WNBA Best Bets and Player Props for Tuesday 9/17/24

The WNBA season is rolling along, and fans and bettors alike can get into the action on FanDuel Sportsbook.

The W's 40-game season offers a wide variety of betting options, including point spreads, moneylines, and totals. While there's a lot to sift through, advanced stats from the WNBA can help us find an edge in the betting market.

Let's dive into the WNBA odds on FanDuel Sportsbook and find today's best bets.

Please note lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published.

WNBA Best Bets

Minnesota Lynx at Connecticut Sun

Lynx Moneyline (-105)

Today we have the penultimate WNBA regular-season slate before the playoffs begin on Sunday. The WNBA Standings show us that seven out of eight teams have already clinched a playoff berth, yet no team is locked into a specific seed.

Tuesday's five-game slate will have a huge impact on which teams play each other in the first round and which teams will secure home-court advantage in the postseason. As a reminder, the first round of the WNBA playoffs features just a three-game series while the later rounds are a best-of-five, so home-court advantage is a really big deal.

In line with this pivotal sentiment, the No. 2 seed Minnesota Lynx will visit the No. 3 seed Connecticut Sun tonight.

Minnesota currently holds a two-game lead over Connecticut for the No. 2 seed, though both groups have a pair of games left to play, and the Sun already own the head-to-head tiebreaker. Tonight, the Lynx could not only clinch the second seed and home-court advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs but also likely dodge an intimidating Indiana Fever team in Round 1. Plus, Minnesota has an ever-so-slight chance to secure the league's top seed should the New York Liberty drop their final two games of the season.

There's a lot on the line for both of these squads tonight, and I'm keen on backing the Lynx to win their 30th game of the season in style.

Since the Olympic break, the Lynx have gone 12-1 and tout a +11.6 net rating. The Sun, meanwhile, own a 9-5 record and a +5.4 net rating in this span. One team has been a whole lot more dominant than the other.

We don't have to worry about either of these defenses. Connecticut's league-best 94.5 defensive rating and Minnesota's hardly-worse 94.8 defensive rating prove just that, but the offenses are a different story. The Lynx have the second-best offensive rating (behind only Indiana) since the Olympic break. That's what happens when you surround Napheesa Collier (20.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game) with some of the best three-point shooters in the league. Three of the W's top five three-point shooters (based on percentage) are members of Minnesota.

Connecticut's offense is less active and reliable. DeWanna Bonner, the team's leading scorer, has had a tough second half of the season. She's scored 14 or fewer points in 10 of her last 13 games and shot below 34.0% from the field in six of those. That's some brutal production for a team's top scorer, and the mid-season acquisition of Marina Mabrey can only help so much.

The Lynx are the better team here and have been playing like it. Considering they have all the motivation in the world to get a win tonight, I'll back them in what the market is essentially deeming as a pick 'em.

Las Vegas Aces at Seattle Storm

Nneka Ogwumike To Score 20+ Points (+134)

This meeting between the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm was set up to be a marquee match, as the former holds just a one-game lead over the latter for the No. 4 seed. But with Jewel Loyd (knee) and Ezi Magbebor (concussion) both out tonight, the Aces enter as 7.5-point road favorites with -340 odds on their moneyline.

Even still, we should be in for a fun contest as this one sets up as a preview of a likely first-round playoff series between these two groups, albeit without Loyd and Magbebor. Loyd averages a team-leading 19.7 points while Magbebor contributes 11.7 points per game. In turn, my favorite way to bet this match is by targeting Nneka Ogwumike in the scoring market.

We've seen Ogwumike in just one game sans Loyd (and Magbebor), which came this past Sunday. Ogwumike notched 23 points in that one via 16 field goal attempts. As Seattle's second-leading scorer, it makes sense that she would take on a gaudy shot volume when Loyd is gone. Loyd averages the fourth-most field goal attempts per game in the WNBA, so there's a huge gap to make up for when she's out.

Luckily, Ogwumike has no trouble keeping up on the scoring end. She averaged 19.1 points per game a season ago and is currently the WNBA's 10th all-time leading scorer at 34 years of age.

She's cracked at least 20 points in 11 games this season, and her likelihood of doing so skyrockets when two players who contribute a combined 37.6% of the team's points are sitting on the bench. Plus, this matchup opposite Vegas offers a scoring-friendly environment. Both teams rank in the top four of pace, leaving us with a 163.0 over/under. The Aces let up 81.1 points per game (sixth-most).

Ogwumike's shot volume should be exciting given Seattle's injuries and the expected fast-paced nature of this game. Her stellar shooting clips, which include a coveted 50.6% FG%, 40.6% 3P%, and 88.0% FT%, could take care of business from there. We're talking about someone who has a fighting chance to be the second player in WNBA history to join the 50-40-90 club. I'll back Ogwumike to score 20 at +134 odds.

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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.