After five days without any NBA action due to All-Star weekend, many fans are ready for basketball to return.
Let’s break down whether there are any NBA games on Wednesday night and, if so, what tonight’s night slate looks like.
Are There Any NBA Games on Wednesday?
The NBA is back tonight, but there’s only one game on the schedule: the Charlotte Hornets at the Los Angeles Lakers at 10 p.m. ET.
Most teams get six days off for the All-Star break, but the Lakers and Hornets are playing a make-up game on Wednesday night. This contest was originally scheduled for Jan. 9, but it was postponed until tonight due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
These two teams nearly pulled off a blockbuster trade prior to the NBA trade deadline, but it was ultimately rescinded when Hornets center Mark Williams failed his physical.
Now, the two teams will square off tonight and Williams is expected to play against the Lakers after nearly joining them. Also, all eyes will be on Luka Dončić, as this is his first Lakers game without a minute restriction.
Kyle Soppe’s Hornets-Lakers Betting Preview
We don’t yet have clarity on the status of LaMelo Ball (ankle), and with just a two-game sample size of the Dončić era in Los Angeles, there are plenty of moving pieces for this game as we sit here right now.
Coming out of the All-Star break, I’m more happy to embrace that sort of variance than normal.
Comparing the two games before the All-Star break against the Utah Jazz, the Lakers’ production patterns are interesting.
- Two of their 11 highest increases in pace over expectation
- Their 11th most efficient offensive game vs expectations (+10.2%)
- Their fourth-worst defensive effort of the season (opponent offensive rating was 16.1% over their season average)
In the eight quarters they’ve played since the seismic trade, the point totals by quarter have been 62-57-56-70 and 63-57-70-60, respectively.
LeBron James one-legged fade.
Luka Dončić one-legged fade.A mirror image for the Lakers superstar duo 🤩🤩 pic.twitter.com/svH9a0xXlO
— NBA (@NBA) February 11, 2025
If you take the four lowest quarters over that tiny sample, we are still clearing this projected total, and I have more hope for the Hornets’ offensive upside (with Ball) than I do the Jazz.
In those games, Dončić has totaled only 47 minutes, but Los Angeles has posted two of its five highest 3PA totals — if this is a more comfortable spot for a team that is seemingly willing to launch triples, I’m very interested in how this game could look.
I’m not a doctor, but I am cautiously optimistic about Ball’s status considering that he had a chance to play in Charlotte’s final game of the first half of the season (injured on Feb. 10). That is where our edge comes in, and I like this bet more with Ball active than I hate it should he sit.
In its last eight games with its star point guard a full-go, Charlotte’s offensive rating was 9% better and the defensive rating 9.6% worse than its last eight with him inactive.
During February, we’ve seen this team hang tough with the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks while outlasting the re-tooled San Antonio Spurs. I’m not suggesting that Charlotte wins this game or even that they cover, but I do think they can score enough to force Los Angeles to remain aggressive on the offensive end for the majority of this game; that has me thinking this total is 7-10 points too low!
Pick: Over 223.5 points (-108, DraftKings)
