Sacramento celebrated one of its biggest wins of the season Saturday. Are the Kings the favorite here versus Utah?
To tank, or not to tank. That's the question surrounding the Sacramento Kings before facing the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Sure, Saturday's road stunner of the Los Angeles Clippers looks great on paper for a team that's 17-51 overall. It's also the kind of win that leave smiles on some Kings fans plus lights the beam up.
But the victory presented conflicted emotions too.
Sacramento is positioned to land inside the top five of the NBA Draft lottery. Unless the Kings lottery ball gets plucked early, Sacramento had been projected to claim the top overall pick in June's draft. Except the 118-109 win moved Sacramento out of the NBA cellar.
Now the Indiana Pacers own the league's worst record...which also increases their chances to nab AJ Dybantsa of BYU (if he officially declares) or the likes of Cameron Boozer (Duke) and Darryn Peterson (Kansas) with the No. 1 pick.
Again, conflicting emotions surfaced.
"The recent victories are good for team morale, but they could be bad for Sacramento’s position in the NBA draft," wrote Kings insider for the Sacramento Bee Jason Anderson. "The Kings had the worst record in the NBA for several weeks. They now have the third-worst record with only a half-game lead over the Brooklyn Nets."
Anderson further broke down what the Kings now face.
"The teams with the three worst records will have a 52.1% chance of securing a top-four pick and a 14.1% chance of landing the No. 1 pick. The team with the fourth-worst record will have a 48.1% chance of getting a top-four pick and a 12.5% chance of being awarded the No. 1 pick," Anderson wrote. "The team with the worst record can fall no lower than fifth in the draft while the team with the fourth-worst record can fall as far as eighth."
Other members of the local Sacramento media including Sactown 1140 AM were conflicted about the Saturday win too.
Well...the Jazz happen to land inside the same boat as the Kings. Utah at 20-47 could boost its own chances by tanking this contest. However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver previously fined Utah before the league's all-star break for player participation violations.
Utah is the underdog here per FanDuel Sportsbook but at a slight three-point one.
Fans can tune into NBC Sports California inside the Golden 1 Center to find out which team will boost their draft lottery chances. But do know if the beam lights up after the game, there'll be more mixed feelings from Kings fans about improving draft positioning.
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