The Battle of Los Angeles is renewed tonight when the Clippers host the Lakers at Intuit Dome.
The pregame narrative: The Lakers have been the much better team this season, compiling a 19-7 record compared to their cross-town rivals’ 6-21 mark. This matchup is practically a pick’em, though with Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton out for the visitors.
Check out my Lakers vs. Clippers SGP predictions for Dec. 20, featuring Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
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Lakers vs. Clippers predictions
Parlay: Clippers +8.5 | Doncic 10+ assists | James 2+ threes (+320)
Clippers +8.5 (-435): Reaves’ absence shouldn’t be understated tonight. The guard is having the best season of his career, averaging career highs in points (27.8), rebounds (5.6), and assists (6.7).
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He’s unquestionably the No. 2 star on the team behind Doncic, having eclipsed LeBron in productivity this year.
As for Ayton, the big man is contributing a tidy 15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game on 71% shooting.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lakers still won this game thanks to a herculean effort from Doncic, but don’t think they should run away with it.
The Clippers are fully healthy and have a solid starting five. The team’s bench has been the real issue, but that should be mitigated given the Lakers’ injury concerns.
NBA SGP legs
Doncic 10+ assists (-107): The Clippers should be double-teaming Doncic on every possession tonight. If they do, I’m confident the Slovenian can work some magic as a passer.
Doncic is third in assists per game so far (9.1) and ranks sixth in potential assists per game (14.6), which NBA.com denotes as a pass leading directly to a shot.
He has averaged 11.8 assists in his last five games without Reaves, which dispels any idea that he’ll be purely in shoot-first mode tonight.
The Clippers allow the sixth-most assists per game to point guards, per Fantasy Pros.
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James 2+ threes (-129): In a perfect world, Doncic is lining them up, and James is knocking ’em down.
The King is having a dreadful 3-point shooting year, posting a career-worst 26.1% rate. But that has to change at some point, right?
It’s not like we’ve seen LeBron steadily decline. He reshaped his game in recent years to be more 3-point heavy, and shot 37.6% and 41.0% from deep in the last two seasons.
Tonight should be a good matchup for LeBron to get some mojo going.
The Clippers have the worst 3-point defence in the NBA (38.9%).
Lakers vs. Clippers predictions made at 1:50 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2025.
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Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles — especially for MLB markets or NFL/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he’ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.