Mavericks Odds: How to bet the Dallas Mavericks vs Orlando Magic

xThe Dallas Mavericks face off against the Orlando Magic in their only home preseason game of the 2022-23 season. As of this writing, there’s expectations that more of the regular rotation plays, but since it’s preseason it’s unlikely that Luka Doncic and company play that much, perhaps a half at most. Either way, we’re still thinking about betting on it. Here’s what we’re thinking.

Game Details

Fixture: Orlando Magic vs Dallas Mavericks | NBA Preseason 2022-2023

Date and Time: Friday, October 7th 2022; 7:30 PM CST

Venue: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX.

Outcome Odds

Spread: Mavericks -8.0

O/U 204.5

Odds up to date as of 11:30 am CST from Draft Kings

Betting on preseason games can pose a challenge without knowing which players will be suited up for the game. As of this morning, we can assume Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr will be making their preseason debuts while Davis Bertans will miss his second straight game with a right knee injury. Look for the return of Luka and THJ to limit the turnovers (24 in game one) and help carry the Mavs to victory while covering the -8 point spread.

Player Props:

Luka Doncic: 17.5 Points

Jaden Hardy: ???? Points

If you didn’t happen to catch Jeffrey’s article from the OKC game, he correctly picked the over on Jaden Hardy’s point total (9.5 points) in game 1. Hardy was the leading scorer of the game with 21 points. Attempting 16 shots in 23 minutes in the first preseason game you play firmly places you in the Swaggy P / JR Smith “shooters shoot” confidence category.

But this is something different because it’s assuming Luka Doncic plays a considerable amount... in a preseason game.

As mentioned, betting preseason is tough. So tough that we can’t find a line available for Jaden Hardy’s point total, but it doesn’t matter because even if we were presented the option to bet over/under a question mark on his point total, we would still be pounding the over.

Advice:

For Doncic, this is an easy under bet. This points total seems to make the wager that Doncic is going to play 25+ minutes. While Luka Doncic is going to play IN the first half, I wouldn’t expect him to play the entire first half. He might start the second half too since it’s the only home preseason game for the Mavericks, but this points total is just a bit too high for our liking.

Since there is no Hardy prop we can find... well let’s just assume he scores a lot because that’s fun.

Final Thoughts:

Luka Doncic is picking up a basketball tonight so you should probably be watching.