Kings 2021 Schedule: Top Games, Updated Championship Odds and Predictions
For 14 straight years, the Sacramento Kings have been unable to enjoy playoff basketball. Based on how the first half of the NBA regular season unfolded, that streak could end in 2020-21.
At 12-19, Sacramento sits 12th in the Western Conference, which puts the team three games out from making the play-in tournament to determine the last two postseason seeds in each conference.
This has been a roller-coaster season for the Kings. They dropped 10 of their first 15 games before winning seven of their next eight contests. An eight-game losing streak has followed, sending them back down the standings.
That makes Sacramento a tough team to forecast in the second half.
Luke Walton has the pieces to make a push for one of the lower playoff seeds in the West, but the Kings' porous defense doesn't inspire much confidence.
2020-21 Kings Schedule Details
Second-Half Opener: vs. Houston Rockets, March 11
Championship Odds (via FanDuel Sportsbook): +24000 (bet $100 to win $24,000)
Second-Half Schedule: NBA.com
Top Matchups
Memphis Grizzlies (May 13 and 14)
Simply by going to the NBA bubble and getting into the play-in tournament against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Memphis Grizzlies overachieved in 2019-20.
Building upon that success hasn't been easy.
Neither Jaren Jackson Jr. nor Justise Winslow has played because of injuries they suffered last season. Ja Morant suffered an ankle injury in late December that proved to be less serious than it initially looked.
Memphis also had five straight games postponed in January because of the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. That came as the team was riding a five-game winning streak.
The Grizzlies are right there with the Kings in the race for a play-in berth, which raises the stakes when the two teams step on the court.
Golden State Warriors (First Matchup: March 25)
The Golden State Warriors are in the same position.
Stephen Curry is still capable of going off for 50-plus points—something he has done twice this year—but there's no getting around the glaring flaws on Golden State's roster.
Andrew Wiggins isn't a vastly different version of the player he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves. While acquiring Kelly Oubre Jr. made sense as a reaction to Klay Thompson's Achilles tendon injury, his inefficiency has dragged down the offense.
More than anything, the Warriors simply don't have a ton of depth, and their first unit is no longer so good to mask the deficiency.
The opportunity is there for Sacramento to finish ahead of Golden State in the West, something that hasn't happened since 2005-06.
Season Forecast
Some years, a .500 finish isn't close to the pace necessary to sneak into the playoffs from the West. Considering how this season has ebbed and flowed, 36 wins will probably be around the magic number to qualify.
That might be the most realistic target for the Kings, too. They started slowly and then course-corrected with a hot stretch to level off a bit.
The biggest concern for Sacramento is a defensive rating (118.2) that is last in the NBA, per NBA.com. The Kings were regularly allowing 120-plus points a night early in the season, and that level returned during their brutal stretch in February.
If Walton can get his team's defense to be just slightly below league average, then it might be enough to get into the play-in conversation. But the Kings don't really deserve the benefit of the doubt until they can enjoy some level of consistency that extends beyond a week or two.
Record Prediction: 33-39
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