I'm a bit late to the party, but I'll still lay it with the Bucks under new coach Mike Budenholzer, who consistently gets the most out of his players. Back the Bucks to cover for the seventh time in their last nine visits to Charlotte.

The Bucks open the season on the road but they're still undervalued in this spot against the Hornets. Giannis is on a mission to lead this team to a strong playoff run in the East. With the addition of the 3-point shot in the offseason, Giannis is basically unstopable. This Bucks team is very good. I have them as -5 favorites in the opener. Lay it.

The Bucks made two additions this summer that should help their offense by signing Ersan Ilyasova and Brook Lopez. The Hornets, on the other hand, lost Dwight Howard, who had the third-highest usage rate (24.2%) on the team last year. They don’t have great scoring options outside of Kemba Walker, so look for the Bucks to cover.