The NBA’s opening night concludes with a marquee West Coast matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.
The pregame narrative: Los Angeles is a 3.5-point home underdog, with LeBron James (sciatica) sidelined untill mid-November. There’s still plenty of star power in this matchup, though, with Steph Curry and Luka Doncic favoured to lead their respective teams in scoring.
Check out my Warriors vs. Lakers same-game parlay predictions for the NBA’s season opener, featuring both star point guards.
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Warriors vs. Lakers SGP predictions
SGP: Under 237.5 points | Doncic 3+ threes | Curry 6+ assists (+330)
Under 237.5 points (-305): I want to stay away from picking a side in this matchup. Instead, let’s take the under on this heavily teased total, which provides solid negative correlation with the following two prop bets.
Last season, three of the four matchups between these teams went well under this total. The lone over landed on 239 points.
LeBron played in each of those games, and the ageless superstar averaged 32.3 PPG.
The King didn’t bring much to the table defensively in his age-40 season, so his absence should make it tougher for both teams to score.
Golden State ranked seventh in defensive rating last season, and both teams sat outside of the top half of the league in pace (possessions per 48 minutes).
Expect a slog on night one.
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NBA opening night SGP picks
Doncic 3+ threes (-275): Doncic is one of the NBA’s elite deep threats, ranking top-five in 3s attempted and made per game in each of the past two seasons.
- 2023-24: 4.1 threes on 10.6 attempts (38.2%)
- 2024-25: 3.5 threes on 9.6 attempts (36.8%)
That type of volume puts this milestone in play on a nightly basis.
The Warriors are far from a plus matchup, allowing the second-fewest 3s per game to opposing point guards last season, per Fantasy Pros.
But Doncic is going to get his shots up against any team, especially with LeBron (who averaged 5.7 three-point attempts per game) sidelined.
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Curry 6+ assists (+105): Curry is a bucket-getter first and foremost, and that makes his remarkably consistent passing somewhat underrated.
- The future Hall of Famer has averaged 6+ assists in three of his last four seasons and 10 of his last 13.
- Last year, Curry averaged 6.0 assists and went 42-28 against this line.
- That includes three of the four games he played agianst the Lakers.
Los Angeles gave up the fourth-most assists per game to point guards last year (9.46). Expect Curry to be active as a passer again.
Warriors vs. Lakers predictions made at 2:25 p.m. on 10/21/2025.
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Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.