NBA Best Bets Today - Free Expert Picks for Friday, Oct. 21

Zion Williamson and the Pelicans are 6.5-point favorites at Charlotte. Zion's points prop is 24.5. Are both numbers too low?
NBA Best Bets Today - Free Expert Picks for Friday, Oct. 21
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Zion Williamson over 24.5 points (-125) at Charlotte 

DraftKings, 2:58 PM CT

Alex Barutha: Zion cruised easily to 25 points in 30 minutes against the Nets in the opener. The Hornets are much worse and don't have anyone to guard him. Are we sure anyone can really guard Zion? Give me Zion to score 25 points against a bad team any day of the week.

Golden State Warriors -4.5 vs. Denver Nuggets (-110)

DraftKings Sportsbook, 1:12 PM CT

Jason Shebilske: This line is a bit confusing to me. I think the Nuggets are a better team than they showed Wednesday against the rebuilding Jazz, but it's tough to expect them to bounce back against one of the most talented teams in the NBA. Even though Golden State continues to manage the playing time of its starters, I expect the Warriors' complete roster to find success and cover the spread against Denver.

New Orleans Pelicans -6.5 at Charlotte Hornets

DraftKings Sportsbook, 2:00PM CT

Nick Whalen: New Orleans looked like the vastly superior team against Brooklyn in their opener, winning virtually every statistical battle – particularly on the glass. This is a deep team with a strong starting five that should match up well against a Hornets team that's still without LaMelo Ball. To be fair to Charlotte, it's coming off of a blowout win over the Spurs, but the Pelicans will be a much more physical, difficult test.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Alex is RotoWire's Chief NBA Editor. He writes articles about daily fantasy, year-long fantasy and sports betting. You can hear him on the RotoWire NBA Podcast, Sirius XM, VSiN and other platforms. He firmly believes Robert Covington is the most underrated fantasy player of the past decade.
Jason joined RotoWire in 2019. In 2023, he was named the FSWA Player Notes Writer of the Year. In addition to RotoWire, Jason writes for the Sports Broadcast Journal. In 2024, he was dubbed "The Polish Parlay" for his WNBA hot betting streak.
Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.
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