I’m tailing Nikola Jokic in a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
The pregame narrative: The MVP candidate is making a push for his fourth award in five years and I’m backing him to have a showcase performance. Meanwhile, I’ll fade a banged-up Jamal Murray in a tough matchup.
Check out my Lakers vs. Nuggets prop picks for March 14.
Lakers vs. Nuggets prop picks
Best Bet: Jokic over 26.5 points (-121)
Last time Jokic played the Lakers, it wasn’t pretty:
- 12 points
- 2-of-7 from the field
That was tied for his season low in shot attempts so I’m comfortable saying that was an outlier. If we go back to Nov. 23, Jokic had 34 points on 12-of-20 shooting in his first meeting with L.A.
The Serbian big man has 30-plus points in three of his past four games. He’s averaging 29.0 points per game overall so this mark is well below his nightly standard.
One thing worth noting is that Jokic is dealing with an elbow injury but is listed as probable for Friday.
There’s also blowout potential here with LeBron James out again and the Lakers playing the second half of a road back-to-back.
For that reason, Los Angeles is a hefty 14-point underdog but Denver’s injury report is littered with game-time decisions so one or two starters sitting out would greatly benefit the Lakers and Jokic’s usage.
Key stat: Jokic is 38-22 against this wager in 2024-25 (63.3%).
Quick pick
Murray under 20.5 points (-110): The point guard is one of the Denver starters listed as questionable for tonight’s contest.
Even if he does play, this is a tough matchup.
- The Lakers allow the third-fewest points per game to point guards (23.19).
- Murray has scored 20 or fewer points in two games vs. Los Angeles this season.
On top of that, he’s currently playing through a knee injury and went 3-1 on this wager over the past four games.
This is a great spot to fade the Canadian.
Lakers vs. Nuggets prop picks made at 10:51 a.m. ET 03/14/2025.
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.