The New Orleans Pelicans (26-26) are quickly slipping out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference and have lost nine of their last ten games. They try and get things heading back in the right direction on Thursday in Dallas when they take on the Mavericks (27-25). Mavs star Luka Doncic missed a game against Utah last Saturday to rest a sprained ankle, but returned to score 53 points in his last start on Monday.

Tip-off from the American Airlines Center, where the Mavericks are 18-9 this season, is set for 8:30 p.m. ET. Dallas is favored by 5 points in the latest Mavericks vs. Pelicans odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over/under is set at 223.5. Before you make any Pelicans vs. Mavericks picks and predictions, you HAVE to see what the SportsLine Projection Model is saying.

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 four-plus seasons. The model enters Week 16 of the 2022-23 NBA season on a stunning 49-23 roll on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning nearly $2,300. Anyone following it has seen HUGE returns!

Now, it has simulated Mavericks vs. Pelicans 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in over 50% of simulations. You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in your own picks!

Who wins Mavericks vs. Pelicans? And which side of the spread is a must-back? 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, and find out!