On Monday night, the Sacramento Kings took down the Dallas Mavericks to pick up their first win of the season, and now there are no undefeated teams and no winless teams remaining in the NBA.
Bottom-of-the-West Sacramento will be back in action tonight at 10 p.m. ET with a home clash against the Los Angeles Lakers, who are currently in fourth in the conference.
The only name on the Lakers’ injury report is wing Adou Thiero (knee), who has yet to suit up this season. For the Kings, Keegan Murray (ankle), Sean Pedulla (G-League), Maxime Raynaud (knee), and Ben Simmons (Achilles) remain absent, though of the four, Murray is the only one who has played this season. Precious Achiuwa (ankle) is probable.
Even on the road, Los Angeles is a 12.5-point favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook (-620 Moneyline), with the point total set to 233.5. Sacramento is +455 on the Moneyline.
Below, I’ll break down this all-California affair and offer a prediction.
Los Angeles Lakers at Sacramento Kings preview, prediction
The Lakers made massive changes in the offseason, bringing in three new starters (Walker Kessler, Ziaire Williams, and Matisse Thybulle) to complement Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, as well as critical bench pieces Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Sexton. So far, the moves have paid off; Dončić has been sensational (38.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and 1.9 steals per game), and Los Angeles has posted a 6-2 record and the league’s best offensive rating. It hasn’t been so good defensively, ranking 10th-to-last on that side of the ball, but its offense has thus far been good enough to carry it to the seventh-best net rating.
The Kings are in rebuild mode, and they’ve given seventh overall pick Darius Acuff Jr. the ultimate green light, as he’s leading the league in field goal attempts per game en route to a pretty inefficient 26.1 points and 6.3 assists per contest. Domantas Sabonis has continued to do Sabonis things, leading the league in boards while adding 15.0 points and 6.9 assists per game, and Zach LaVine has been relatively efficient, especially from two-point range. Still, Sacramento remains a work in progress; it ranks sixth-to-last in offensive rating and third-to-last in defensive rating.
Lakers at Kings pick, best bet
Neither of these teams has gotten all the way to the basket very frequently this season, as the Lakers have attempted the seventh-fewest restricted-area tries per game and the Kings the sixth-fewest. However, Los Angeles has finished much more efficiently on such looks, as there are few guards in NBA history with more touch around the basket than Dončić. The Lakers should be able to maintain their edge on the other end of the floor, too; Sacramento has allowed the highest percentage on layups this season, while Los Angeles has been merely the seventh-worst team. Individually, Sabonis ranks in just the 15th percentile in rim points saved per 100 possessions, while Kessler’s mark sits in the 91st.
Perhaps surprisingly, given that Kessler led the league in offensive boards per game in 2024/25 and Sabonis is a three-time rebounding champ, neither of these teams has been particularly formidable on the glass, although the Lakers have a higher mark with Kessler on the court than the Kings with Sabonis on. Transition play should also benefit the visitors; Los Angeles has averaged the second-most points off of turnovers and 11th-most fast break points per game so far this season, while Sacramento has not hustled back. Both teams have been somewhat indisciplined so far, but I’d back the Lakers to continue doing a better job getting to the line in the long run.
Although neither of these teams is particularly reliant on three-pointers, Los Angeles should definitely have the shooting edge overall. Neither of these teams has done a good job producing uncontested jumpers, but Dončić and Reaves both have significant track records of hitting difficult shots, and while Williams, Thybulle, Dončić, and Reaves likely won’t continue to all shoot north of 40% for the season, they all have a significant track record of solid marksmanship, especially recently. The Lakers have also done a somewhat better job forcing opponents into difficult looks, as the Kings have given up the most wide-open triples per game.
I’m going to avoid touching the full-game spread, given that it’s very possible that Los Angeles jumps out to an early lead and pulls its starters, but the minus-3.5 first quarter spread is enticing. The Lakers tend to play Dončić for the entire first quarter — he hasn’t missed a minute in the opening frame yet this season and is averaging 15.0 points per game in the quarter — and Los Angeles has a plus-16.1 net rating in such situations, the third-best mark in the league. It’s won the first quarter by at least four points in each of the last four games in which Dončić has played.
