LeBron James Odds and NBA Props: It's Good to Be King James

The 2023-24 NBA season opens up on Tuesday night with the defending champion Nuggets playing host to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers will be out for revenge here, having dropped the Western Conference Finals to Denver in just four games. With D’Angelo Russell now installed for what looks to be a full season at point guard and Austin Reaves and Christian Wood ready to take on a larger role, this could be a hotly-contested matchup for NBA odds in Denver.

Let’s break down our best NBA player props for LeBron James odds on opening night.

Don't forget to look at our full-game Lakers vs. Nuggets picks and predictions, as well as our NBA player prop bets for Tuesday, October 24.

LeBron James NBA prop picks

• Over 31.5 pts+rebs
• Lakers +5.5/James 30+ pts+rebs/Jokic 1+ threes

Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

LeBron James NBA prop pick

LeBron James Over 31.5 points+rebounds (-110)

LeBron James may be nearing 40, but the Los Angeles Lakers legend showed no signs of slowing down last year in his age-38 season, averaging 28.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 55 games after having the second-best scoring output of his career in 2021-22 and once again averaging better than eight boards.

That’s why I’m backing his trend of dominating opening night to continue. While there’s certainly a chance James could slow down as the season wears on and he begins to preserve his body, we have to take advantage of the opportunity to buy low on a well-rested LeBron tonight.

James has posted 10 or more boards in seven of his last eight season-openers, and he’s gone for 31 or more points in back-to-back seasons against decent Warriors defenses. While the Denver Nuggets have arguably the best offense in the league coming into the season, they ranked just 15th in defensive rating a season ago and have since lost one of their anchors on that end in Bruce Brown.

It might be the Anthony Davis show this season, but with the strength of this Nuggets defense lying inside with Aaron Gordon, I think we will see James do plenty of damage here against a rather generous group on the perimeter. On top of that, Davis grabbed nearly three fewer rebounds per game with James on the floor, which is evidence that he should continue to rack up boards and hit this short line.

Prop: LeBron James Over 31.5 points + rebounds (-110 at BetMGM)

LeBron James NBA same-game parlay

LeBron James 30+ points+rebounds

Lakers +5.5

Nikola Jokic 1+ made threes

Bonus bet available

+310 at DraftKings

While I am backing LeBron first and foremost, I still love the Lakers in this spot. While the Lakers flexed their defensive muscles all season long, they were particularly great down the stretch with a 111.3 defensive rating after the break to rank fourth in the league. Their offense also improved marginally with D'Angelo Russell re-entering the fold and Austin Reaves taking another step forward, which is why I think they’re a bit undervalued here.

Denver’s offense was on another level last postseason, but its defense was a huge issue throughout the campaign. I expect another slow start this year on that end, and with Christian Wood adding some much-needed offensive help off the bench, I expect to see a very strong Lakers team play the defending champs very closely.

I’m also taking a look at Nikola Jokic to hit a three here. He attempted 14 threes in four preseason games this fall, making five of them, and it appears he may be trying to shoot a bit more this season. We also saw him attempt 17 threes in four games versus L.A. in last year’s Western Conference Finals, making eight of them, so I’d expect him to put up quite a few here against the Lakers. He should hit at least one.

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