NBA Betting Odds & Picks: How to Bet Magic vs. Nets

Magic vs. Nets Betting Odds

Odds as of Thursday evening and via DraftKings. Get up to a $1,000 sign-up bonus at DraftKings today or see more offers and reviews for the best online sportsbooks.

The Orlando Magic are set to battle the Brooklyn Nets, who are a shell of their former selves after losing multiple key players for the rest of the season. Will Orlando's chemistry lead them past the hobbled Nets, and more importantly, will they cover?

Orlando Magic

The Magic enter the bubble at nearly full strength. Potential franchise cornerstone Jonathan Isaac is back after missing the last seven months recovering from a knee injury. Even with a minutes restriction, the length and morale boost that Isaac offers the Magic is invaluable.

Orlando is the best team in the league at limiting opposing second-chance points and points off turnovers, and third-best at limiting fast-break points (data per NBA.com). The Magic will rely on their length, athleticism, and height to dictate the flow of this game, especially with the Nets possibly only having one true center in their rotation (Jarrett Allen).

Given the Nets expected lineup, look for a big performance from Nikola Vucevic. He should dominate the glass and the interior as the Magic lean on him and his 24.4% usage rate.

Brooklyn Nets

The Nets enter the bubble with an absolutely depleted roster. This is the list of Nets not playing in Orlando: Kevin Durant (Achilles), Kyrie Irving (Shoulder), Nic Claxton (Shoulder), Wilson Chandler (Opt-Out), DeAndre Jordan (Opt-Out), Spencer Dinwiddie (Opt-Out), Taurean Prince (COVID-19), and Michael Beasley (COVID-19).

With that list in mind, the Nets will be without five of their top nine players in minutes per game. How are they supposed to contend? This version of the Nets will rely heavily on Joe Harris, Caris LeVert, and Allen along with newcomers Jamal Crawford and Donta Hall.

The Nets won't be terrible, but they won't scare anyone either. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Nets' offensive stats plummet without Irving and Dinwiddie are off the court. When the two guards share the court, the Nets outscore opponents by seven points per game; when they sit, Brooklyn is outscored by 2.9 ppg. It's difficult to gather enough data to project the quality of basketball the Nets will play because of how many rotation players are missing, but I think the Nets will suffer on both sides of the ball.

LeVert is likely to shoulder the burden offensively as he's scored 23 and 27 in the Nets' last two scrimmages. If Crawford and Hall are held out as they acclimate to their new roles, then the pressure on LeVert will rise even more. This would also leave the Nets with Jarrett Allen as the only true center on the roster.

Betting Analysis & Pick

This game pits two teams against each other that are in dramatically different positions. The Magic enter the bubble at nearly full strength while the Nets are basically playing a pickup game with a patchwork roster.

At the time of this writing, there's been a steam move on the Magic at -6.5 with no buyback on the Nets (via Betlabs). The Magic have enough talent that they could be disruptive in the playoffs and I think they rise to the top.

The PICK: Magic -6.5 (I'd take the Magic up to -8)

[Bet $20+ on the Magic at PointsBet and Win $125 if they make at least one 3-pointer]