NBA Picks: Who to Bet on in Early-Season Battle of Los Angeles?

To help with your NBA betting, here are our picks for tonight's games.

Tonight's Best Prop Bets

The player prop bets are 6-2, making $192 for the season wagering $50 per prop.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers

10 p.m. ET, TNT

Line: Clippers –5.5 | Total: 225.5

I am betting on the Clippers -5.5 points as offered at BetMGM.

The Lakers lost 123-109 to the Golden State Warriors and failed to cover the spread priced as 7.5-point road underdogs. 

This will be the first game of the regular season for the Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard coming back for the first time in 18 months. He underwent surgery after tearing his right ACL in Game 4 of the 2021 Western Conference Finals and missed last season.

The Lakers were out of sync in their loss to the Warriors and trailed by as many as 27 points. Lebron James scoring 31 points, Anthony Davis added 27 points, and Russell Westbrook contributed 19 points, but that was not enough to overcome 22 turnovers.

Situational Trends and Angles 

• The Lakers are 15-40 straight-up (SU) and 22-33 against the spread (40%) when coming off a road loss to a divisional foe in the last 10 seasons.
• The Clippers are 9-2 SU and 8-3 ATS (73%) when favored in their first game of the regular season since 1995.