New Orleans Pelicans vs Los Angeles Lakers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Friday, 04/04/25

Shutting down CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson for the season signaled the end of the Pelicans ambitions for this year. They’ve now scored under 100 points in 3 straight games, which is a direct result of that decision. This team cannot go up nor down in the West standings as they’re locked into 14th position. Against the Lakers on Friday they are 14-point underdogs, but with the way they’ve shot the three-ball lately I’m not sure they can cover that. New Orleans made just 4 threes in their loss to the Clippers the other day, it was their 3rd straight game of less than 10 threes made. Their head-to-head record vs the Lakers reads 5 straight defeats, they’ve gone 1-4 ATS in those 5 games.

LA is playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back here following last night’s loss to the Warriors. It was an intense game for the Lakers, so we could very well see some changes in the line-up for tonight’s game. That doesn’t mean they’ll take this game lightly though as the seeding in the Western Conference is far from over. The Lakers have won 16 of 20 home games, they’ve also covered in 10 of 11 games against Western Conference opponents. Austin Reaves and LeBron James both caught fire from beyond the arc last night, if that translates to Friday’s game it will be a wrap for the Pelicans. The last time these 2 met in Los Angeles the Lakers came out on top by 21 points and that’s with Zion Williamson scoring 37 for the Pels. With him out of the line-up they just won’t have enough to compete here. I’ll take the Lakers and the spread.

Pelicans vs Lakers prediction: Los Angeles -14 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

If you’re looking for a new sportsbook, check out Bet365, the world’s #1 sportsbook. They have an amazing sign-up offer where you can INSTANTLY receive $150 in bonus bets from a $5 wager, regardless of whether that bet wins or loses! There’s no catch, it’s really that simple. Join Bet365 right now ⏰ in time to fade or follow our experts’ Pelicas vs Lakers predictions.