The Portland Trail Blazers are off to an encouraging start to the new NBA season, and tonight, they host the Los Angeles Lakers in the late slate. While playing against L.A. may often feel like a daunting challenge, this squad enters shorthanded with both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves ruled out while LeBron James also remains sidelined. With that in mind, Portland sees a great opportunity to add another win on Monday.
Here’s a Lakers vs. Trail Blazers prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Friday’s matchup.
Lakers vs. Trail Blazers prediction, preview
As mentioned above, the Lakers are 5-2 but face an uphill battle tonight without Doncic, Reaves, and James active. Without their three best players available, this team appears rather dire. Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura start in the frontcourt, and Marcus Smart likely remains in the starting five but may shift over to guard. Otherwise, Jake LaRavia, Dalton Knecht and Jarred Vanderbilt should each see plenty of run with potential for a Bronny James sighting as well. Clearly devoid of top-end talent, it’s tough to draw all that much from the Lakers’ stats on the year. For what it’s worth though, Los Angeles ranks 11th in scoring, second in FG%, 24th in rebounding, 14th in assists, and 25th in turnovers while sitting eighth in OFFRTG and 17th in DEFRTG.
As for the Trail Blazers, Shaedon Sharpe is probable while Matisse Thubulle is out along with Scoot Henderson, who’s yet to play this season. The Blazers are 4-2 and have won three straight games, including one over a Lakers group with Reaves healthy as well as a standout victory over the Nuggets back on Friday. It’s been a true group effort for Portland with contributors all around, but Deni Avdija paces the team with 22.7 PPG along with 6.0 REB and 4.2 AST, followed by Jerami Grant’s 20.7 PPG as an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate. Offseason acquisition Jrue Holiday holds things down at point guard with 18.2 PPG and 8.7 AST, while Sharpe averages 17.3 PPG. Of course, Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan provide defense in the frontcourt as well. The Trail Blazers rank ninth in scoring, 22nd in rebounding, 12th in assists, 23rd in turnovers and first in steals. They’re just 25th in FG% but are 13th in OFFRTG and fifth in DEFRTG.
Nuggets vs. Trail Blazers pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Trail Blazers enter as -9.5 favorites with -340 odds to win on the Moneyline. The Lakers come in at +270 underdogs to win outright with a game total of 227.5 points.
The odds indicate a Portland blowout for a reason. While it’s more intriguing to search for value others are missing, sometimes it’s better to just take the open layup as you see it. Tonight, that layup is on the Trail Blazers to cover the 9.5-point spread against this depleted opponent. The Lakers are in dire need of anyone who can step up as a scorer, but the talent on hand will be hard-pressed to do so against one of the NBA’s better defenses. With little reliable offensive creation, there’s a very likely chance that Los Angeles falls behind early and tries to play catch-up for the rest of the night, but the Trail Blazers simply have much more firepower available in the rotation for this one. Factor in that Portland beat L.A. recently with Reaves dropping 41 points, and it’s difficult to envision a close game here.
