In Thursday's NBA nightcap, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers host the Charlotte Hornets.
The pregame narrative: Doncic (33.4 PPG) is on track for his second scoring title in three seasons, but that's not the only way he's helping the Lakers remain competitive in the Western Conference. The Slovenian point guard is among the league's top playmakers, too.
Check out my Hornets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Jan. 15, featuring Doncic and Kon Knueppel.
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Hornets vs. Lakers SGP
Parlay: Doncic over 8.5 assists | Knueppel 25+ PRA | Lakers +2.5 (+320)
Doncic over 8.5 assists (-134): Despite leading the NBA in scoring, Doncic is also among the league's elite when it comes to racking up assists. Everybody eats when he's on the court.
- Doncic is averaging 8.8 assists and is 15-16 vs. this line. But he also finished with exactly eight assists in six of the unders.
- He has eight or more assists in eight straight games, going 5-3 vs. this prop in that span.
Doncic finished with seven assists when he faced the Hornets back in November, splitting his passing duties with backcourt sidekick Austin Reaves.
But Reaves (calf) has been out since Dec. 28 and will miss tonight's game.
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I like Doncic's chances of picking up the slack as a playmaker, which he tends to do when Reaves is hurt. In 14 games without Reaves, Doncic is averaging 9.2 assists — with at least eight assists in 11 of 14.
The Hornets allow the fourth-most assists per game, so expect Doncic to create plenty of quality looks for his teammates.
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Knueppel 25+ points/rebounds/assists (-155): Much like The Ringer's Bill Simmons, I can't quit Kon Kneuppel.
The sharpshooting rookie out of Duke is having a stellar season, which includes averaging 19.1 PPG while shooting 42.5% from deep.
Knueppel deserves more shots, but he's often capped by the ball-dominant tendencies of LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller. Still, this is a line that Knueppel is going to clear on most nights.
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On the season, the 20-year-old is averaging 27.8 PRA. He is 9-6 vs. this PRA milestone in his past 15 games.
The Lakers might be the right team to let Knueppel loose against. In his first matchup against them, he went for 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Lakers +2.5 (-275): Los Angeles is a 5-point favourite tonight, but I'm able to tease this line all the way across the zero while building out an SGP with odds longer than +300. Not half bad.
- The Lakers are 9-3 SU and 8-4 ATS as home favourites this year. On Tuesday, while laying 1.5 points against the visiting Atlanta Hawks, L.A. authored a dominant, 25-point victory.
- The Hornets are 6-12 SU as road dogs.
I debated just taking the Lakers on the moneyline, which beefs up this SGP to a +350 price tag. But the Hornets have been relatively frisky on the road so far in January, with underdog wins over the Thunder and Bulls, along with a one-point loss against the Bucks.
A 2.5-point cushion isn't much, but it might help against a Charlotte team that is better than its 14-26 record.
Hornets vs. Lakers SGP predictions made at 12:05 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2026.
