The Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder take part in the late-night slate on New Year's Eve.
The pregame narrative: The Thunder are 6-4 in their last 10, but three of those losses came against the same team. OKC is still dominant and should be in for a double-digit win over the visiting Trail Blazers.
Check out my Trail Blazers vs. Thunder SGP predictions for Dec. 31, featuring prop bets on Deni Avdija and Jalen Williams.
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Trail Blazers vs. Thunder predictions
Parlay: Thunder -11.5 | Avdija under 24.5 points | Williams over 5.5 assists (+325)
Thunder -11.5 (-200): Taking the Thunder to cover a lofty spread still feels safe ... against most teams.
They are 0-3 against the San Antonio Spurs, but the 14-19 Blazers are far from the championship-hopeful Spurs.
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Against every other team, the Thunder are 28-2 and 17-13 ATS. They are frequently given the task of covering spreads in the mid-teens, so buying a few points here on the alternate line is a nice way to start the SGP.
When OKC hosted Portland earlier this season, it ended in a 122-95 Thunder win.
Plus, the Thunder are healthy and have covered this spread in seven of their last eight victories.
NBA SGP legs
Avdija under 24.5 points (-115): Avdija has had a mixed bag of results in his three games against the Thunder this season.
- He's gone over this mark in two games and under in one, but he's shot below 43% in every game and under 30% twice.
- The reason he was able to go over was due to his free throws. He took 23 free throws in one game and 16 in another.
He has shot 16-plus free throws one other time this season.
When he scored 11 in the game played in Oklahoma City, he only took three free throws.
Considering OKC is a below-average team in terms of free throws allowed, it's hard to imagine Avidja gets fouled enough again to go over this line.
The Thunder have the best defensive rating in the NBA (105.0).
Williams over 5.5 assists (-137): Williams has played 14 games since returning from injury, and he's made an immediate impact as a playmaker.
He's averaging over 5.0 assists for the second straight year. And that number could rise quickly with how he's been playing.
Williams has finished with six or more assists in four straight games.
His overall floor as a playmaker is quite high, too. The versatile forward has five-plus assists in 11 of the 14 games he's played this year.
Trail Blazers vs. Thunder predictions made at 12:25 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2025.
