The Sacramento Kings host the Los Angeles Clippers for an intrastate rivalry match tonight.
The pregame narrative: With Kawhi Leonard out, Norman Powell has been forced to carry the scoring load for Los Angeles. I expect him to produce — albeit in a losing effort — and am also backing De’Aaron Fox from deep.
Check out my Clippers vs. Kings same-game parlay predictions for Nov. 8.
Clippers vs. Kings predictions
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Parlay: Kings moneyline + Fox over 1.5 threes + Powell over 22.5 points (+335)
Kings moneyline (-278): Sacramento started its season with two losses but has been rolling since.
The Kings are 5-1 in their last six with the only loss coming in overtime in Toronto during Vince Carter’s jersey retirement night.
In that span, Sacramento ranks fifth in net rating (+9.0) and defensive rating (108.8). Offence wasn’t a problem for Mike Brown’s group last year, so it’s encouraging to see the team tighten up on the other end of the floor where it struggled.
The Clippers have been a great defensive team so far but have struggled to score without Leonard, which has led to a middling 4-4 record.
L.A. has won back-to-back games, but those were against the bottom-feeding San Antonio Spurs and the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid.
The Kings are 24-14 SU as a home favourite since the start of last season and 2-0 this year. I expect the good times to continue in California’s capital.
SGP legs
Fox over 1.5 threes (-265): Fox is having a dreadful start to the season shooting the deep ball. But he’s still firing with volume and that’s good enough for me.
Sacramento’s point guard is attempting 6.9 threes a night, which is more than any season except last year when he attempted 7.8.
He’s only connecting at a 29.1% clip but has still cleared this mark in five of eight games.
The Clippers are a nice matchup for Fox to get back on the horse. L.A. is allowing opponents to shoot 37.2% from deep, which is the ninth-highest rate in the NBA.
Powell over 22.5 points (+108): Clippers fans would love to have Leonard back but I’m sure Powell doesn’t hate his increased role.
The former Toronto Raptor has been on fire to start the season, scoring a team-high 25.0 PPG on impressive 53.0/48.5/86.2 shooting splits.
He’s gone over this mark in five straight games and ranks 47th in the NBA in usage rate, tied with LeBron James.
Much like the Clippers, the Kings struggle to defend the arc, ranking a pedestrian 17th in opponent 3-point percentage.
Powell takes the most threes per game (8.5) of anyone on L.A. and I expect him to be active this evening.
Picks made at 10:55 a.m. ET on 11/08/2024.
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Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.