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Thursday's WNBA slate offers a pair of games, with the Washington Mystics hosting the undefeated New York Liberty at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by the Golden State Valkyries and the Phoenix Mercury dueling in the desert at 10 p.m. ET. Both games will stream on Prime.

Looking to get in on WNBA betting at the best betting sites? Want to play WNBA player props? Let's check out the top plays for Thursday, with odds from FanDuel and DraftKings.

Valkyries +6 -115 (1 unit, DK)
Valkyries 1H +3 -108 (0.5 units, DK)

This line has already moved considerably from the Valkryies +8.5 opener, as Alyssa Thomas was ruled out once again with a calf injury. But I'm a big believer in the Valkyries, at least compared to the market, and I think they're going to give the short-handed Mercury quite a battle.

The only game where the 7-0 New York Liberty haven't led at halftime was against these Valkyries, and Golden State held the lead with less than two minutes to go in the game -- giving the mighty Liberty one of their closest calls this season (the other time was against a fully healthy Indiana Fever team, but their last lead was a little under five minutes to go). 

There have also been three games in which the 8-0 Minnesota Lynx have had both Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride fully healthy. In two of those games, against the Mercury and Storm, Minnesota has held a lead of at least 8 points at the half. Then against the Valkyries, it was Golden State who took a 1-point lead to the locker room. It was a tight game halfway through the third quarter, before the Lynx's talent fully took over with Minnesota winning by 11 points. 

The point is, the Valkyries have hung tough with the two best teams in the league because they're well-coached and play a style that is tough for opponents. They make an effort on the glass, they play zone defense more than any other team, and they love taking 3-pointers. The only times the Valkyries weren't competitive this season were a 28-point loss to the Liberty and a 17-point loss to the Sparks -- with the latter being Golden State's debut with all of those pieces learning to gel, and it was the one game the Valkyries didn't have dynamite rookie Janelle Salaun (averaging 12.0 points, 7.4 rebounds per game).

Without Thomas for the past three games, the Mercury have shot 3-for-26 and 5-for-30 from 3-point land in two of them. Thomas is the best passer on the team, and her passing would be a major weapon against Golden State's zone defense. Satou Sabally has been amazing this season, but the Mercury's ceiling is obviously much lower with the other two stars out in Thomas and Kahleah Copper.

Kayla Thornton Over 16.5 points + rebounds -132 (1 unit, FD)

This seems like a nice buy opportunity considering Thornton has played the top two defenses (Liberty and Lynx) in each of her past three games. She did perform admirably against them, though, scoring 13, 10 and 11 points in those contests as well as grabbing six rebounds in each of them. 

The Mercury actually rank third in the WNBA in defensive rating at 94.9, but there has been a difference when Thomas has played (92.6, second in the WNBA) and hasn't (98.8, fourth in the WNBA). Phoenix also has the third-lowest rebounding percentage (46.9%) off of missed shots in the WNBA, a number that is also slightly worse when Thomas is out. After all, she is the second-leading rebounder on the team at 7.6 per game, only behind Satou Sabally's 8.1. 

Thornton plays the most minutes per game (29.7) on the Valkyries, while taking the second-most shots (11.5) and hauling in the second-most rebounds (6.2). If she went Over 16.5 points + rebounds in two of three games against the mighty Liberty and Lynx (with the other landing right on 16), I think she'll be able to against the shorthanded Mercury that is one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. 

Season Record: 11-12, +2.74 units