This is a major contrast of two teams heading into opposite directions as the Golden State Warriors visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

The Warriors are on the verge of entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed for the fourth time in the past five seasons. They need just three wins -- or three Denver Nuggets losses -- to officially clinch the No. 1 seed in the West. They're coming off yet another dominant 116-102 win over the Nuggets on Tuesday night.

On the other hand, the Lakers are closing out a disappointing 2018-19 campaign that will see them miss the playoffs yet again. At 35-47, they need just one more win to improve upon last season's win total -- which would mean that Luke Walton will have increased his win total for the second straight year in Los Angeles.

However, his future is uncertain as ever as Jeanie Buss recently stated that Magic Johnson will dictate whether or not Walton returns as head coach.

Here's everything you need to know about tonight's divisional matchup.

How to watch Warriors at Lakers

  • Date: Thursday, April 4
  • Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: Staples Center -- Los Angeles, CA
  • TV: TNT
  • Streaming: fuboTV (try it free)
  • Live stats:  GameTracker
  • Odds: Warriors -13

Odds and analysis

Check Sportsline's NBA pick sheet for all your daily odds.

So who wins Lakers vs. Warriors? And which side of the spread has all the value? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Lakers vs. Warriors spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that is up more than $4,500 on its top-rated NBA picks this season, and find out.  

Storylines

Warriors: They are closing in on the No. 1 seed, and considering four of their five remaining games are against teams that are lottery-bound, it's all but a foregone conclusion that they will finish atop the Western Conference yet again. Stephen Curry is 31 points away from passing Paul Arizin for third place on the all-time franchise scoring list.

Lakers: L.A. is about to complete its sixth straight non-playoff season, but it has been playing better as of late. The Lakers won three straight games at Staples Center and four of their past six games overall. The biggest storyline surrounding the Lakers as of late has been the uncertain future of head coach Luke Walton. Juwan Howard has been rumored as a possible candidate for the job, having been LeBron James' teammate and coach with the Miami Heat.

Game prediction, pick

This is going to be a blowout. The Lakers are going with starting lineups featuring the likes of Moritz Wagner and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to close out the season as LeBron sits out the remaining few games. Expect the Warriors to blow out the Lakers by the end of the first quarter as they continue to cement their hold on the No. 1 seed in the West.