Color us shocked … ESPN’s panel of NBA experts have unanimously predicted that the Los Angeles Lakers will take out the Minnesota Timberwolves in their Western Conference first-round series set to tip off on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Wolves finished the regular season as the No. 6 seed in the West, after winning eight of their last 10 games. That hot form, that included wins over Detroit, Denver and Memphis (all teams in the playoffs), wasn’t enough to get even one of ESPN’s 10 “NBA experts” to choose Minnesota in the playoff picks the organization released on Monday.
Motivation pic.twitter.com/iL1qPiizKt
— Jim Petersen (@JimPeteHoops) April 14, 2025
Wolves TV analyst Jim Petersen commented on the unanimous decision by posting a screenshot on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, saying “Motivation.”
While the experts predicted the Lakers to win the series, Minnesota is at least expected to not go down easy. Eight of the 10 experts have the series going to six games, with the other two predicting Minnesota taking it all the way to a Game 7.
Minnesota and Los Angeles split the regular-season series, with each team winning a pair of games. Each team won their home games in the series, including the season opener between the two teams in which the Lakers topped the Wolves 110-103 in Los Angeles. Only one of those games, however, came after the Lakers acquired star guard Luka Doncic.
Three of the four games came in the opening two months of the season. Doncic played in the final matchup between the two teams, a 111-102 Lakers win on Feb. 27.
Game 1 of the best-of-seven series tips off Saturday in Los Angeles, with a nationally televised tipoff at 7 p.m. CT on ABC.
