The Portland Trail Blazers are clinging to the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference ahead of Thursday night’s matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans.
These teams met back on Nov, 12, and the Blazers won that game – in New Orleans – by eight points. The Pelicans are just 3-22 this season, and they’re set as 5.5-point underdogs at home on Thursday night.
Portland is in need of a bounce-back win, as it’s dropped seven of its last 10 games to fall to 9-15 in the 2025-26 season. The Blazers have been down several players at various points this season, but Deni Avdija has been a Most Improved Player candidate.
Despite that, the Blazers are just 20th in the league in net rating (-2.9) in the 2025-26 campaign.
Here’s a look at the odds, my favorite player prop and a prediction for this Western Conference clash.
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Moneyline
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Trail Blazers Injury ReportPelicans Injury ReportPelicans Best NBA Prop Bet
In today’s best NBA prop bets for SI Betting, I broke down why Queen could have a big game on the glass:
A first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Pelicans rookie Derik Queen has eight or more rebounds in three of his last four games, averaging 6.4 boards per game overall this season.
He should remain in a big role for the Pelicans against a Portland team that is down Donovan Clingan and could be down Robert Williams III (questionable) on Thursday night.
The Blazers are ninth in the NBA in rebounding percentage this season, but Clingan (10.2 rebounds per game) is by far the team’s best rebounder. Queen had seven boards against the Blazers earlier this season, and he’s averaging 12.4 rebound chances per game.
These teams combined for 242 points in their previous meeting, and I think we could see another high-scoring game with Clingan out for Portland.
The Blazers are already just 20th in the NBA in defensive rating (New Orleans is 28th), and they’re now down their top rim protector in this matchup.
The Pelicans are allowing 123.7 points per game this season, which has helped them become one of the best OVER teams in the NBA.
In fact, the Pels (15-10 to the OVER) are right next to the Blazers (15-9 to the OVER) this season. I wouldn’t be shocked to see another high-scoring game from these teams on Thursday.
Pick: OVER 240.5 (-110 at DraftKings)
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Find Peter Dewey’s NBA betting record here (futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on BetStamp here.
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