Thunder vs Lakers Player Props, Picks & Odds on Jan. 15

• The OKC Thunder vs Los Angeles Lakers rounds out a busy MLK Day schedule in the NBA
• LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all have injury designations for Monday’s game
• See the Thunder vs Lakers picks, player props, and odds on Jan. 15

Both suffering from injuries to star players, the Oklahoma City Thunder (27-11, 11-6 away, 26-11-1 ATS) visit the Los Angeles Lakers (19-21, 13-7 home, 17-24 ATS) at crypto.com Arena at 7:40 pm PT/10:40 pm ET Monday night, the last off 11 games on the NBA schedule for Martin Luther King Jr Day.

LA is listed as a slight favorite in the Thunder vs Lakers odds.

OKC Thunder vs Los Angeles Lakers Odds

The Lakers are 1.5-point chalk, though the moneyline odds at ESPN Bet currently have both teams at a -110 price. The over/under of 238.5 is only the fifth highest of the 11 games in today’s NBA odds (which includes four totals at or above 240).

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Thunder vs Lakers Injury Updates

The big question heading into Monday night is which of the stars will be in Monday’s NBA lineups. On the OKC side, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.5 PPG, 6.4  APG, 5.9 RPG) is listed as questionable due to a knee sprain. Currently second in the NBA MVP odds, SGA has suited up for 37 of OKC’s 38 games this season. The Thunder are 0-1 without him, losing at home to Golden State (141-139) on Nov. 3.

For the Lakers, Anthony Davis is listed as questionable with an ankle injury, while LeBron James is probable with an ankle injury of his own. LeBron missed LA’s last game, a 132-125 loss at Utah. Davis only managed 15 points against the Jazz on an ugly 5-of-21 performance from the field, but did grab 15 rebounds and dish out 11 assists in 39 minutes.

OKC Start Road Trip on Four-Game Win Streak

After a mini two-game homestand, the Thunder are back on the road for four straight. But they hit the road a confident group after four straight wins over the Wizards, Heat, Blazers, and Magic (the former two coming on the road). Currently third in the NBA in scoring, SGA has hit the 30-point plateau in six of his past seven, including a monstrous 37-point, seven-assist, six-rebound, three-steal performance against Orlando last time out on Saturday.

Every member of OKC’s starting five finished in double-figures against the Magic, while Chet Holmgren continued to make his case for DPOY with 15 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. Holmgren is currently second to Rudy Gobert in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds.

The Orlando win briefly moved OKC into a tie with Minnesota at the top of the Western Conference, though T-Wolves moved back in front by half a game with last night’s win over the Clippers. OKC boasts the second-best Net Rating (+9.2) in the NBA nearly halfway through the season, and is top-five in both Offensive Rating (120.2, fourth) and Defensive Rating (111.0, third).

Lakers Continue to Sputter After IST Championship

Ironically, winning the inaugural In-Season Tournament portended a decline for the Lakers. Since demolishing the Pacers in the IST final, Los Angeles is just  5-12 straight-up, falling below .500 and out of the top ten in the Western Conference standings.

It looked as though the Lakers may have righted the ship last week when they recorded back-to-back wins over the Clippers (106-103 home) and Raptors (132-131 home) but that brief win streak came to an abrupt halt with back-to-back losses to Phoenix (127-109 home) and Utah (132-125 away).

LeBron’s game has taken a noticeable decline this season. His scoring average (24.7 PPG) is his lowest since his rookie season, as is his Player Efficiency Rating of 23.1.

With LeBron playing less efficiently, the Lakers overall team efficiency has also lagged. LA is -1.8 in Net Rating (21st in the NBA) thanks largely to a subpar 112.2 Offensive Rating (23rd).

OKC vs LAL Player Props

Player props from the DraftKings app. 

The NBA player props for OKC vs LAL only list Gilgeous-Alexander among the Thunder players. Unless and until his playing status becomes clear, that’s likely to remain the case. If he’s out of the lineups, his teammates would all see their over/unders boosted as SGA wouldn’t be occupying so much of the ball.

If SGA doesn’t play, all bets on his totals will be voided.

Thunder vs Lakers Prediction

Gilgeous-Alexander’s knee sprain gives me some pause, but I still like the Thunder on the road tonight. The aging and top-heavy Lakers are really struggling with the grind of the 82-game regular season. Davis has been held under 20 points in two straight games, while LeBron managed just 10 points in 24 minutes against Phoenix before missing the Utah game entirely.

Both Davis and James have point totals tonight that are roughly three and two points higher than their season averages, respectively, despite facing an OKC team that sits third in Defensive Rating. The Thunder do play at a fairly fast pace (sixth-fastest in the NBA) but are still 13th in points allowed per game (113.4).

Thunder vs Lakers picks:

• OKC -1.5 (+104) on the FanDuel app
• LeBron James under 26.5 (-105) at DraftKings
• Anthony Davis under 28.5 (-120) at ESPN BET

Sascha Paruk’s 2023-24 NBA betting record:

• 10-8-2 ATS (+1.41 units)
• 10-12 ML (-3.17 units)
• 5-11 player props (-6.60 units)
• 0-1 same-game parlay (-2.00 units)

All wagers one unit unless expressly stated otherwise.