Best NBA Betting Picks and Parlay Today - Friday, January 13, 2023

It's Friday night and the vibes are right as we dive into our NBA Best Bets for Friday, January 13. Tonight's hoops slate has a total of nine games on the docket, but we'll be zoning in on three games with our NBA predictions model, powered by artificial intelligence, with our best picks for Atlanta Hawks vs. Indiana Pacers, Phoenix Suns vs. Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls. Keep reading for our full analysis of tonight's best bets below. And don't forget about our +590 NBA Props Parlay for tonight!

RELATED: Check out our favorite NBA player props for tonight's slate

As always, we've simulated all of the night's NBA games 10,000 times each to determine where the value lies for sports bettors across the United States.

Best NBA Bets Today

Atlanta Hawks vs. Indiana Pacers, 7:00PM ET

The inconsistent Hawks roll into Indianapolis for an encounter with the Pacers at a rather fortuitous time as Indiana adjust to life without their main playmaker in Tyrese Haliburton. The PG suffered a knee injury in the Pacers' loss to the Knicks on Wednesday night and will be sidelined for at least the next two weeks, making this task all the more difficult against a talented Atlanta backcourt that contains Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. 

It's only a small sample size, but in the two games without Halliburton this season, the Pacers averaged just 106 points per contest, well and truly down from the 116 they average when he suits up. Losing that offense against a team that likes to play as fast as the Hawks do (averaging 118 points per game over their last five) should prove to be too much in this one.

DID YOU KNOW? Atlanta's Bogdan Bogdanovic has recorded more than 2.5 assists in 8 of his last 10 appearances? That and more in our NBA Trends section.

BET: Hawks -2.5 (-106) with DraftKings ➡️ here ⬅️.

🏀 Hawks vs. Pacers Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Hawks vs. Pacers

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Phoenix Suns vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 8:00PM ET

A banged up Suns outfit are clinging on for dear life at the moment, having lost seven of their last eight games as they deal with injuries to Devin Booker, Chris Paul and multiple other bench players. While they will most likely regain Deandre Ayton from a stint on the sidelines, it might not be enough to quell a Minnesota team that have quietly strung together a nice week or so of basketball, claiming the scalps the Clippers, Blazers and Nuggets. With Gobert on hand to take care of the Suns' main offensive threat in Ayton (Ayton averages just 13 points per game in career meetings against Gobert), this is a golden opportunity for the Wolves to strike.

TOP TREND: We've identified an NBA trend for Phoenix's Mikal Bridges, who has recorded fewer than 4.5 assists in 14 of his last 17 games. That might be a prop worth fading with the Under 4.5 assists market at -150 for Bridges.

BET: Timberwolves -4.5 (-112) with DraftKings ➡️ here ⬅️.

🏀 Suns vs. Timberwolves Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Suns vs. Timberwolves

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Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls, 8:00PM ET

The Thunder signalled yet another warning sign that this is a team on the rise last night with a relatively comfortable victory against the 76ers on the road. While that is definitely encouraging for this young team, they face a second night of a back-to-back in Chicago in a spot where they've dropped the ball several times already this year, losing three of their four games on 0 days rest this season.

Chicago are dealing with some injury worries - DeMar DeRozan is unlikely to play, however, Zach LaVine is a likely starter after dealing with a right hand contusion picked up earlier in the week. They're coming off back-to-back losses against the Wizards and Celtics where they've failed to put up 100 points in either game. They're also playing an extremely slow tempo, ranking 3rd slowest in the NBA over the last three games with just 97.8 possessions per game. There's a lot of iso-ball going through LaVine who ranks 10th in the league among all players over the last three games with a usage rate of 34.4%

This could be a letdown spot for the Thunder, but it could also be a grind for the Bulls who are not dealing well with igniting offense without DeMar DeRozan on board. If Chicago are able to maintain a slow pace of play on their home court, the under feels like the best bet.

TREND: Chicago's Ayo Dosunmo has scored fewer than 11.5 points in 10 of his last 12 games. It's our top NBA trend for tonight's game.

BET: Under 233.5 points (-110) with DraftKings ➡️ here ⬅️.

🏀 Thunder vs. Bulls Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Thunder vs. Bulls

Your game not here? Find out who we're betting on for every basketball game on Friday via our NBA Bet Hub, where we deliver you NBA predictions and suggested bets, or check out the NBA Betting News section.

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Best NBA Bets Today

There are numerous different ways you can wager on NBA games in 2022, such as the moneyline, spread, total, player and team props, and, of course, parlays. While we normally suggest taking our picks on their own, we recognize the need to service a parlay-loving audience! With that said, check out the fat payout you can get by throwing all of our best bets together tonight. Also, feel free to make your own parlays using our NBA best bets page! 

🔥 Hawks -2.5
🔥 Timberwolves -4.5
🔥 Thunder-Bulls under 233.5 points

*All odds and lines correct at time of publishing

RELATED: Predicted scores for every NBA game on Friday