Hours after reportedly trading for James Harden, the Los Angeles Clippers will take the floor opposite the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night. Harden won’t suit up for Los Angeles, and the team is depleted as it parted ways with four players to acquire the former Sixer. The Clippers are 2-1 overall and finished last season 44-38, while Orlando is 2-1 overall and finished last season 34-48.
Tipoff is at 10:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Clippers are favored by 6 points in the latest Magic vs. Clippers odds, and the over/under is 220 points. Before entering any Clippers vs. Magic picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past five seasons. The model enters Week 2 of the 2023-24 NBA season on a 77-41 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $3,000. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.
The model has set its sights on Clippers vs. Magic. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several NBA odds and betting lines for Magic vs. Clippers:
Clippers vs. Magic spread: Clippers -6
Clippers vs. Magic over/under: 220 points
Clippers vs. Magic money line: Clippers: -251, Magic: +204
Clippers vs. Magic picks: See picks here
What you need to know about the Magic
It’s hard to win when your shooting is a whole 13.2% worse than the opposition, a fact the Magic found out the hard way on Monday. They fell just short of the Los Angeles Lakers by a score of 106-103. Six different players scored in double-figures for Orlando with Gary Harris leading the way with 17 points off the bench.
The Magic were middle-of-the-pack last year defensively, but thus far in the 2023-24 NBA season, Orlando leads the league in both points allowed per game and defensive rating. On offense, Franz Wagner leads the team with 19.3 points per game, but the team is still waiting for an offensive explosion from reigning Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero. After averaging 20 PPG last year, Banchero is putting up just 11.7 PPG thru three games. See which team to pick here.
What you need to know about the Clippers
Meanwhile, Los Angeles really took it to San Antonio for the full four quarters on Sunday, racking up a 123-83 victory at home. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Clippers had established a 33-point advantage. Seven different players scored in double-figures, led by Kawhi Leonard with 21 points to go along with four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
L.A. will be without Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington and Kenyon Martin Jr. on Tuesday as they were all included in the Harden trade. Additionally, Terance Mann (ankle) is out, while Norman Powell (foot) and Ivica Zubac (thigh) are both questionable. That could force the Clippers to be even more reliant on Leonard and Paul George, who are combining to average 50.3 PPG, as well as Russell Westbrook, who leads the team in both rebounds (7.3) and assists (6.7). See which team to pick here.
How to make Clippers vs. Magic picks
The model has simulated Magic vs. Clippers 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick that hits in over 60% of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.