Sacramento is on the road to face an aspiring Eastern Conference playoff contender. Here's how to watch and where the bets lie.
The Sacramento Kings have eight games remaining in the regular season. Starting with Saturday's game against the Atlanta Hawks.
Sacramento has multiple decisions to make...including if it's time to rest the veterans and let the younger guys get action. Or simply just finish the year out with the roster in place.
Considering the recent performance of DeMar DeRozan, he's likely not going to get shut down.
Sacramento at 19-55 remains in position to land a high draft pick. Even the recent string of NBA Draft proposals from commissioner Adam Silver likely won't damper the Kings landing inside the top five of the draft.
Yet some fans hope Sacramento still lands the top pick. Especially now that the season has ended for potential first round selections: BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Kansas star Darryn Peterson and Houston's Kingston Flemings. Meanwhile, Duke freshman sensation Cameron Boozer remains in the hunt for a national title after surviving St. John's on Friday.
Head coach Doug Christie still must be mindful of how he hands out minutes for some of his players, as the league continues to crack down on tanking. Christie allowing DeRozan to go off on the scoring end Thursday is proof that he's not resting his star players.
For Sacramento to pull the upset, Christie will need DeRozan's scoring and leadership. He'll also need to ride the momentum created by Daeqwon Plowden. Because the Kings aren't a slight underdog here.
The Hawks enter this game as a huge 14.5-point favorite to steamroll the Kings per Fanduel Sportsbook.
Sacramento has lost four of its last five games. Although the Kings came close to knocking off one aspiring Eastern Conference playoff team in the Orlando Magic, despite falling 121-117.
Atlanta becomes one of five remaining road games left for a team that will soon focus on its NBA Draft class, the summer league and thinking about what direction to go in with the roster.
Sacramento remains underhanded with only eight active players available against Orlando a couple of night ago. The Kings figure to roll with a similar lineup for this Saturday evening contest inside the State Farm Arena.
For Christie and the Kings, it's simply about finishing strong regardless of what the score looks like. Such will be the case for Saturday's contest, which will be aired on NBC Sports California and FanDuel Sports Network Southeast.
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