The first game of the Los Angeles Lakers’ stretch run admittedly didn’t go so well. With LeBron James and Rui Hachimura finally back from their injuries, Los Angeles suffered a 146-115 defeat to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night despite a 29-point first half from Luka Dončić. Rookie Matas Buzelis scored a career-high 31 points and Josh Giddey became the first player ever to reach 15 points, 10 rebounds, 17 assists, and eight steals in the same game.
The Lakers will hope things go better in the opening game of a four-game road trip that tips off tonight at 7 p.m. against the Orlando Magic, who have gone just 13-23 with the league’s eighth-worst net rating since January 3, when point guard Jalen Suggs suffered a season-ending injury.
After a 17-point outing in his first game back, James — who has averaged an incredible 26.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 8.0 assists since turning 40 — will hope to fully re-activate “playoff mode” with Los Angeles now two games out of the West’s second seed.
The Lakers are four-point favorites tonight at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total is set to 214.5. Below, I’ve outlined my favorite prop bet centered around The King.
Best LeBron James Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
LeBron James 9+ Rebounds (+120)
Arguably the most impressive thing about James’ Hall of Fame career is how much he has evolved, and he is continuing to develop different strengths even in his 22nd season. When Dončić joined the team, James became his team’s second offensive option for the first time in his career. He’s thrived playing off the ball, developing instant chemistry with Dončić, and both his defensive and rebounding intensity have taken a step. Since Dončić’s debut on February 10, James has averaged 9.5 rebounds per game, including a 17-board performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves on February 27.
A rejuvenated and motivated James is bad news for an Orlando defensive front that has allowed the seventh-most rebounds per game since the All-Star break. Backup center Moritz Wagner tore his ACL on December 21, just one in a brutal slew of injuries that derailed the Magic’s promising season, and Goga Bitadze, whose dominance on the boards is one of his only NBA-level skills, fell largely out of Orlando’s rotation. Los Angeles has dominated the glass since Dončić’s arrival, and while some of that has to do with the point guard himself, Jaxson Hayes’ elite box-out skills should generate rebounds for him, Dončić, and James.
LeBron James +0.5 Points vs. Franz Wagner (-120)
I’m still extremely optimistic about the Lakers’ defense, even after a game in which they just gave up 146 points in regulation, the most points that they have given up in a non-overtime game since November 23, 2016, and the fifth-most in franchise history. Any historic offensive explosion like that requires some level of flukiness; Matas Buzelis, a career 32.9% three-point shooter, hit 50% of his tries, and the Bulls’ shooting guard looked more like young Kobe Bryant than Coby White, hitting contested shot after contested shot. In a much larger sample size, this Los Angeles team has given up just the fifth-fewest points per game in the last two months. The Lakers certainly have the wing defenders — especially Jarred Vanderbilt and Dorian Finney-Smith — to slow Wagner down.
Honestly, Wagner might be slowed down enough by his teammate, Paolo Banchero, who ranks sixth in the league in usage rate since the All-Star break despite being an even less efficient shooter than Wagner. While Banchero has attempted 20 or more shots in each of his last six games — and, to his credit, making a respectable 47.2% of his tries — Wagner has taken somewhat of a backseat. The German forward has attempted 20 or more shots only once this month and has scored 22 or fewer points in seven of his last eight games, a stretch in which he has posted just 43-21-91 shooting splits. Meanwhile, James has scored 22 or more points in 36 of his 59 games, including all but three since Dončić’s arrival, and he’s far better suited to slow down Wagner than Orlando’s star is to contain him.
