Here's everything you need to know about NBA opening night predictions: Picks for Lakers vs Nuggets and Suns vs Warriors.
The NBA season kicks off with two Western Conference showdowns for NBA opening night of the 2023-24 season. The Lakers tip-off against the Nuggets at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT, and Suns-Warriors follows at 10 p.m. ET.
Let's get to our NBA opening night predictions.
NBA Opening Night Predictions
| Click on a game to skip to the predictions and picks | |
| Lakers vs. Nuggets Picks | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| Suns vs. Warriors Picks | 10:00 p.m. ET |
Lakers vs. Nuggets Picks
Lakers-Nuggets Spread
Lakers +5.5 (-114)
Jay Money: I thinks the Lakers will win outright, but taking +5.5 is a great play.
Los Angeles has circled this game and is in a revenge spot after getting swept in the 2023 playoffs by the Nuggets. Over the summer, there have been a few instances where members from the Nuggets have mentioned the Lakers, and Anthony Davis has mentioned how badly they want this game.
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Lakers-Nuggets Spread
Lakers 1H +2.5 (-105)
Albert Nguyen: LeBron James is entering Year 21, and I don't think he will play a full slate of minutes, so he'll probably see most of his minutes in the first half. That leads to a first-half pick instead of taking 5.5 points for the entire game.
It's also a great revenge spot for a deeper Lakers team that's more motivated to come out of the gates strongly in the first half.
Lakers-Nuggets First-Half Spread
Lakers 1H +2.5 (-105)
Sean Little: Of the last 11 years, the defending NBA champions are 9-2 straight-up (SU) and 7-2 against the spread (ATS). LeBron James is 0-4 in his last four season openers, but the Lakers have clearly talked themselves into this Nuggets banter being legit.
From October to January last season, the Nuggets were 19-24 ATS in the first half. That makes me believe the game should be competitive in the first half.
Lakers-Nuggets First-Half Spread
Nikola Jokic 2+ 3-Pointers (+230)
Matt Moore: The over for Nikola Jokic 3s is at 0.5, and I decided I would pick up the juice with 2+ at +280 (down to +230 at publication of this file).
In the playoffs last season, Anthony Davis was willing to let Jokic shoot and the Finals MVP was very comfortable doing so. Jokic is a good 3-point shooter and has taken a high amount of 3s in the preseason.
Austin Reaves Player Props
Reaves Over 22.5 Points + Rebounds + Assists (-125)
Matt Moore: The Nuggets' game plan in the playoffs was to let Austin Reaves do whatever he wanted. When he staggers with the second unit, I love his rebound capacity against Reggie Jackson. Also, Denver's second unit is likely to go small and will be undersized.
I think the Nuggets will allow Reaves to shoot, as well, and their defense as a whole won't be great this season.
Suns vs. Warriors Picks
Warriors-Suns Moneyline
Warriors ML (-148)
Matt Moore: Following the news that Draymond Green is out, I'm still confident in this Warriors pick, especially since Bradley Beal will miss this game with back tightness and Devin Booker is questionable.
The Warriors' home-court advantage is most important here. I make this game -5.5 with Warriors' home-court rating from last season. Even if we move the line a full three points for Green's absence, we're still at the number based on that before factoring Beal's absence.
Green being out obviously hurts this Warriors defense, but Golden State has enough to win this game in an advantageous spot.
Warriors-Suns Total
Over 233 (-108)
Jim Turvey: With Green out, this is a hammer play.
I want to see what the Suns defense looks like, because they haven't proven much. We know the Suns will play at a fast pace all game and won't be too stressed on the defensive end.
Devin Booker Player Props
Booker 3-Pointers: 2+ 3s (-230) | 3+ 3s (+150) | 4+ 3s (+410)
Joe Dellera: The baseline is -1.5 at -160 juice, which isn't great.
I like this as an alternative because in the preseason, Devin Booker hit two, three and four 3s on 16 total attempts without playing more than 21 minutes in any one game. His shot profile was nearly 50% on 3s and head coach Frank Vogel has made comments about wanting the team to shoot more 3s.
Jusuf Nurkic Assists
Nurkic Over 2.5 Assists (-130)
Joe Dellera: This line opened at plus-money and part of why I like this is because he had five, two and three assists in the preseason, and the five and three were with Booker, Kevin Durant and Beal playing.
Nurkic is a much better passer than Deandre Ayton and can operate well out of the post in finding open guys. He averaged 2.9 assists per game with fewer scorers around him in Portland, so I like him to go over this total tonight.
All picks via Buckets — new episodes available Mondays through Fridays, wherever you listen to podcasts.
