Suns vs Lakers Prediction, Pick Tonight

Here's everything you need to know about Suns vs. Lakers on Thursday, Jan. 11 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.

The Suns will take on the Lakers in a star-studded matchup on Thursday night. Can Phoenix finally start a winning streak? Or will it continue to disappoint the NBA world?

Let's get to our Suns vs. Lakers prediction and pick.

It feels like the Suns have been in disarray all season as they've rarely been fully healthy and haven't seen their big three — Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant — play together much. Despite their 19-18 record, I think there are reasons to be optimistic about the Suns as they've looked extremely good when healthy.

With Booker and Durant on the floor together, Phoenix has an elite offensive rating (125.7) and a 8.3 net rating. When those two share the floor with Jusuf Nurkic the net rating jumps to 13.9. Nurkic and Grayson Allen are having career years and have been excellent pieces alongside Booker and Durant.

It's the bench that has let the Suns down as virtually all of their bench players, outside of Josh Okogie, have negative net ratings. Most are starting to give up on this team as a true contender, but I think it's impossible to count them out when considering how elite their starters have been together.

This is a good spot for Phoenix to bounce back as it enters with a rest advantage and didn't have to travel after playing the Clippers on Monday night.

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The Lakers are coming off of a fast-paced game against the Raptors in which they played 105 possessions. That's well above their average and the game was also fairly physical, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lakers seem fatigued against the Suns.

The Lakers needed a massive disparity in free throws in the fourth quarter to win against a rebuilding Raptors team that's missing its starting center. Anthony Davis scored 41, but I expect him to struggle more here against Nurkic. Unlike the Suns, the Lakers have been healthy for most of the season and have still yet to find efficient lineups.

Overall, the Lakers have an average net rating of 2.2 when Davis and LeBron James are on the court together. I don’t think the Lakers are very good despite their fluky In-Season Tournament run.

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I like the Suns as there are no rest or motivation concerns. Phoenix is fully healthy and has had two days to prepare for the Lakers, a team which Frank Vogel is familiar with having coached there for three years. I also think there is potential for the Lakers to get less calls after the public outrage at the end of the game against the Raptors. I don’t expect it to be anything drastic, but any small drop in free-throw rate would kill the Lakers as they are extremely dependent on free throws to generate offense.

Back the Suns to win as road underdogs.

Pick: Suns +1.5