Mavericks vs. Kings play-in SGP predictions April 16: Look for LaVine to stay hot, fade Lively

Mavericks vs. Kings predictions

The Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks fight to keep their seasons alive on Wednesday night in the Western Conference’s 9-vs-10 matchup of the NBA play-in tournament.

The pregame narrative: Dallas has been injury-riddled for most of the past few weeks, and I’d rather not mess around with picking a side tonight. Instead, this +310 SGP has milestone prop bets for Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and Dereck Lively.

Check out my Mavericks vs. Kings SGP predictions for April 16.

Mavericks vs. Kings predictions

Parlay: Sabonis 6+ assists | LaVine 3+ threes | Lively under 5.5 rebounds (+310)

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Sabonis 6+ assists (-175): The best passing big man in the NBA is Nikola Jokic, but Sabonis isn’t that far off.

And for a guy who averages 6.0 assists on the season, this is a mark I expect Sabonis to hit based on the matchup.

  • Dallas allows the seventh-most assists per game to opposing centres, per Betting Pros.
  • Sabonis has 7+ assists vs. Dallas in four straight matchups (since March 2024).
  • This season, Sabonis has 6+ assists in 39 of 70 games (55.7%).

With De’Aaron Fox traded away and Malik Monk ruled out, Sabonis is the clear-cut No. 1 option to facilitate offence for the Kings.

NBA SGP legs

LaVine 3+ threes (-182): If Sabonis is doing his job as a passer, LaVine will hopefully be on the receiving end of some good looks.

And he deserves them.

LaVine is on fire from 3-point range over his past 10 games:

  • 51.9 3PT%
  • 4.0 makes
  • 7.7 attempts
  • 3+ threes in six straight

The Mavericks tend not to allow a ton of 3-point attempts, but who am I to fly in the face of this hot streak?

Even if the volume isn’t always high, Dallas does allow the 12th-highest opponent 3PT% in the NBA (36.3). LaVine went 4-for-5 from deep against the Mavs when he last faced them on March 3.

Lively under 5.5 rebounds (-150): Lively missed 36 games this season with an ankle injury, and his production since returning at the start of this month hasn’t been very encouraging.

The second-year centre has gone under 5.5 rebounds in three of four games. He played fewer than 20 minutes in each of those matchups.

At 7-foot-1, Lively will be the tallest player on the court tonight. But his minutes seem to be capped, and he’s competing against a pair of truly elite rebounders (Sabonis, Anthony Davis).

Lively ranks 17th in offensive rebounding rate (12.2%), but the Kings have the second-highest defensive rebounding rate in the NBA.

Mavericks vs. Kings predictions made at 11:24 a.m. ET 04/16/2025.

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Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles — especially for MLB markets or NFL/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he’ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.