76ers-Raptors Preview: NBA Injuries Shake Betting Lines

We do have our first Sixers-Raptors meeting of the season, and I think pretty appropriately neither LeBron or Kawhi Leonard are playing in this basketball game. Great to be here with you, Gabe, as we set this thing up on a Thursday night. The ridiculousness of the NBA schedule. We can criticize the modern player. You can criticize the team and this and that and load management. Injuries happen, and they seem to be happening a lot this year, but it's ridiculous the amount of back-to-back games that NBA teams play. Like, it really does. It just, it taints the regular season. Like, it just, it just does. There's no other way around it. Silver's more worried about building a new league in Europe than he is about, you know, fixing the league in North America. Like, it really is a problem. But, Gabe, oddsmakers, there's nothing that moves a line more than a team playing on the second night of the back. I've been betting in the NBA every night. I'm sure you have as well. I would say a team playing on a back-to-back is almost immediately worth three points off the rip. Three points. And half the time, it's because they're expecting big-name guys to miss. I mean, it really plummets a number. With the exception of the Houston Rockets, I guess, right? Right? Right. Rockets play. They're still laying 17 and a half. Guys, it's too early in the season to be at this point in the NBA. Where point spreads are, let's check from games that are tipping off coming up here. 17 and a half, 13 and a half, 10 and a half, 7 and a half. 7 and a half is deemed a competitive game in the modern NBA. The Hawks and the Bulls, we got a 6 and a half as well. But you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I think some of that's tomorrow. It's a tricky handicap. It's a tricky handicap. Yeah, look, 100% is. I sent out a tweet today. And it's a screw job for the fans. I don't want to get into a whole, like, modern player Jordan and stuff, but Phil Jackson did an interview the other day. I saw the clip, and they were talking about load management, and he said, you know, Jordan, whatever, like, didn't take time off. And he basically did the old cliche. He said he knew he was only going to that town once a year, and that was the chance. That was the chance that people were going to get to see him play, and he cared about that. The modern player does it. Not just LeBron, right? The modern player does it. They blow off Indianapolis, Sacramento. They're like, whatever. Oh, I'm playing MSG? Well, I'm not going to play the next night in Indiana, man. Right? Like, it's just, it's constant in this league right now. And, you know, who loses here, Kevin? The fans. Let's just call it out for what it is. The fans. Yeah, but I also think, like you said, listen, yes, guys pick their spots. Luka the other night missed a game in Detroit. So he could go play in Atlanta because he feels that the Hawks passed on him. And no surprise, there were clips of him yelling at fans, don't you wish you had me. So, yes, guys, absolutely pick and choose their spots. But you also just have guys. Guys, guess what? Steph Curry was one of the five best players in the NBA to start the season. He's out a month. It's not load management. He's hurt. You think Steph wants to miss time right now? You think that that was in the cards? Oh, it's, it's absolutely, I can't put my finger, the thing is with the NBA injuries, it's all different types of players, guys. Can't say, well, you know what, big centers, and yeah, they got bad knees. Or it's like, well, Steph Curry's old. It's like the Caleb Wilson kid got hurt. Yeah, yeah. Rookies are getting hurt. 40-year-olds are getting hurt. Great point. Big men are getting hurt. Guards are getting hurt. You know what I mean? One win. The Bulls just can't catch a break. Yeah, but that's my point. It's like, can't say, well, Curry's old. Not surprised. No, no, like the kids are hurt. The old guys are hurt. The big men are hurt. The guards are hurt. Like, everybody's getting hurt in the NBA. I kidded, like, we're not going to make it to Christmas. Like, people always say it's the unofficial start of the NBA at Christmas time. Yeah. Yeah. We're not going to make it, but it's unfortunate. I guess you could say, well, if you're like the Raptors are a good example. You got Barnes injured. You got Kawhi injured. Better that they're injured now than in March or April, right? You just hope that it's sort of a, all right, everybody's going to get hurt, and you just sort of hope. That the timing works out for your team. Honestly, that's what it is. Because you're going to get hurt along the way. It's just, it's inevitable.