NBA: Washington Wizards VS Los Angeles Lakers Pick and Predictions 12/18/2022

Game: 9:40 PM ET,  Sunday, December 18th, 2022

Venue: Crytpo.com Arena, Los Angeles, California

TV:  NBA League Pass

Wizards: 11-18, 12th place Eastern Conference

Lakers: 12-16, 12th place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Lakers -4.5, O/U 234.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Lakers -4, O/U 235

Fanduel: Point Spread: Lakers -4, O/U 234.5

Wizards: SF Deni Avdija, PF Kyle Kuzma, C Taj Gibson, PG Monte Morris, SG Corey Kispert

Lakers: SF Lonnie Walker IV, PF LeBron James, C Anthony Davis, SG Dennis Schroder, PG Patrick Beverley

An NBA inter-conference battle of two bottom of the barrel teams that aren’t living up to the promises made by their rosters. The Washington Wizards have Bradley Beal but he is out with a hamstring problem until late December.  They also have C Kristaps Porzingis, but he is only probable with a back issue.  They also have PF Rui Hachimura, but he is out until late December with an ankle issue.  The rest of the roster looks like… ahh not so great.  Couple of bright spots.  The Wizards are a team that refused to trade all-star SG Bradley Beal for several seasons and multiple offers… and now they pay him among the very highest paid players in the league… and both with him and without him… the team has never been any good.  They should have taken one of those offers a few seasons back and built a better team… but alas they did not.  The Los Angeles Lakers have LeBron James… have you heard of him?... The guy has been the best player in the league the last 3 decades and it hasn’t been close no matter who you point to.  He has 4 rings… he also has lost in the Finals 6 times…. Meaning LeBron has been in the Finals 50% of all the seasons he has played… That is waaaaay more than Jordan. LeBron has won more playoff games than Jordan, LeBron has scored more points than Jordan, LeBron has more rebounds than Jordan, LeBron has more assists than Jordan… but everyone thinks Jordan is the greatest player ever.  That is nice… It is also the reality LeBron will leave NBA fans with… because he hard-headedly joined the Lakers to finish his career… and the current Lakers are run by the weakest minds in the NBA.  Trust fund kids and a former agent.  Sad.  Part of the hard-headedness from the guy ZI believe is the greatest of all time is that when he arrived at the Lakers… he caused the trade or release of 7 guys who are fantastic players on other teams.. In order to get one often injured guy… two years later he caused the trade of 3 fantastic role players in order to land a former all-star that doesn't fit… The result is a LeBron career trap.  LeBron is on a team that got him a ring immediately but will struggle to make it to the playoffs for the rest of his NBA life.  The great betting opportunity in this game can be deciphered by a look at the injury list and a brief perusal of the last 5 games to determine momentum.  The numbers are meaningless as they are both losing 12th place teams.

The Washington Wizards are on an 8-game losing streak.  They stink at the moment.  They are very seriously running up to a decision on “tanking” the rest of the season in hopes of landing either 7’4 C Victor Wembanyama or PG Scoot Jackson… That would involve trading Kyle Kuzma (who would fit wonderfully on the Pacers) and possibly trading Kristaps Porzingis… even though he is having yet another down year.  Or they could circumvent all of it and simply trade Bradley Beal to Toronto or Miami… but they have already shown they will not do any of that.  The current star of the Wizards is SF Kyle Kuzma who got 24 points in their last loss to the Denver Nuggets 141-128.  He got some support from guard Monte Morris with 20 pts and Will Barton with 22 points… but it was a track meet and the Wizards have very few runners… They got lapped.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won 5 of their last 10 games.  When they win it is because everyone is playing and playing well… when they lose it is because Anthony Davis is sitting out with the flu or a hurt big toe or a hurt foot.  6th man Russell Westbrook has been very good off the bench and probably has found the appropriate way to use him until he retires from the NBA.  LeBron has played well like when he got 30 points and 9 rebounds in their last win to the SAME Denver Nuggets 126-108.  Anthony Davis was able to give the Lakers 10 pts, 4 rbs, and 2 asts in just 17 minutes… but now we have to wonder how long he will be out with the current ailment that caused him to leave the game.

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WAS: 11-18, 10-16-3 ATS, 15-12-2 O/U, 3-11 on the road.

LAL: 12-16, 12-15-1 ATS, 12-15-1 O/U, 7-7 in home games.

The Wizards are 22nd in scoring with 111 points per game, 12th in rebounds with 43.7 per game, 5th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8, and 5th in blocks with 5.8 per game.

The Lakers are 8th in scoring with 45.5 points per game, 15th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7, and 11th in blocks with 5.1 per game.

Our prediction for Sunday, December 18th is…. Lakers 118 - Wizards 111

Bet on the Lakers.  The Lakers are at home.  The Lakers have LeBron and Russ taking on a Wizards team that will be missing Bradley Beal and Kristaps in limited minutes if he plays… This prediction is made assuming Anthony Davis will  not play out of caution. Bet on the Lakers.

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(will update)

Wizards: SF Kyle Kuzma.  Kyle will be going against the team that drafted him and never ever should have traded him.

Lakers: LeBron James.  You know why to watch LeBron.. So you can tell your grandkids that you did.  And he was recently disrespected by the NBA when the MVP trophy was named after Jordan and conceivably will be for the future. That alone leaves LeBron little of an argument for “greatest of all time”... even though all of his numbers are simply better.

Wizards: Wes “bet you didn’t know I was here” Unseld Jr

Lakers: Darvin “Everyday is a new day” Ham