Potentially the final season in the Hall of Fame career for LeBron James begins on Tuesday night, with his Los Angeles Lakers not considered as realistic Western Conference contenders when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second game to kick off the NBA season.
The Wolves are short favorites on the NBA odds.
| Opening NBA Lines Subject to Change: Timberwolves -1.5 (total 219) Expert Prediction: Lakers 113, Timberwolves 111 |
Minnesota Timberwolves -120
The Timberwolves reached the 2024 Western Conference Finals but lost in five to Dallas. Normally, teams that go that far in the playoffs don’t trade away a star player but for salary reasons the Wolves dealt away All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns to New York this summer and got back All-Star forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo among a few other things.
Karl-Anthony Towns
Why trade Towns? Minnesota wanted to shed his extravagant four-year, $220 million contract (which includes a $61 million player option in 2028, when he will be 32 years old). The franchise’s desire to get off it wasn’t surprising, given its exorbitant luxury tax bill and cap sheet that would easily top the second apron for years to come.
Julius Randle
Randle, a three-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA selectee (Second Team; 2021 and Third Team; 2023) appeared in 46 games (all starts) for the Knicks last season, averaging 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 35.4 minutes per game. Donte averaged a career-best 15.5 points on 44.3% shooting, including a career-high 40.1% from deep, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in a career-high 29.1 minutes per game. His career-best 283 three-pointers made last season ranked third in the NBA and set the record for the most threes made in a single season in Knicks history. He led the NBA last season in catch and shoot three-pointers made (240) and attempted (590) while shooting 41.0% on those shots.
NBA Opening Night 🏀
— CamIsMoney (@CamIsMoney18) October 21, 2024
Julius Randle o 30.5 PRA -120
New team and coming off a injury gives us a soft line in a very good matchup for Randle. In his lone preseason game he played 26 minutes and had 26 PRA. This is a line he covered in 85% of games last season. pic.twitter.com/7e7b2m2Hjj
Donte DiVincenzo
With DiVincenzo alongside Sixth Man of the Year award winner Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Minnesota now has perhaps the NBA’s best bench. The team also won’t need to rely on rookies Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. to play heavy minutes right away.
Tim Connelly
Team president Tim Connelly said that because of the new collective bargaining agreement, he has studied teams across leagues, including the NFL, to see how they’ve built around stars. The NBA’s CBA includes the second apron provision that significantly impacts a squad’s ability to build a roster due to financial constraints. Now the Wolves are completely built around Anthony Edwards.
“I mean the new rules are… some of the consequences are unintended, quite frankly,” Connelly said. “I don’t know if anyone intended to make it this challenging to make moves, to make trades when you’re above certain aprons. But you gotta be smart, you gotta be lucky, you gotta hit on some of your draft picks and then I think you have to, as much as possible, build teams that can stay together for multiple years.”
The Last Season
The Timberwolves finished the 2023-24 regular season 56-26, the second-best record in franchise history and the fifth time the team has won 50+ games in a season. Minnesota collected 26 road wins, tied for the third-most road wins in the NBA and the most road wins by a Timberwolves team since winning 27 road games in 2003-04. The Wolves have now won 20+ road games in three consecutive seasons, the longest such streak in franchise history. Minnesota also won 16 road games by 10+ points last season, the most such wins in franchise history.
The Timberwolves were stingy on the defensive end this last year, only allowing teams to average 51.5 points per game in the second half, while allowing opponents just .437 shooting percentage from the floor, both were tops in the NBA. The Wolves held their opponents to 90 points or fewer eight times, the most such games in the NBA.
^Los Angeles Lakers +103
The Lakers are largely back with the same roster as the team that finished 47-35 last year, reached the West Play-In Tournament and got to the first round of the playoffs but lost to Denver in five. Really, the only new players are rookies Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, who will barely play. The Lakers’ biggest off season move was firing Coach Darvin Ham and replacing him with JJ Redick.
JJ Redick
Redick, an NBA player for 15 yards, had never coached at the NBA level, as a head coach or as an assistant. Other notable former players to achieve the feat include Redick’s former head coach Doc Rivers, who is the only such coach to win a title (with the Celtics). Lakers GM Rob Pelinka became sold on Redick’s ability to connect with players and his basketball IQ, and beliefs surrounding Redick with an elite coaching staff will help shorten his learning curve into his first coaching job. Redick also has a strong relationship with Lakers star LeBron James, with whom he co-hosted a basketball podcast.
The Offensive
On offense, the Lakers have a potent starting five. James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell played 389 minutes together last season and had a 116.0 offensive efficiency. That ranked 10th among 21 five-man lineups to play 300-plus minutes together last season. However, that same group allowed 1.36 points per possession in transition — which was 19th among 20 five-man lineups to defend 100-plus transition possessions.
“We were horrific in transition defense,” James said during training camp. “We got to be a lot better than that. We were pretty good in half court. But we got to get our asses back.”
Rui Hachimura
Hachimura (calf) said Sunday that he is good to go for Tuesday’s regular-season opener against Minnesota. He sat out during both of the Lakers’ back-to-back games to end the preseason, but he expects to be fully ready for Opening Night. The 26-year-old is coming off arguably the most efficient season of his five-year career, during which he averaged 13.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting a career-high 53.7 percent from the field across 26.9 minutes per game.
LeBron James
Last season, James became the first player in NBA history to surpass 40,000 career points. A 20-time All-Star and recent All-NBA Third Team selection, James averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 71 games (all starts), leading the Lakers in scoring 31 times. He holds the current NBA record for the longest double-digit scoring streak at 1,222 games. Last season, James recorded 27 double-doubles, including five triple-doubles, while notching three games with 40 points.
LeBron James. Year 22. Tomorrow! 🔥👑 pic.twitter.com/wXoirHa3lr
— Bron’s Best (@LBJsBest) October 21, 2024
After an impressive showing with the Lakers last season, Davis is poised for an even bigger year. He started all 76 games he appeared in, averaging 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, while shooting 55.6% from the field. Named an All-Defensive First Team member and an All-NBA Second Team selection, Davis ranked third in rebounds and fourth in blocks throughout the league. In the playoffs, he upped his game, averaging 27.8 points and 15.6 rebounds in five games, recording a double-double in each game he played.
LeBron enters this year with 1,490 regular season starts (first all-time) and needs 10 starts for 1,500. He is 33 steals away from passing Scottie Pippen (2,307) into 7th place all-time, 41 3-pointers away from passing Kyle Korver (2,450) into 7th place all-time, 24 defensive rebounds away from passing Moses Malone (9,481) into 8th place all-time, and 8 double-doubles away from passing Patrick Ewing (580) into 9th place all-time. Anthony Davis is 24 blocks away from passing Pau Gasol (607) into 9th place on the Lakers all-time blocks list and 26 steals away from 1,000 career steals.
^How to Watch Timberwolves at Lakers
When: Tuesday, 10 PM ET
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app
Radio: Tunein.com
Timberwolves vs Lakers Last Season
Minnesota was 3-1 vs. the Lakers during the 2023-24 regular season. They last played on April 7 in LA and the Wolves won 127-117. There were seven lead changes and eight ties in the game. The Lakers played without LeBron James, and then Anthony Davis left early with an eye injury. Naz Reid had 31 points and Anthony Edwards 26 for Minnesota.
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