The Sacramento Kings will look to score their first win of the 2024-25 NBA season when they visit division rivals Los Angeles Lakers at crypto.com Arena. The Kings have a five-game win streak against the Lakers. Will that streak continue? Or, will Los Angeles end its cold spell under Sacramento?
Catch this game live on Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 10:30 AM, Manila time
Away: Sacramento Kings (1-0 / 0-0 Away)
Projected Starting Five:
- De’Aaron Fox
- Kevin Huerter
- DeMar DeRozan
- Keegan Murray
- Domantas Sabonis
Different team, same old DeMar DeRozan. In his regular-season debut for the Kings, the 35-year-old DeRozan scattered 26 points in 43 minutes in a 117-115 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. In true DeRozan fashion, he went 12/14 from the free-throw line. DeRozan’s penchant for fishing a ton of fouls is going to be huge for Sacramento, which was just 27th in the league a season ago in percentage of points off free throws.
Of course, the old reliable pair of Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox will play a huge role against the Lakers, with the latter looking to bounce back from a subpar performance in the T’wolves game. Sabonis had 24 points and eight boards against Minnesota while Fox had 15 on 6/14 shooting from the floor. Sacramento’s bench, meanwhile, will have to show more life outside of Malik Monk, who fired 17 of the Kings second unit’s 25 points, though that will also depend on how much Mike Brown is willing to play them.
The Kings are 5-0 against the spread in their last five meetings with the Lakers dating back to January 2023.
Home: Los Angeles Lakers (2-0/ 2-0 Home)
Projected Starting Five:
- D’Angelo Russell
- Austin Reaves
- Rui Hachimura
- LeBron James
- Anthony Davis
So far, so good in the JJ Redick era. The sample size is small, but Lakers fans can’t be unhappy with how their team is faring to start the season under Redick, who is slowly silencing his critics. Then again, it is still too early into the season (and his career) to draw anything conclusive about his tenure.
In any case, the Lakers are rolling. After winning their season opener, 110-103, over the Minnesota Timberwolves last Wednesday, the Lakers took down the Phoenix Suns at home on Saturday, 123-116. Anthony Davis remained hot, exploding for 35 points on 11/18 shooting. Through two games, Davis has 71 points on a 53.7 field goal percentage. What’s scary for LA opponents is that the Lakers have seemingly found their outside touch. Los Angeles shot just 5/30 from deep in the Minnesota game but was 14/27 versus the Suns. Austin Reaves had five threes on his way to a 26-point night while three other players had two triples each.
The Lakers have covered the spread in all of their last three regular-season games as the home team.
Picks
Spread: Sacramento Kings (+1.5)
Over/Under: Under (231.5)
