Lakers vs. Cavaliers Odds & Betting Predictions - October 30, 2024

The Lakers take on the Cleveland Cavaliers today and LeBron once again makes a return to The Land. The Lakers have started strong under the new coaching of JJ Reddick with plenty of buy in on the offensive side of the ball. There has been a conscious decision to run more set offense and it’s paid off as the Lakers have the 4th best Adjusted Offensive Rating in the NBA. This is the best offense the Cavaliers will have seen this season. Additionally, the Lakers have the 10th best Adjusted Net Rating (+2.8) after playing the league’s toughest schedule so far, per Dunks and Threes. The Cavs have also started strong this year with the league’s third-best Adjusted Net (+4.0) but they’ve played the league’s easiest schedule so far. I think these teams are closer in terms of talent than this spread indicates and we’ve seen this line bounce around the 5 peaking at 5.5 last night and now some 4.5s in the market. LeBron also always gets up to play in Cleveland and is averaging 31 points per game (admittedly some distant games here) when he plays in Cleveland. There’s always some additional incentive for LeBron to thrive when he returns home. I’m going to grab the points with the Lakers as the road dog.