Prime-Time First TD Bets — Monday Night Football, Week 16
Alex Christenson
We have five Sunday games in the W as we approach the final stretch of the 2024 season. The Storm will head to Connecticut to face the Sun, while Minnesota plays host to Angel Reese and the Sky! Caitlin Clark and the Fever will head to Dallas, while the reigning WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces go into Phoenix. Lastly, the Sparks will play host to the Atlanta Dream.
Let’s go over our best bet from this five-game slate.
Seattle Storm Moneyline
(+104, FanDuel Sportsbook)
This game has a lot of interesting storylines. To start, Gabby Williams, the standout French player from the Olympics, returned to the WNBA to join the Storm for a championship push. In three games, she has averaged 27 minutes per game, and while her peripherals don’t necessarily stand out, she is one of the best, if not the best defender in the league. Her presence absolutely makes a major difference for this Storm team.
Next, the Sun are playing a back-to-back after defeating the Mystics on the front end yesterday. Being on the back end of a back-to-back always holds weight for me in handicapping a game, but more importantly, Alyssa Thomas left the game with an injury and never returned. It seems very likely Thomas will miss today’s game, which would be worth around two points on the spread. This game opened with Connecticut -2.5. It currently sits with the Sun -1.5, so Thomas’ status appears to have somewhat of an impact to this point. If she is officially ruled out, I would expect this to become a pick’em. Her Hoop has the Sun as -4.5 point favorites at home, but I would say the back-to-back is worth anywhere from 2-3 points as well. Lastly, I will note that the Her Hoops line does not factor in the acquisition of Williams. While I don’t think she has a major impact on the line, it significantly improves Seattle defensively.
In the end, without Thomas (and it’s also possible they could choose to rest DeWanna Bonner or Brionna Jones) I would have Seattle slightly favored, likely getting 1.5 points. At +104, there is some value on the Storm.
