The Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers open the season in a Western Conference showdown on Wednesday night.
The pregame narrative: The Suns’ big three is healthy and has a good opportunity to get off to a winning start. This three-leg parlay includes Phoenix on the moneyline, a Kevin Durant prop and a pick on Norman Powell.
Check out my Suns vs. Clippers same-game parlay predictions for the season-opening matchup on Oct. 23.
Suns vs. Clippers predictions
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Parlay: Suns moneyline + Durant over 23.5 points + Powell over 17.5 points (+300)
Suns moneyline (-200): Kawhi Leonard is out for the foreseeable future and Paul George is off to the 76ers.
Last season, the Suns beat the Clippers without Kawhi and PG, 124-108, in Los Angeles In fact, L.A. was 0-3 in games without those two stars.
James Harden remains with the Clippers, but he’s shown he can’t carry a team like he used to.
On the other side, the Suns are about as healthy as they can be. All three of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant logged 27-plus minutes in the preseason finale.
The Big Three looks ramped up and ready to go, and I’m looking to jump in the waters early.
SGP legs
Durant over 23.5 points (-127): Is it just me or is this line a little disrespectful?
Durant averaged 27.1 points last season on 52.3% shooting. He cleared this line in 51 of 75 games (68.0%).
The four-time scoring champ proved he is still one of the best in the world at the 2024 Olympic Games, playing a crucial role in the USA’s gold medal victory.
Additionally, Durant has surpassed this point total in both games versus the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena since joining the Suns.
Powell over 17.5 points (-103): Someone will need to step up for Los Angeles, and Powell is the best choice to take on a bigger role.
The former Raptor is coming off a down year (13.9 PPG) but is poised to bounce back.
Powell looked good in preseason, averaging 11 points on 54.2% shooting in only 16.5 minutes of action per game.
There’s no doubt that his minutes will increase now that the games matter. Powell is arguably the Clippers’ best pure scorer, and he should see an uptick in minutes this season.
Last year, Powell averaged 26.2 minutes off the bench. He’s expected to be in the starting five to begin the 2024-25 season.
Picks made at 12:41 p.m. on 10/23/24.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.