The Kings face a Pelicans team they can beat tonight, and despite the fact that it doesn’t benefit them at all to do so, the tank remains in a dangerous position. Let’s get into it.
Who: Sacramento Kings (20-57) vs. the New Orleans Pelicans (25-52)
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass
The Kings, behind a 35-minute, 28-point performance from DeMar DeRozan, defeated the Toronto Raptors 123-115 on Wednesday night. The win pushed the Kings to 20-57, just one game below the Utah Jazz at 21-56. Utah has lost 7-straight.
Enter the New Orleans Pelicans, a team that doesn’t own their own draft pick this year. Tanking isn’t on the table for them, however they are bad enough without the tanking carrot to lose to the Kings tonight, and that’s a problem.
A little over a month ago, the Kings had the worst record in the NBA. With that label, the furthest they could fall in the draft lottery was 5th, and they had a greater chance of drafting in the top-5 than any other team in the league. Today, they are dangerously close to letting the Jazz overtake them. If that happens, the Kings would be positioned as the 5th worst team in the NBA, and while they could still walk away with a top-5 pick, it’s more likely that they’ll land somewhere between 6-8 on draft night.
The difference between these scenarios might seem trivial, but for me, it’s more about why they got here than the simple fact that they got here. If the Kings were maxing out youth minutes and still winning games, oh well. There’s only so much you can do about that. But this isn’t what’s happening in Sacramento. Yes, the youth is playing, but the Raptors win is the most egregious example of how horribly the Kings have handled the tank down the stretch. Why, god, why, is DeMar DeRozan still playing 35 minutes in any of these games? Who does that benefit? We’re talking about a 36-year old veteran who likely won’t be on the team next season impacting a scenario that could hurt the organization for several years into the future. And I don’t care if that negative impact is just a handful of ping pong balls, I still don’t see the logic behind taking that risk.
I’ve said enough. Go Pelicans, save the Kings from themselves.
Prediction: Kings 119, Pelicans 109.
Badge Legend