We had quite an active NBA trade deadline on Thursday, but the Los Angeles Lakers stood pat despite LeBron James’ hourglass emoji. Meanwhile, most of the Lakers’ competitors made upgrades here and there in an effort to win the West.

Two teams that stood relatively pat were the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings, who are jumbled among the top six teams in the Western Conference, where just six games separate first place from sixth place.

The Nuggets’ standing pat makes sense because they are the defending champs. They have the MVP favorite (Nikola Jokic), and until someone knocks you off your throne, there is not all that much you need to do. The Kings picked up backup center Robin Lopez from Milwaukee, where he wasn’t doing much of anything. Los Angeles still has LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and a bunch of spare parts. Sacramento still has the same roster, but there was a school of thought that they would try to upgrade it by bringing in someone like Kyle Kuzma of the Wizards. That did not happen.

Whatever the case, Denver and Sacramento are playing each other on Friday night, and we should see some look-ins from NBA TV during the Lakers’ home game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Those look-ins will allow us to figure out whether standing pat at the trade deadline was the right thing to do for Los Angeles, because the Lakers are running the risk of losing LeBron James as a free agent if he chooses not to opt into the final year of his contract, and the Kings could be a landing spot so that LeBron could stay close to his family (youngest son Bryce James is a junior at Sierra Canyon High School).

The trick for Friday night is to not have to adjust to trades that were made, which would require trying to figure out how a new player might fit in. Both the Pelicans and Lakers are at full strength, and we can play off recent trends.

Best NBA Same Game Parlay Picks Today for New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Lakers: 4-Leg Parlay Picks (+60000)

Brandon Ingram Triple-Double (+1700)

New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram had a triple-double on Jan. 17 against Charlotte, and he is off to a fantastic start in February. He scored 41 points with nine assists against Toronto two games ago before scoring 15 points with eight rebounds and six assists in a very impressive road win over the Clippers on Wednesday. That Pelicans victory knocked the Clippers from first to fourth place in the West (get used to that type of thing with the logjam we have atop that conference.) This will be the third meeting of these teams this season, and Ingram shot 50 percent or better in each of the first two -- getting nine assists in one of those games. The trick to a triple-double on Friday will be making that extra pass to pad his assists totals. The double figures in points and rebounds should come naturally.

Leg-1 SGP Pick: Brandon Ingram to triple-double (+1700)

C.J. McCollum Double-Double (+675)

The only “true” point guard on the Pelicans is Jose Alvarado, a scrappy player from Queens who specializes in getting steals. He comes off the bench and plays sporadic minutes, leaving the playmaking duties to CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram. This is fortuitous if the Pels are moving the ball, and we should see more of Alvarado than usual on Friday because he is a pest, and a pest is what is needed against the Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell, whose speed can only be negated by craftiness. If Alvarado plays the way he is capable of, there will be loose balls that lead to scramble opportunities. And three or four of those will lead to fast-break opportunities on which literally anyone can get an assist. That could help McCollum, and it should also be noted that he has already had eight or more rebounds three times. So whether it is assists or rebounds to get to this double-double, a couple of fortuitous bounces will do the trick.

Leg-2 SGP pick: C.J. McCollum to double-double (+700)

New Orleans Pelicans -2½ (+100)

Look, New Orleans has won four consecutive games and had covered the spread in three of them by double-digit margins. Granted, the Lakers are a notch above two of the last three teams they defeated: San Antonio and Toronto. However, Los Angeles is 9-10-0 at home against the spread despite their 17-9 home record. Meanwhile, the Pelicans are 10-4-1 as a road underdog, which is a trend we like. New Orleans is somewhat of a sleeper team, and keep an eye out for any players they might sign on the buyout market

Leg-3 SGP Pick: Pelicans -2½ (-110)

Lakers-Pelicans-Lakers under 234½ (+115)

When the Lakers play against a good team, they go under. At least that has been the case recently. They were under the number by 19 against Boston, by eight against the Knicks, and by 13 against the Nuggets. And since the Pelicans are a good team, especially lately, we expect that trend to continue to the point that the Pelicans win the game and Lakers Nation marches in the streets outside the Crypto Center because the Lakers stood pat in the belief that they have one more year of LeBron, and they will be able to draft his son, Bronny, out of USC and fulfill LeBron’s wish of one day playing with is son.

Leg-4 SGP Pick: Pelicans-Lakers under 234½ (+115)

Put those four picks together and you get a same-game parlay of +60000, mostly because the triple-double and the double-double are considered highly unlikely. But Friday is payday, and you might have a little extra cash to take a chance heading into Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift weekend.

Since three-quarters of Americans will be wagering on that football game in Las Vegas, we might as well try to give you a leg up on the rest of them with this NBA parlay. If you put a few astute picks together and they hit, you can actually fly to Tokyo for the resumption of Taylor’s tour. A $10 wager here would return $6,010. Good luck!

Odds are subject to change*

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