After earning the No. 3 seed in the West last season, the Sacramento Kings find themselves in a battle for playoff seed in the 2023-24 season.
Right now, the team sits in eighth in the Western Conference, which means it would have to get through the play-in tournament to make the playoffs. Can the Kings navigate the end of the season to avoid the play-in?
The team’s latest playoff odds suggest that won’t be the case.
Kings’ odds to make the playoffs in 2023-24 season
After the Phoenix Suns defeated the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday, taking over the No. 7 seed ,the Kings’ odds of making the playoffs dropped from -150 to -135 (implied probability of 57.54 percent).
Sacramento is still favored to make the playoffs, but the team is certainly in a tough spot with Malik Monk now hurt and teams like Los Angeles and Golden State on its heels for the No. 8 seed. Plus, the Kings have to face the fourth-hardest remaining schedule in the NBA, which includes matchups with New Orleans and Phoenix.
- Phoenix Suns: -500 (implied probability of 83.33 percent)
- Los Angeles Lakers: -125 (implied probability of 55.56 percent)
- Dallas Mavericks: -10000 (implied probability of 99.01 percent)
- Golden State Warriors: +225 (implied probability of 30.77 percent)
- New Orleans Pelicans: -900 (implied probability of 90.00 percent)
Out of all of these teams (and the Kings), two will miss the playoffs. Right now, only Golden State is favored to miss the postseason, which means one fan base will end up disappointed by these odds.
Should you bet on the Kings to make the playoffs?
I’m worried about taking the Kings at -135 to make the playoffs given the injury to Monk and the tough schedule to end the season.
They are just 1.5 games up on the Los Angeles Lakers, who face the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors in their next two games and have the 24th toughest schedule remaining amongst NBA teams.
If the Kings fall into the No. 9 or No. 10 spot, they’ll be facing an uphill battle to win two games to make the playoffs. There isn’t a ton of value in betting the Kings at -135, but they could make a statement at home tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers.
A win in that game would go a long way to improving these odds.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.