3 WNBA Prop Bets to Target for Thursday 5/30/24

The WNBA season is rolling along, and FanDuel Sportsbook's WNBA odds offer a slew of ways to get in on the action via point spreads, totals, moneylines and player props.

In this article, we'll focus on the day's top prop bets. Let's dig in.

All WNBA odds are from FanDuel Sportsbook, and lines are subject to change after this article is published.

WNBA Prop Bets

Jewell Loyd 3+ Made Threes (+140)

The Seattle Storm will visit the Indiana Fever to kick off tonight's two-game WNBA slate.

When these teams met up last week, the Storm pulled through with an 85-83 victory. We should be in for another exciting contest, as the Fever come in as 5.5-point 'dogs and are looking to secure their first home win of the season.

As props go, I’m interested in backing Seattle’s Jewell Loyd.

Last season, Loyd averaged an even 3.0 three-point makes (3PM) per game. She drained at least three from outside in 55.3% of contests (21 out of 38 games). In 2023, we would have been hard-pressed to find this prop at +140 odds, which suggest just a 41.6% probability.

However, the new season has brought new marks for Loyd. While she’s averaging an impressive 19.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.0 steals per game, the three-ball just hasn’t been there for the All-Star guard.

Loyd shot threes at a 35.6% clip last season. In the three campaigns prior to 2023, she rocked three-point percentages (3P%) of 38.5%, 37.6%, and 39.0%. But through seven games this go around, Loyd has been making threes at a disappointing 28.6% rate.

We’ve begun to see glimpses of regression, with Loyd going 2-for-5 and 4-for-7 from behind the arc in two of her last three games, but I’m expecting even greener pastures for Seattle’s star. Last season, she ranked second in 3PM (behind only Sabrina Ionescu) and first in 3PA among all W players.

Something’s gotta give, and tonight’s matchup against Indiana could invite positive regression.

The Fever are surrendering the second-most 3PM per game. Their league-worst defense is predominantly marred by guards Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, who rank dead-last in defensive rating among all starting guards in the league.

Indiana’s perimeter defense is vulnerable, and it doesn’t help that Temi Fagbenle and Erica Wheeler will both be sidelined in this one. Fagbenle leads the team in defensive rating (98.7) while Wheeler owns a 98.4 rating off the bench.

The Storm run a disciplined offense, but Loyd could shoot herself out of a three-point slump against a disconnected defense.

Kia Nurse Over 11.5 Points (-114)

Kia Nurse has found an encouraging scoring groove.

After being named to the All-Star team in her sophomore season, Nurse’s career got derailed by an ACL injury, which led to a treacherous stint for Seattle in the 2023 season.

She has since joined the Los Angeles Sparks and is averaging 12.5 points and 27.8 minutes through six games.

Nurse has scored at least 13 points in four out of six games, with the two misses coming amid a 2-for-11 shooting night and a goose egg in the FGM column.

Notably, she scored at least 13 points in the four games where she played more than 26 minutes. There’s been some competition within LA’s guard camp, as Lexie Brown was benched in favor of Aari McDonald during Tuesday’s game.

Since Nurse is performing better than Brown in most regards -- including net rating, assist-to-turnover ratio, and plus/minus -- it seems she has solidified herself in the starting and closing group. It’s helpful, as her minutes are concerned, that she is coming off a 22-point performance where she went a scorching 5-for-6 from downtown.

The Sparks will take on the Chicago Sky this evening, which could lend itself to a solid scoring night for Nurse.

Chicago plays at a faster pace (98.16; fifth) than Los Angeles (97.40; eighth) and owns the fourth-worst defense in the league. They’ve also been letting up 38.6 FGA to guards each game (fourth-most), so I like Nurse’s chances to net at least 12 points.

Angel Reese Over 8.5 Rebounds (+110)

We’ll see some of the top bigs of this season’s draft class square off in this matchup, with Angel Reese taking on Cameron Brink down low.

Reese is averaging 8.6 rebounds per game, leading all rookies and ranking eighth in the entire league.

She has corralled a whopping 4.8 offensive boards (first) per game and is in a good spot to clear tonight’s rebounding prop.

Reese has exceeded 8.5 boards in three out of five games. She’s grabbed at least eight rebounds in all but one game. The lone miss came against the Connecticut Sun, a team that plays at the league’s slowest pace, sports the best defense, and lets up the fewest rebounds per game.

The Sparks gave up the fifth-most rebounds per game last season. Although they’ve limited teams to the second-fewest rebounds in this campaign, LA ranks middle-of-the-road in offensive rebounding, which is Reese’s bread and butter.

Los Angeles has legit posts in Brink and Dearica Hamby. This makes for a tough matchup in the paint, but it does suggest that Reese could get plenty of playing time as her defense will be needed. The LSU standout has been averaging 31.3 minutes across her last three games after logging 26 minutes or fewer in her first two games.

Reese has also been staying out of foul trouble, netting 2.6 fouls across her last three games. I’d expect her to stay on the court against a Sparks team that is drawing the fewest fouls per game from opposing centers, which should help continue the solid rebounding trend we’ve seen.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.