Cavaliers vs. Magic Thursday NBA injury report, odds: Spread swings 14 points with Cleveland resting every starter

The Cleveland Cavaliers are locked into the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and are playing a second straight game in Orlando. It's a perfect storm of sorts to create a truly meaningless game for the Cavs, so they are resting every starter and their best reserve on Thursday. Thus, we have seen the biggest NBA spread shift of the season at a whopping 14 points. The Cavs opened -4.5 Wednesday afternoon and now are +9.5 at Caesars Sportsbook. The total has dropped from an open of 223 to 217.5.

Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro are all out. Mitchell has been scorching hot of late -- he droppped 43 points in Cleveland's 117-113 win in Orlando on Tuesday, his fourth straight game with at least 40.

The starters tonight appear to be: Ricky Rubio, Danny Green, Lamar Stevens, Dean Wade and Robin Lopez. None of those players average more than 5.2 points per game. I'm fascinated to see the player props posted at the various sportsbooks (none yet), as which Cleveland players are even relevant?

The Cavs close the regular season at home Sunday vs. Charlotte and then will host the New York Knicks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series next weekend. DraftKings has an early series line: Cavs -185, Knicks +150.

Orlando will finish with a losing record for a fourth straight season but finally appears on the rise. The team has won 12 more games than last season, would finish 21-20 at home with a victory tonight and has the lock Rookie of the Year in Paolo Banchero (20.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.7 APG).

Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick out of Duke, is trying to become just the sixth NBA rookie in the last 50 seasons to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and three assists. Banchero has 14 double-doubles and is +220 for a double-double Thursday and -280 to not post one. The Magic, unbeaten ATS in their past 10, aren't listing anyone of note as out in the home finale. 

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