Sacramento Kings Season Preview, Win Total Prediction and Playoff Odds

It’s a miracle Luke Walton is still the head coach of the Sacramento Kings after last year’s team posted the second-worst defensive rating in NBA history at 117.2.

The 2018-19 Cleveland Cavaliers (117.6) are the only team with a worse mark, and the Kings’ defensive issues caused them to miss the NBA’s Play-In Tournament last season. 

The most frustrating part may be that Sacramento has a solid young core with Tyrese Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, Buddy Hield and Richaun Holmes, but can’t seem to put everything together. 

Let’s not forget about veteran Harrison Barnes who posted a career-high in field goal percentage last season while averaging 16.1 points per game. The Kings have the pieces, especially now that they draft defensive-minded guard Davion Mitchell, but I’m not sold on Walton being the coach to put everything together. 

Sacramento will face an uphill battle to make the postseason in the 2021-22 campaign, as the Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers, who were the No. 7 through No. 9 seeds last year, have all improved heading into this season. 

Maybe Sacramento sneaks into the No. 10 spot that the San Antonio Spurs held last season, but there is going to need to be a culture change on defense. 

Here’s how the oddsmakers at WynnBET are viewing the Kings this season: 

Sacramento Kings Win Total Prediction | 36.5 (Over -105/Under -116)

The Spurs needed 33 wins in a 72-game season to make the No. 10 seed in the West, so it’s safe to say that the Kings will need to hit the over on this projection if they want to make the postseason for the first time since the 2005-06 season. 

Yeah, it’s been a long time for Kings fans. 

I love the edge that Mitchell brings this team, and a trio of him, Fox and Haliburton is a great guard rotation. Still, the Kings have an injury-prone Bagley in the frontcourt with Holmes and Tristan Thompson and Alex Len are uninspiring options behind him. 

Fox, Barnes, Haliburton and Hield are going to shoot the ball efficiently and at volume for the Kings to compete unless they do a complete 180 defensively. 

Sacramento Kings Playoff Odds

The Kings may find themselves in the NBA’s Play-In Tournament, but they aren’t expected to find much more success than that, as they’re +400 at WynnBET to make the postseason. 

When you look at the Western Conference, it’s hard to find a team out of the Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Warriors, Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks that will fall off and miss the postseason in the 2021-22 campaign. 

That leaves the Kings, New Orleans Pelicans and Spurs to compete for the No. 10 spot, and it’s going to be an uphill battle to win two games simply to earn the No. 8 seed in the West.

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