Can the Sacramento Kings outrun the struggling Los Angeles Lakers? An old-school track meet could be Sacramento's only path to victory against a porous Lakers' defense.
Here’s an idea for Sacramento Kings' head coach Doug Christie before the Kings (8-23, 13th in the Western Conference) visit the Los Angeles Lakers (19-10) on for a 9:30 p.m. (ET) tipoff at Cypto.com Arena, Sunday in Los Angeles.
They should turn the game into an old-school track meet and let it ride .. much like the two teams used to play in the 1980's. It might take 135-140 points for the Kings to get their second straight win. Especially, with the Lakers, coming off a 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas night, playing defense like it’s 1984.
The road underdog, Kings (+13.5, -115) according to oddsmakers at DraftKings Sports book, have their work cut out for them in order to make it two in a row in the win column.
Sacramento, 3-7 in their last 10 games and 3-13 on the road this season, is +490 on the money line.
The Lakers (-13.5, -105) are -675 to get the cash window, while the over/under total is 231.5 (o, -112, u -110) for the second game of the 2025-26 NBA season between both teams.
The Kings, playing a back-to-back for the second consecutive weekend, are coming off an impressive 113-107 home win, as +3.5 underdogs no less, over the Dallas Mavericks.
Sacramento, led by Russell Westbrook’s 21 points and 9 assists, jumped out to a 27-12 first quarter lead and cruised into halftime up 15 points.
The Kings had a 98-79 advantage at one point in the fourth quarter, before Dallas cut Sacramento’s lead down to 11 points twice in the second half, including 108-97 with 3:01 left in the game, before having the door shut late.
The win, also aided by 19 points and six rebounds from Maxime Raynaud, closed the Kings’ Saturday night tab for 2025 at 4-1 overall, including 3-0 in their first three Saturday night games of the season.
Keon Ellis, a undrafted player out of Alabama drawing serious trade interest, scored 21 points, including knocking down 5-of-10 triples.
The Lakers, on a three-game losing streak as they return home, where they are 7-5 this season, have been blown out three straight times and given up 132 and 103 in separate losses to the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers, respectively, since defeating the Utah Jazz 10 days ago.
However, the Lakers, 4-6 in their last 10 games, defeated the Kings 127-120 in late-October.
Yet, the Lakers, who recently lost Austin Reaves to a calf strain again after his return to the team last Tuesday vs. the Suns, are fourth in the Western Conference and just six games back of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top seed.
Los Angeles opened their 2025-26 by winning 11 of 13 games, but have played .500 ball since.
The main reason? Lack of defense, especially when Reaves, LeBron James and Luka Doncic, who leads the team in scoring at 33.7 points per game, are on the court together.
The combination of stars has really taken its toll on the Lakers in recent days - if not, most notably against the Rockets three days ago when all five of Houston’s starters had made field goals by the eight-minute mark of the first quarter forcing head coach J.J. Reddick to call a timeout.
Westbrook, averaging 14.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game this season, moved into seventh place on the all-time NBA list with 10,149, passing Magic Johnson, who had 10,141.
Zach LaVine, the Kings leading scorer, continues to be sidelined with a high ankle sprain and will miss another week - at least.
Star forward Domantas Sabonis (meniscus tear) will be reevaluated in 4-5 weeks, as per ESPN, while Keegan Murray (right calf strain) is likely to miss another week.
Reaves, who missed nearly two weeks prior to his return, is expected to be out at least four weeks.
James, for all his accomplishments on the basketball court, is old and past his prime. His best days are behind him.
And Doncic is, most often than not, uninterested in playing defense.
So, trusting the Lakers, even against a Kings team playing on consecutive nights, to cover 13 points might be stressful, especially the way the Lakers have been playing defense recently.
Fernie Ruano is a sports analyst and content creator in Miami, Florida and he contributed to this article.