted 20.3 wide-open three-pointers per game, the 12th-most in the league, but since his injury, that number has jumped slightly to 22.9 tries per game, the third-most, and while San Antonio has somewhat gotten away with it because those players have canned such shots at the 13th-lowest clip, it can’t count on getting so lucky against Spencer, who has made them at the 14th-highest clip among the 132 players to play at least 15 minutes and attempt at least two uncontested triples per game.
