Wizards vs Raptors Picks and Predictions: Lowry-Less Raptors Return To Toronto

Kyle Lowry has taken his talents to South Beach while his old team ditched Florida for their usual home, as the Toronto Raptors return to Ontario and begin a new era.

With franchise legend Lowry gone to the Heat, Toronto has leaned fully into its young core of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, rookie Scottie Barnes. That young core will be tested by a team in transition in its own right, the Washington Wizards, to begin the new season. 

Find out if Toronto can contain Bradley Beal and Washington with our free NBA betting picks and predictions for Wizards vs. Raptors on Wednesday, October 20.

Wizards vs Raptors odds

Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.

Oddsmakers opened the Raptors as 3-point favorites for their home opener. The total hit the board at 219.5. Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until tip-off and be sure to check out the full NBA odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.

Wizards vs Raptors predictions

• Prediction: Raptors -3 (-110)
• Prediction: Over 219.5 (-110)
• Best bet: Over 219.5 (-110)

Predictions made on 10/18/2021 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.

Wizards vs Raptors game info

• Location: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON
• Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2021
• Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: TSN, NBC Sports Washington

Wizards vs Raptors betting preview

Injuries

Wizards: Rui Hachimura PF (Questionable), Deni Avdija SF (Questionable).
Raptors: Pascal Siakam PF (Out), Chris Boucher PF (Out).
Find our latest NBA injury reports.

Betting trend to know

The Over is 8-1 in the last nine meetings between the Wizards and Raptors. Find more NBA betting trends for Wizards vs. Raptors.

Wizards vs Raptors picks and predictions

Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.

Spread analysis

The Toronto Raptors will be an interesting team to follow this season. With Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby leading a young core, the Raptors still have the ability to compete for a playoff spot in the East this season. But the overall talent level and rotational depth is a little lacking, so things will need to fall right for the Raps for that to happen.

Two things that will need to happen for the Raps to reach their full potential are the breakout of Anunoby and the quick development of No. 4 overall pick Scottie Barnes. Both have looked impressive during the preseason and will need to keep that up against the Wizards as the Raps will be without Siakam for the first few weeks as he continues to recover from offseason shoulder surgery.

One of their jobs in this matchup will be to slow down Bradley Beal. Beal has averaged more than 30 points per game each of the last two seasons and will be the best player on the court in this game. Anunoby, Barnes, and Co. will need to limit Beal if they want to win this game.

Meanwhile, the Raptors biggest weakness’ last season was their half-court offense and rebounding. Luckily, the Wizards don’t defend that well and might be a worse rebounding team than the Raptors this season and their two best rebounders, Hachimura and Bryant could both miss this game.

Now, Washington did go out and transform its roster as well. Beal is now the guy with a cast of role players around him. The Wiz went out and signed Spencer Dinwiddie and got the Lakers castoffs (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and Kyle Kuzma) in the Russell Westbrook trade.

But it will be interesting to see how new head coach Wes Unseld integrates them all against a Raptors defense that despite all its issues last season, still finished 15th in defensive rating.

There are a lot of similarities between these teams heading into this season and with the Wizards having the best player on the court in Beal it’s tough to not consider Washington here. But this is the first home game for Toronto since March of 2019. The atmosphere at Scotiabank Arena should be electric and will help fuel the Raptors to a season-opening win and cover.

Prediction: Raptors -3 (-110)

Over/Under analysis

While this matchup looks like it could go either way when it comes to the side, the total seems to be a little more clear-cut. For starters, the Over is 8-1 in the last nine meetings between these Eastern Conference foes, and we like that trend to continue here.

New Wizards head coach Wes Unseld is a defense-first guy, but he has come out and said his team will still play with a similar pace as it did last season. And that pace was the highest in the NBA a season ago and now Beal has some better scorers around him with Dinwiddie, Caldwell-Pope, and even rookie Corey Kispert. That pace of play also led to the Wizards allowing the most points per game in the NBA last season at 118.5 points per contest.

For the Raptors, while they struggled to shoot in the half-court last season, their transition offense should be a problem for opponents this season. Masai Ujiri is clearly building this team with a plan in mind. He wants as many long, athletic, switchable players as possible. Those athletes running Nick Nurse’s complex defenses will frustrate opponents and create plenty of fast-break opportunities. 

The Raptors should be able to run the floor with the Wizards and take advantage of a defense that ranked 20th in defensive rating a season ago. 

Prediction: Over 219.5 (-110)

Best bet

Anyone who followed me on Twitter this year knows about my Blue Jays Bat Flippin’ Pick of the Day. Well, we’re going to do sort of a similar thing with the Raptors and make at least one pick for every Raptors game this season, tracking our progress along the way. 

So, my first official play of this 2021-2022 Raptors season is the Over 219.5 in this game against the Wizards. I really wanted to lay the points with the Raps, but I am a little worried Beal will let loose in this game and create some real problems, so the Over it is.

We already talked about how the Wizards play at a high pace and I think the new-look Raptors will mimic that a little this season. I expect the pace in this game to be frantic, creating a ton of possessions for each team. And despite the Raps’ struggles in the half-court, this team finished 16th in offensive efficiency.

These teams combined to score 227.6 points per game a season ago, so this early number appears to have some value.

Pick: Over 219.5 (-110)

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