After an 11-game slate yesterday, the NBA is paring back with just a five-game set on the cards. The Washington Wizards, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Minnesota Timberwolves will both suit up for the second consecutive night
Here are my top bets for Thursday’s games at DraftKings Sportsbook, with one bet from each game.
First, let’s take a look at the full slate:
- Atlanta Hawks at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7 p.m. ET
- Los Angeles Lakers at Washington Wizards, 7 p.m. ET
- Minnesota Timberwolves at Utah Jazz, 9 p.m. ET
- Houston Rockets at Memphis Grizzlies, 9:30 p.m. ET
- Orlando Magic at Portland Trail Blazers, 10 p.m. ET
Zaccharie Risacher O9.5 Points (-115)
The first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft hasn’t been bad this season, per se, he’s just been cramped in a crowded Hawks wing rotation that has mostly limited him to an off-ball role amid breakout seasons from Jalen Johnson and De’Andre Hunter. In the moments when he has been more involved in the offense, he has demonstrated flashes of potential. The efficiency — 40.0% from the field and 28.3% from beyond the arc — isn’t great, but for a relatively untested rookie, that’s not a huge surprise. I got to watch Risacher in person a few weeks ago at the Intuit Dome, and relative to my expectations, I was actually more impressed by him than by any other Atlanta player.
The confirmation that Johnson is out for the season — even if he has missed nine of the team’s last 14 games — might give Risacher more of an opportunity to take on bigger responsibilities. Since Johnson’s initial injury, Risacher has played six games, attempting double-digit shots in four of them and scoring double-digit points in all four. Plus, while Cleveland has the 10th-best defense in the league this season, it has a notable hole at small forward, especially if Isaac Okoro — who has missed the last several games with a shoulder injury — is unable to play. Plus, the Cavaliers play at the league’s eighth-fastest pace.
Los Angeles Lakers-Washington Wizards U223 (-108)
I’m banking on a relatively low-scoring game, which might not make a ton of sense for a Washington defense that has allowed two points more per game this season than any other squad, is on a 15-game losing streak for the second time this season, and which might be missing arguably its best defensive player, rookie center Alex Sarr. It’s more a fade on the Lakers’ offense, which has scored the 13th-fewest points in the league, and the Wizards’ offense, which has scored the fourth-fewest.
In games that Los Angeles has played fully or mostly without Anthony Davis — who suffered an abdominal strain early in the Lakers’ loss on Tuesday — it has averaged just 109.8 points per game, meaning Washington could score up to 113 points and the under would still hit. In their last 10 games, the Wizards have averaged only 101.8 points per game, and they have scored 113 points only four times in 16 January games so far. Last night, Washington scored only 82 against the Toronto Raptors, who don’t exactly have a world-beating defense, on disgusting 39-17-72 shooting splits.
As long as head coach JJ Redick doesn’t do something foolish like play Bronny James real minutes, Los Angeles’ 22nd-ranked defense is good enough to keep the score low.
Anthony Edwards O3.5 Three-Pointers Made (-115)
I’m still not sure what to make of the Timberwolves this season, who have improved every single month, pair an average offense with an elite defense, and have a top-15 player in the world, but have still yet to rattle of a win streak of longer than four in a row. Minnesota clearly has a spacing issue, so Edwards hasn’t been able to slash as much as he’d ordinarily like, but he’s compensated for that by becoming a genuine three-point sniper, making four or more threes in 30 of his 46 games.
Although he’s hit three or fewer three-pointers in each of his last five games — shooting just 31.0% from deep across that span — I like him to break out of his funk against the Jazz, who allow the league’s most three-point attempts and fourth-most makes, especially if Walker Kessler, who’s one of the league’s better rim deterrents, suits up. Although Utah allows fewer made threes on a lower percentage at the Delta Center, perhaps a function of Salt Lake City’s 4,265-foot elevation, the Timberwolves rank in the league’s top seven in both three-pointers made and three-point percentage on the road.
Houston Rockets Moneyline (+160)
I was honestly surprised that the Rockets, who are on a four-game winning streak and sit a game and a half ahead of the Grizzlies for the second seed in the Western Conference, were underdogs against Memphis, especially considering the quality of the competition that Houston has beaten in recent days. The Rockets pulled off two wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and one each against the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks, which are still impressive wins, even if all three teams have slumped in recent weeks. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have beaten up on bad teams before getting decimated at the hands of the red-hot New York Knicks on Monday night.
Regardless, it should be a good game between two evenly-matched teams that should both be pretty healthy. Over its last 10 games, Houston has a plus-4.8 net rating, good for 10th-best in the league, while Memphis is one slot better with a plus-4.9 net rating. But herein lies the difference: Rockets young star Amen Thompson has turned the corner in 2025 with all-world defense, freakish athleticism, and consistent intensity, while the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant has continued to be inconsistent, even when he’s taken the court. In such a tight battle, it depends on whose stars you trust to show up. For me, Thompson, Jalen Green, and Alperen Şengün are a little bit more reliable than Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Orlando Magic -5.5 (-108)
In this column last week, I picked the Trail Blazers against the spread, and they proceeded to win by 22 over the shorthanded Magic. I really wanted to do so again today.
Orlando has really struggled in its last 10 games, losing five out of six, welcoming Franz Wagner back from injury, and then losing two out of three games since. Wagner has been pretty good, but a win over the Detroit Pistons in which the Magic shot 45.5% from three and a loss to the Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler isn’t incredibly impressive. Meanwhile, Portland has won five of its last six games, including a win over a fully healthy Milwaukee Bucks side on Tuesday, and it lost by just 10 to the Oklahoma City Thunder last Sunday despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 35.
But looking back at that Trail Blazers blowout last Thursday, two things stick out. One is the fact that neither Goga Bitadze nor Cole Anthony played, and while those two are far from superstars, they’re both positive defenders who play valuable roles on Orlando’s roster. The other is the fact that Banchero shot a ghastly 7.1% from the field, easily the worst single-game shooting performance of his career. Some of it can be chalked up to solid defense by Toumani Camara, who I think is one of the most underrated players in the league, but most of it is pure luck. A few more bounces, and the Magic cover the spread easily.
