With two days left in the NBA regular season, let the mayhem commence. All 30 teams are in action both today and Sunday, including several who still have a lot to play for. The third through eighth seeds in the Western Conference have somehow still not been determined.
The LA Clippers, who travel to the California capital to face the Sacramento Kings tonight at 10 p.m. ET, are the hottest team in the six-squad morass, having won each of their last six games. LA can also rest assured knowing that it has one of the league’s most notorious playoff risers — power forward Kawhi Leonard — on its roster. In his last 10 games, Leonard has averaged 25.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game on absurd 55-48-92 shooting splits.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Clippers are six-point favorites and the total is set for 225.5. Below, I’ve detailed my favorite prop bets centered around Fun Guy.
Best Kawhi Leonard Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Kawhi Leonard O25.5 Points (-115)
Every game from here on out for LA is a playoff game. A win would go a long way towards claiming the fourth seed in the Western Conference, especially since the Denver Nuggets have a difficult matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, and with a contest against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, the Clippers are far from confirmed to have a first-round series. Sacramento doesn’t have much to play for, unless it cares about hosting the 9-10 Play-In Tournament game instead of traveling to Dallas, and the calf strain that Malik Monk suffered definitely hurts its chances of advancing out of the tournament.
The Kings — just like star center Domantas Sabonis, who has suffered both a calf injury and an ankle injury since the All-Star break — are somewhat limping into the playoffs. They’ve posted the league’s 10th-worst defensive rating since the All-Star break and have gone just 11-14 since then, and individually, none of Sacramento’s stars — Sabonis, Zach LaVine, or DeMar DeRozan — are great defensive players, especially with the offensive burden they have to carry. This season, the Kings have allowed the league’s second-highest field goal percentage on above-the-break threes, a shot that Leonard has hit at an incredible 45.9% clip since the All-Star break.
Kawhi Leonard U6.5 Rebounds (-105)
To its credit, the one place where Sacramento has excelled this season is on the boards. That’s usually what happens when you have Sabonis, who has led the league in boards per game in each of the past three seasons and has the 13th-highest total rebounding percentage in NBA history. Then, at the trade deadline, the Kings doubled down, bringing in Sabonis’ Lithuanian national teammate, Jonas Valančiūnas, whose career rebounding percentage is 1.41 percentage points better than Sabonis’. Even with the southpaw’s injuries, Sacramento has still ranked third in rebounds allowed since the All-Star break because of Valančiūnas.
LA is no slouch on the glass, but that’s not because of Leonard, who’s averaging his fewest rebounds per game since his stint with the San Antonio Spurs. Instead, he’s operated closer to the perimeter, allowing Ivica Zubac — who’s recorded three 20-rebound games in his last 12 appearances, averaging 13.3 boards per game across that span — to battle with Sabonis and Valančiūnas inside. In three games against the Kings this season, Zubac has averaged 14.7 boards per game, and Leonard recorded only four boards the last time the two teams matched up. Overall, he’s recorded six or fewer rebounds in three of his last four games.
