The Los Angeles Lakers are in danger of falling to the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference on Tuesday night when they host the Orlando Magic and former No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero.<\/p>\n
The Magic are looking to sweep their L.A. road trip, as they picked up a two-point win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. Orlando remains without Franz Wager (ankle) and Jalen Suggs (questionable for this game) is up in the air after missing the team’s last two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lakers were blown out by Boston on Sunday, and they need to regroup if they want a chance at a top-three seed in the West. L.A. is just one game back of the Denver Nuggets at this point in the season, but the team\u2019s defense (24th in defensive rating) has not been good enough for it to truly contend in a loaded Western Conference.<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves are all expected to play on Tuesday, which should give the Lakers a better chance of outscoring a Magic team that has been shaky on offense for a lot of the 2025-26 campaign. Orlando is just 17th in offensive rating and 26th in effective field goal percentage entering this game.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a breakdown of the odds, my favorite player prop and a prediction for Tuesday\u2019s interconference clash.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Magic vs. Lakers Odds, Spread and Total<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Spread<\/p>\n Magic +5.5 (-115)Lakers -5.5 (-105)<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n 230.5 (Over -105\/Under -115)Magic vs. Lakers How to WatchDate: Tuesday, Feb. 24Time: 10:30 p.m. ESTVenue: Crypto.com ArenaHow to Watch (TV): Spectrum Sportsnet, FanDuel Sports Network (Local)Magic record: 30-26Lakers record: 34-22Magic vs. Lakers Injury ReportsMagic Injury ReportJalen Suggs \u2013 questionableFranz Wagner \u2013 outColin Castleton \u2013 outAlex Morales \u2013 outLakers Injury ReportAdou Thiero \u2013 outBronny James \u2013 outJaxson Hayes \u2013 doubtfulMagic vs. Lakers Best NBA Prop BetsLakers Best NBA Prop BetLeBron James OVER 25.5 Points and Assists (-123)<\/p>\n Earlier today, I shared in my NBA Best Bets column \u2013 Peter\u2019s Points<\/a> \u2013 why James is undervalued against Orlando:\u00a0<\/p>\n LeBron James is averaging 21.7 points and 7.1 assists per game this season, making him a bit of a buy-low candidate on Tuesday night in the Lakers\u2019 matchup with the Orlando Magic.<\/p>\n The Magic have a middling defense (13th in defensive rating this season), but James has been on a playmaking tear, averaging 8.9 assists per game in eight games this month. Over that eight-game stretch, he has 26 or more points and assists on six occasions.\u00a0<\/p>\n James has remained a key piece of this Lakers offense, and there\u2019s a world where he reaches this line on points alone. The four-time league MVP has five games with double-digit assists this month, and I think he\u2019s being a little undervalued after finishing with 25 points and assists in a blowout loss to Boston on Sunday.<\/p>\n LeBron has also picked up at least 26 points and assists in 26 of his 38 games this season. He\u2019s a value bet against this Orlando team that could be down one of its best perimeter defenders in Jalen Suggs (questionable) on Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n Magic vs. Lakers Prediction and Pick<\/p>\n Can the Lakers rebound from a bad loss at home to Boston on Sunday?<\/p>\n L.A. has held up well as a home favorite this season, going 12-6 against the spread while posting an average scoring margin of +6.8 points in those games.<\/p>\n The Magic are just 6-7 against the spread as road underdogs, and I don\u2019t trust them in this game with Wagner out. In previous seasons, Orlando has been elite defensively, but it\u2019s just 13th in the NBA in the 2025-26 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n On top of that, the Magic are three games under .500 on the road, posting a net rating of -0.7. Orlando\u2019s offense (26th in effective field goal percentage) may have a hard time keeping up with the Lakers at full strength, as L.A. is averaging over 115 points per game and is 11th in offensive rating.<\/p>\n The Laker\u2019s biggest drawback has been their defense, but the Magic have shown all season that they are nothing more than a middling offensive team, especially when Wagner and Suggs are sidelined.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ll lay the points with the Lakers as they attempt to gain some ground in the Western Conference playoff picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Lakers -5.5 (-105 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Find Peter Dewey’s\u00a0NBA betting record here<\/a>\u00a0(futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on \u00a0BetStamp here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers are in danger of falling to the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,48,6,47,76,3883],"class_list":["post-622447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando-magic","tag-basketball","tag-magic","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlandomagic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116127124941422676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}