National Basketball Association

NBA Opening Weekend: Odds for Friday's games

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The NBA season is officially on its way, and the lines are in for this weekend’s full slate of games.

With each team now with at least one game under its belt, Friday night features eight matchups, with varying levels of intrigue.

Arguably the evening’s best contest is the first one. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors face off in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. The Raptors made the Cavs sweat it out for a while before losing the series to the eventual champs, four games to two. Both teams return with their rosters mainly in tact.

The Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons is a battle of coach Stan Van Gundy’s former and current teams, respectively. They are also two of the young, up-and-coming teams to keep an eye on this year.

The Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets are trending in opposite directions. Indiana looks to keep pace as East contenders with a healthy Paul George and star-in-the-making Myles Turner. Meanwhile, the Nets’ biggest attraction might be Jay Z.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Phoenix Suns in its first home opener without Kevin Durant in nearly a decade. The team’s success now falls on the shoulders of do-it-all point guard Russell Westbrook, who did Russell Westbrook things against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

No Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or Al Jefferson, but the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat look to stay relevant in the Southeast with plenty of question marks.

Speaking of bubble teams, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks will face off in a battle of Southwest Division rivals.

The Los Angeles Lakers have a nice youth movement going, including No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram and new head coach Luke Walton, but are likely at least another year away from making noise. Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz are close to being in “win-now” mode—if they can ever get healthy. Stars Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward remain out.

Championship parade plans may have been a bit premature after the Golden State Warriors’ new “Dream Team” was spanked by the San Antonio Spurs on Opening Night. They’ll go against the New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis, who had one of the most impressive stat lines you’ll ever see in Wednesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets: 50 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals, 4 blocks. Utterly ridiculous.

Consensus odds are courtesy of VegasInsider.com:

Friday, October 28