Nets, Lakers betting favorites on NBA opening night

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Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals barely more than two months ago in the Orlando bubble, and the shortest offseason in league history ends already Tuesday night as the 2020-21 season tips off with two games: Golden State Warriors at Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers. Both will be shown on TNT.

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There are sky-high expectations for the Nets with all-world player and future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant joining Kyrie Irving to form one of the best 1-2 punches in the NBA. However, Durant is coming off one of the most serious injuries an athlete can suffer, a torn Achilles’ tendon in Game 5 of 2019 NBA Finals against Toronto when Durant was a member of … the Warriors.

Brooklyn signed Durant to a huge free-agent deal ahead of last season even though it knew KD wouldn’t play at all in 2019-20. Irving, meanwhile, was limited to just 20 games last season due to his own injury problems. Tuesday will also be the NBA head coaching debut of one of the league’s best-ever point guards, two-time MVP Steve Nash.

Golden State finished with the NBA’s worst record last year without Durant and Klay Thompson and with Steph Curry limited to five games due to injury. The Dubs expected to return to contention this season with a healthy Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green (he’s banged up and may miss Tuesday), Andrew Wiggins and whichever player they took at No. 2 overall in the draft (James Wiseman), but Thompson suffered a season-ending injury the morning of the draft. Thus, the Warriors are 7-point underdogs for this game. Golden State is 5-1 ATS in its past six as a road dog.

The Lakers will raise another championship banner and the players will get their title rings ahead of the battle of Los Angeles in the nightcap with the Lakers as 3-point “home” favorites over their Staples Center co-tenants. Of course, both L.A. teams have dynamic duos: LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the Lakers and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the Clippers.

Both teams made some intriguing offseason moves, including 2019-20 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell leaving the Clippers in free agency for the Lakers. The Clippers replaced him with Serge Ibaka and traded for Detroit Pistons sharpshooter Luke Kennard. Tuesday will be the Clippers head coaching debut of Ty Lue, who spent last season as an assistant under the since-fired Doc Rivers. The Clippers have covered seven straight as the “road” team in this series.