Day 2 of the 2024-25 NBA regular season takes place on Thursday and it’s certainly a busy one with 10 games on the schedule, and the first of those getting underway at 10am AEDT. We had a 1-1 (-0.1U) start to the season on Wednesday, and we’ll look to improve on that as we bring you our best bets for Thursday’s action below!
Also, make sure to head over to our NBA Tips regularly, as we’ll be providing free tips for all the major slates for each and every week of the 2024-25 season!
NBA Betting Tips: Thursday, October 24th 2024
Indiana Pacers at Detroit Pistons (10am AEDT)
Despite coming off a wildly successful 2023-24 season where they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, there has been little talk/hype about the Pacers heading into this season. They bring back a largely familiar squad to the one that bowed out to the Celtics in ECF, so there’s no reason why they can’t mix it with the best again in 24-25.
In contrast, the Pistons finished with the worst record in the NBA last season and simply have to show their fans some improvement this campaign. They brought in some veterans in Tim Hardaway and Tobias Harris who are both expected to start, and they’ll also be hoping that their young core can achieve some natural progression.
While the Pistons should improve from the disaster that was last season, I still don’t think they should be as close as 4.5-point underdogs against the Pacers. As long as the Pacers shoot a reasonable % from deep, they should be covering that handicap here.
Pacers -4.5
$1.94 (1 Unit)
Charlotte Hornets at Houston Rockets (11am AEDT)
The Hornets finished last season with a 21-61 record and will clearly be looking to add at least 10 wins to that tally this campaign. LaMelo Ball is healthy to start the year which is a big plus considering injuries have restricted him to just 58 combined games across the past two seasons. Aussie Josh Green comes across from Dallas and is projected to be a starter, while Brandon Miller should improve off an impressive rookie campaign.
The Rockets are a team that look poised for a big season in 2024-25. They split the 82 games down the middle at 41-41 last season which exceeded expectations exponentially. However, on the back of that, there’s now expectation for further improvement. Alperen Sengun should have an enormous year and both Jabari Smith and Jalen Green will need to improve as well.
I like where the Rockets roster is currently at and the veterans they added in the offseason. They were also one of the best home teams in the west last season with a 27-14 record, whereas the Hornets were 10-31 on the road. I think the Rockets hit the ground running here with a big win.
Rockets -6.5
$1.90 (1.5 Units)
Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Clippers (1pm AEDT)
Despite a highly disappointing end to the season for the Suns who were swept in the opening round of the playoffs, they’ve decided to run it back with the Booker-Durant-Beal big three. Nurkic also returns to play the 5, while Tyus Jones – who’s had the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the NBA for six straight seasons – comes over to play the point guard position.
It's a big season for the Clippers organisation who can finally stop hiding the Lakers championship banners at home games now they have their own stadium – Intuit Dome. Unfortunately, their first regular season game at the Dome will be played without superstar Kawhi Leonard who’s out with injury. Paul George also left in the offseason to join the 76ers which means this is a big game/season for James Harden in LA.
The Suns certainly underperformed last season, but got the type of point guard they desperately needed in Jones in the offseason, as well as a coach that knows how to handle superstars in Mike Budenholzer. I liked what I saw from a ball movement perspective in the Suns preseason games under Coach Bud and I think there’s some value in their handicap market here, especially with the Clippers missing some key pieces.
