Cavaliers vs. Spurs Prediction, Odds and Best NBA Prop Bets for Monday, Dec. 29

The Spurs are favored at home on Monday.

San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle is a solid prop target on Monday. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

After winning back-to-back games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Utah Jazz on Monday, ending their winning streak.

Now, the Spurs take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are just one game over .500 for the 2025-26 season. 

Donovan Mitchell is having a great season, but the Cavs are far from the title contenders that many expected them to be entering the campaign.

Now, they’re set as road dogs against Victor Wembanyama and company, who have the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Let’s take a look at the odds, my favorite player prop and a prediction for this marquee matchup on Monday.   

Cavaliers vs. Spurs Odds, Spread and Total

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Spread

• Cavs +2.5 (-105)
• Spurs -2.5 (-115)

Moneyline

• Cavs: +124
• Spurs: -148

Total

• 241.5 (Over -112/Under -108)

Cavaliers vs. Spurs How to Watch

• Date: Monday, Dec. 29
• Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
• Venue: Frost Bank Center
• How to Watch (TV): NBC/Peacock
• Cavs record: 17-16
• Spurs record: 23-8

Cavaliers vs. Spurs Injury Reports

Cavs Injury Report

• Chris Livingston – out
• Max Strus – out
• Luke Travers – out
• Larry Nance Jr. – out

Spurs Injury Report

• De’Aaron Fox – questionable
• David Jones Garcia – questionable
• Stanley Umude – out
• Harrison Ingram – out

Cavaliers vs. Spurs Best NBA Prop Bets

Spurs Best NBA Prop Bet

• Stephon Castle OVER 6.5 Assists (-111)

In today’s best NBA props for SI Betting, I broke down why Castle is a great target against Cleveland: 

Even if De’Aaron Fox (questionable) plays in this game, I like Castle to clear his assists prop against Cleveland.

The Cavs are just 19th in the NBA in opponent assists per game this season, and Castle enters Monday's contest averaging 7.0 assists per game. The second-year guard has seven or more dimes in five of his last six games, and he's averaging 12.1 potential assists per game for the season.

If Fox sits, there should be a lot more playmaking for Castle in this matchup, but he's shown that he can initiate offense even when the two guards play together.

He's worth a look on Monday night against a Cavs defense that is just 16th in defensive rating in the 2025-26 season.

Cavaliers vs. Spurs Prediction and Pick

Earlier today, I shared in my NBA Best Bets column – Peter’s Points – why San Antonio should win this game outright: 

The Spurs are just 2.5-point favorites in this game against Cleveland, but I’m going to take them to win outright with Victor Wembanyama back in the starting lineup and starting to see his minutes increase again.

De’Aaron Fox is questionable, but the Spurs have been by far the better of these two teams this season.

San Antonio is sixth in the NBA in net rating (+6.2) while the Cavs have a net rating of +1.7 this season and rank in the bottom half of the league in defensive rating. On top of that, Cleveland is just 4-6 in its last 10 games and is under .500 (6-8) on the road.

The Spurs are 11-3 at home this season and 9-4-1 against the spread in those matchup. I expect them to win this game, especially with everyone outside of Fox good to go on Monday. 

Pick: Spurs Moneyline (-148 at DraftKings)

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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Find Peter Dewey's NBA betting record here (futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on  BetStamp here.

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