NBA Who’s Hot and Who’s Not: Big Men Embiid, Jokic Top the Charts

It’s time for another look at some of the hotter players in the NBA and some of those struggling to keep up. Paying attention to the individuals doing great (or not so great) things on the hardwood is one tool to help you make a bet online at the sportsbook.

Let’s check the latest NBA picks, stats, injury reports, and NBA predictions. We’ve plenty of NBA expert picks for you to consider.

Eastern Conference Who’s Hot

• Joel Embiid – Last season’s scoring champ is aiming for another crown. He’s posted an average of 39.2 points over his last five games, shooting 61% from the field and 54% from the arc. The Philadelphia 76ers superstar posted his second 50-point game of the season with 53 in a win over Charlotte on Sunday.
• Bogdan Bogdanovic – This Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter missed the first 22 games of the season due to knee surgery. He’s making up for lost time with a series of hot-shooting efforts. After a real clunker in which he missed all 10 of his 3-point tries in a loss at New York, Bogdanovic made 13 of 23 over the next two games while scoring 61 points.
• Will Barton – We had this Washington Wizards backup in the Who’s Not section not too long ago, so let’s give him some credit for turning things around. The veteran guard bounced back from a two-game absence (foot) this week by scoring 22 points in back-to-back games. All this after he averaged just 7.3 points through his first 25 games. Barton also handed out a season-high nine assists Wednesday at Denver.

Western Conference Who’s Hot

• Nikola Jokic – The man that beat out Embiid for MVP the past two seasons is trying to get a leg up on him again with a hot stretch in Denver. Jokic was content to pass the ball all day and night earlier in the season, but he’s also begun to take on the scoring load. He has three straight games of 30 or more points, a stretch that includes his 80th career triple-double and a season-high 43 points vs. Washington on Wednesday. The Joker is shooting 64.3%, easily the best figure in his career.
• Nickeil Alexander-Walker – There are many others with bigger numbers out there, but what Alexander-Walker has done lately relative to earlier in the season is quite notable. He began December with a scoreless game and then a DNP-CD. In four games since, the Virginia Tech product is averaging 17.0 points while shooting 62% and burying 14 of 24 3-pointers. He’s worked his way into the Utah rotation and figures to stay there.
• Damian Lillard – Dame returned from a calf injury earlier this month with a vengeance. He’s put up four straight games of 36 points or more, including one in which he made 9 of 17 3-pointers and another in which he nailed 11 of 17. Lillard’s in range when he gets out of bed, and he’s on an absolute tear of late.

Eastern Conference Who’s Not

• Sam Hauser – This Boston Celtics backup seemed to catch everyone by surprise with an absolutely torrid start, vaulting into the top five in 3-point percentage at one point. Teams have caught on a little bit, and it’s now on Hauser to find new ways to find some good looks. He’s shooting 27.6% from long range in December after posting a 46.2% mark in November and a 55.6% effort in October.
• P.J. Washington – A starter in all 28 games for Charlotte and a key cog in their attack, Washington is just missing a few too many shots. In his last four games, he’s averaging 9.8 points while making 17 of 54 shots (2 of 18 3-pointers). He is averaging a career-high 15.0 points per game, so perhaps the percentages will eventually catch up with the increased volume.
• Jalen Smith – This Indiana Pacers big man has been a starter for nearly the entire season, but his numbers are down in virtually every significant category. In fact, he’s come off the bench the last two games as the Pacers search for a way to get the former Phoenix Sun going. Smith has made 2 of 12 shots in those two games as a reserve, dropping his field-goal percentage to 42.5 (from 53.1 last season).

Western Conference Who’s Not

• Devin Booker – He’ll be putting up 50 on some sad sack in no time, but it’s a bit of a downturn for the Phoenix Suns superstar right now. He had three straight games under 20 points before electing to sit out a pair due to a sore hamstring. Booker returned to help Phoenix snap a five-game slide Thursday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, but he had only 14 points on 6-for-22 shooting. Since a 40-point outburst against Houston on Dec. 2, he’s averaging 15.2 points on 33% shooting.
• Jordan Poole – The volume is there, which is why Poole has posted 24.0 points per game this month. However, he continues to draw plenty of iron as the Golden State Warriors super sub (now starting in place of the injured Andrew Wiggins) piles up the misses. He’s 10-for-44 from long range over his last five games, numbers that could suffer even more with no Steph Curry around to draw defenders.
• Trey Murphy – After a six-game hot streak in which he averaged 19.3 points, Murphy posted three straight single-digit performances and one 12-point effort over the past week. There was an 0-for-7 showing and a 1-for-5 game in there, and Murphy also fell out of the top spot in the free-throw percentage category after rare misses in back-to-back games.

The odds and predictions in the article are based on the time of writing and publication. They may differ as to when the actual event takes place.