The NBA Trade Deadline is this Thursday and some star-caliber players are likely to be moved – led by Nets All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. He was named an All-Star starter for the Eastern Conference. What happens if he’s traded to the West? In fact, he could be traded to the Clippers, the team Brooklyn hosts on Monday. Here’s a look at that and one other early-week game. Check back for NBA odds.

Top NBA Betting Picks of the Week (February 6th, 2023)

The Boston Celtics jump back to the top spot in this week's NBA App Power Rankings!

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— NBA (@NBA) February 6, 2023

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Brooklyn Nets

• When: Monday, February 6, 2023, 7:30 PM ET
• Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
• TV: YES, BSSC, ClipperVision
• Radio: KLAC 570 (Clippers) // WFAN 101.9 FM (Nets)
• Live Stream: NBA League Pass
• NBA Betting Odds: Clippers (-7.5) // Nets (+7.5)

Nets star Kyrie Irving will not play in this one with the team set to trade him ahead of Thursday’s Trade Deadline as Irving has told the Nets he will happily sit out the rest of this season if they don’t deal him. The Clippers are definitely a possibility. Brooklyn has been working to find deals that can keep the Nets in contention with the relatively imminent return of All-NBA star Kevin Durant, who has been out since mid-January with an MCL sprain. Irving, 30, is averaging 27.1 points, 5.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game this season.

The Clippers are coached by Ty Lue, who coached Irving with the Cleveland Cavaliers, combining to win the NBA title in 2016. The coach also offered significant praise on the point guard earlier this season. Adding Irving would give the squad a true point guard an elite option to take pressure off Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

“I’ve always said offensively, he has no weaknesses,” Lue said of Irving in November. “He can score the basketball. He can pass it, finish both hands, can post, midrange, three-point, off the dribble, he can do it all. Just a special talent.”

The front offices of the Nets and Clippers have worked as trade partners before, in 2020. Other teams said to be pursuing trades for Irving include the Lakers and Phoenix Suns, who could stand in the path of the Clippers’ championship ambitions.

This is the end of a long road trip through the Eastern Conference for the Clippers, who come off a 134-128 OT win at the Knicks on Saturday. After the Clippers lost a 17-point fourth quarter lead, Nicolas Batum’s 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer tied it at 115. Leonard scored 35 points and George added 30 in the win. Norman Powell added 24 points for the Clippers and Marcus Morris Sr. had 17. Los Angeles has won seven of nine.

The Nets played without Irving and Ben Simmons on Saturday but beat Washington 125-123. Cam Thomas blew up with a career-high 44 points, six rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes. He could continue to get plenty of shots with no Irving. Simmons might play Monday.

NBA Betting Pick: Clippers

Milwaukee Bucks vs. Los Angeles Lakers

• When: Thursday, February 9, 2023, 10:00 PM ET
• Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA
• TV: BSSC, ClipperVision, BSWI
• Radio: WTMJ 620 (Bucks) // 710 ESPNLA (Lakers)
• Live Stream: NBA League Pass
• NBA Betting Odds: TBA

We are grouping these two games on TNT together because Lakers star LeBron James is 36 points shy of breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA points mark so barring injury it’s going to happen either Tuesday or Thursday. Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points has stood for nearly 39 years, the Lakers great overtaking Wilt Chamberlain on April 5, 1984 – before James was even born. James enters with 35 consecutive game with at least 20 points. That’s the third-longest streak of his career.

It’s also possible that the Lakers could have traded for Kyrie Irving by Tuesday as Irving is going to be dealt by the Nets by Thursday’s deadline and the Lakers are leading candidates. Trading for Irving almost assuredly would require the Lakers to include both their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks in the package.

If the Lakers manage to land Irving, it also will mean parting with Russell Westbrook, for salary-matching purposes, and ending a tumultuous chapter in team history that has been a tough fit for the 2016 league MVP and the franchise. Westbrook was listed as questionable on Saturday morning with an illness, leading some to speculate he was going to be held out with a trade imminent, but he ended up suiting up in a loss to New Orleans. He had 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting, four rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes — with just one minute of that playing time coming in the fourth quarter, as Lakers coach Darvin Ham benched him down the stretch.

Tuesday will be LA’s first meeting against Oklahoma City this season. Considering James is averaging 30.0 ppg, he’s probably breaking it early in Thursday’s game in a possible Finals preview vs. the Bucks. LA won at Milwaukee 133-129 on Dec. 2 behind a season-high 44 points from Anthony Davis. James made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:22 left and finished with 28 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Westbrook had 15 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.

Milwaukee missed two potential tying 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds. Los Angeles withstood a 40-point performance from Antetokounmpo, who also had seven rebounds and five assists.

NBA Betting Pick: Lakers

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