NBA Picks

Cooper Flagg just became the youngest player in NBA history to score 30+ points in 4 consecutive games. He also became the first rookie since Michael Jordan back in 1985 to record 4 consecutive games with at least 30 points and 5 rebounds. With the 151 points scored in this span he became the first player since Allen Iverson in 1997 to score 150+ points over a 4-game span. That’s basically what the Mavs fans can look forward to the rest of this season. After shipping out Anthony Davis to Washington, it’s quite clear that they’re focusing solely on developing Flagg instead of trying to win games for the remainder of this season.

San Antonio has other plans. At 35-16 SU they’re 2nd in the West only behind the OKC Thunder and with the defending champs struggling a bit with injuries, the Spurs could even attack the number one seed if they wanted to do so. They’ve won 3 in a row, beating the Mavericks on Thursday 135-123 to take a 2-0 lead in the regular season series. Adjustments will be made from both teams ahead of Saturday’s game, the oddsmakers have remained consistent with their prediction here, giving the Spurs a massive 10.5-point advantage ahead of tip-off. Can Wemby and co. continue dominating this Dallas team?

It’s not often we see a team win both games in a back-to-back scenario by double-digits. More often than not they’ll split, I’m not going as far as backing the Mavericks to win outright, but I think they’re capable of keeping things close here. The injury situation at San Antonio isn’t ideal with Sochan, Kornet and Fox all being game-time decision. Spurs probably win, but the Mavs don’t give up that easily.

Dallas Mavericks vs San Antonio Spurs Predictions: Mavericks +10 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

This is not your typical Golden State Warriors vs Los Angeles Lakers matchup in terms of star power, as both Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic are on the sidelines. Golden State will likely be without Curry (knee) for several more games, while Doncic (hamstring) appears to have avoided a long-term injury and could return next week. Doncic is obviously the better player of the two at this point in their careers, but Curry is more valuable to his team. After all, Doncic has LeBron James and Austin Reaves to pick up the slack; Curry doesn’t even have Jimmy Butler III — who is out for the year with a torn ACL. As such, my Warriors vs Lakers pick is for the home team to win and cover.

Reaves is back from missing more than a month with a calf injury, and he is heating up. The Oklahoma product scored 35 points in just 25 minutes of action during Thursday’s victory over Philadelphia. His minutes climbed from 21 a game earlier, so don’t be surprised if Reaves approaches the 30 mark on Saturday. LeBron has scored at least 20 points in 14 of his last 18 contests. That duo alone should be enough to take care of a Golden State squad that was active at the trade deadline, shipping Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to Atlanta for Kristaps Porzingis. As expected, Porzingis will not play this weekend — so the Warriors are even further depleted.

Warriors vs Lakers prediction: Los Angeles -3.5 (-108) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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I was very disappointed with the Philadelphia 76ers in their last game as they fell on the road to the Lakers, despite LA losing Luka Doncic very early in that game. Philly led 75% of the time during that game, but they just couldn’t close out the shorthanded Lakers. Saturday sees them take on a strong Phoenix Suns team, in a venue where they are winless in their last 6 visits. In general it’s been all Phoenix in this match-up over the years with 11 wins in 13 meetings, so is it realistic for the Sixers to get something out of Saturday’s game?

The Suns laid an egg in their last game at home losing against the shorthanded Warriors 101-97. It was a very uncharacteristic performance from the otherwise stable Suns who have been the NBA’s most successful team against the spread this season. Golden State erased a 14-point lead late in the game, despite not having Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler at their disposal. It was the 2nd loss in 3 games for the Suns, not exactly confidence inspiring ahead of a game against a team like the 76ers.

In the end it’ll all come down to how Joel Embiid plays here. The 76ers three-ball went ice cold against the Lakers as they knocked down just 5 of 24 attempts. I’m sure that’ll improve here, the Suns are allowing opponents to shoot almost 35% from deep over their last 3 games. I know that history is not on the Sixers side here, but it wasn’t on Minnesota’s the other day when they beat the Toronto Raptors for only the 2nd time in 20 meetings. I’m backing the underdog Sixers here.

 Philadelphia 76ers vs Phoenix Suns Predictions: 76ers ML is available at +100 odds at time of publishing.

First the Cavaliers took their point guard away and then they proceeded to hand the Clippers one of their worst losses of the season by beating them 124-91. It’s been one hell of a start to 2026 for Donovan Mitchell and his Cavs who have won 7 of 8 games, while also covering in 5 of their last 6 games overall and in 6 of 7 on the road. Another dominant performance is expected from them on Saturday as they take on the lowly Sacramento Kings, with a chance of James Harden suiting up and making his Cavaliers debut. Even if that isn’t the case and the Cavaliers opt to wait with him, they should still handle their business here.

The Kings hung in there against the Clippers last night, but ultimately they fell by 3 points at home, covering as 3.5 point underdogs. Now the spread is much bigger at 12 points, adequate for a team that’s lost 11 games in a row and is playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back scenario in which they’ve gone just 2-7 SU in 9 games played this season. Domantas continues to be on the injury report, Sacramento is giving a lot more playing time to its reserves at the moment and developing their young guys. That’ll result in a lot of losses, but at least they’ll build something for the future.

Cleveland has been very consistent lately, they’re averaging 16 threes made per game in their last 4 outings, while the Kings have really struggled in this area averaging just 8.8 made threes per game in their last 10 outings. If they guard against complacency, the Cavaliers should come out of Sactown with an easy win.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs Sacramento Kings Predictions: Cavaliers -12 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

For the 2nd night in a row we have the Grizzlies battling the Trail Blazers, following a tough 20-point loss on Friday. The offense of the Grizzlies could just never get going in that game as they fell to 1-1 since the JJJ trade to Utah. Getting rid of their best player this season caught a lot of people by surprise, but at least now we know the direction in which the Grizzlies are going this season. At 20-30 SU they are stuck in mediocrity, post All-Star break I feel like they’ll be losing a lot more games on purpose in order to jump up the NBA draft lottery standings.

Portland’s objective is to make the play-in tournament at least, that’d be considered a success given what this team has gone through so far this season. Deni Avdija did not play on Friday due to his lingering back issues, but even without him the team was able to end the long losing streak, winning a game for the first time in two weeks. It was a total team effort with Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday stepping up to lead the charge offensively, at one point the Blazers led by as many as 30 in that game.

Facing the same team on back-to-back days could be a double-edged sward, but then again Portland is the one motivated to win here. Their position as the 10th seed would be a lot more comfortable if they can once again beat the Grizzlies who are actually the team that’s behind them in the standings. Both meetings so far this season were blowout wins, that trend continues on Saturday with another big win for Portland.

 Memphis Grizzlies vs Portland Trail Blazers Predictions: Trail Blazers -8.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.