The Los Angeles Lakers will host the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series on Saturday as Luka Doncic and LeBron James (hip, probable) will share the court for the first time in a postseason contest on the opening night of the 2025 NBA playoffs. The Lakers went 50-32 overall, including 31-10 at home, this season. The Timberwolves went 49-33, including 22-19 on the road, this year. The Lakers and Timberwolves split their four matchups this season, with the home team winning each time. 

Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Lakers are favored by 4 points in the latest Timberwolves vs. Lakers odds. Los Angeles is at -188 on the money line (risk $188 to win $100), while Minnesota is at +158 (risk $100 to win $158). The over/under is 217 points. 

Before entering any Timberwolves vs. Lakers picks, you'll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine. 

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters the 2025 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 156-115 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $4,000. Anyone following could have seen HUGE returns!

The model has simulated Timberwolves vs. Lakers 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it also says one side of the spread hits more than 50% of the time!

So who wins Timberwolves vs. Lakers, and which side of the spread hits more than 50% of the time? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its NBA picks!