Tonight’s game against the Indiana Pacers might just be the most important one of the season in the battle for the worst record in the league. The Kings are currently a half game up but the Pacers have lost nine in a row and don’t look like they’re going to stop anytime soon. What happens when a moveable object meets a stoppable force? We’ll find out tonight!
Who: Sacramento Kings (15-50) vs. Indiana Pacers 15-49)
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass
The Pacers are in this predicament not due to hubris and mismanagement like the Kings but rather due to terrible injury luck as Tyrese Haliburton has missed the entire season with a torn Achilles. Pacers star Pascal Siakam will also be out tonight, as will Kings killer TJ McConnell. That leaves Aaron Nesmith and Jarace Walker as the only Pacers averaging double digits this season. Indiana has played a whopping 25 different players this season thanks to all their injuries.
The Kings have injury concerns of their own, but no new ones for tonight’s matchup. DeMar DeRozan missed the last game due to illness but it appears he’ll be back in the lineup tonight. The Kings are actually favored in this one, and honestly they should be. It would probably take a miracle of incompetence and bad shooting for the Kings to actually lose this matchup tonight, but thankfully that’s a Kings specialty. On the other hand, we can’t have nice things ever so Indiana’s tank will likely come out ahead here. Hopefully the lottery gods look more favorably on us when the time comes, we already gifted the Pacers their star, we don’t need to give them another.
Prediction: Kings 126, Pacers 104