The LA Lakers will face the Sacramento Kings on March 13 (Wednesday) at the Golden 1 Center. This will be the fourth and last meeting of the regular season between the two teams, with the Kings leading the season series by 3-0. The most recent clash between the two teams was last week, where Sacramento picked up the victory 130-120. Since then, the Lakers have bounced back with two wins against the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves. Meanwhile, the Kings have won two of their three games since then. Sacramento has been one of the teams this season that LA has struggled against. However, the Lakers still hold the lead in all-time head-to-head matchups (281–169).
Preview
LA suffered one of the worst defeats against the Sacramento Kings last season. De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis totally dominated them. Neither Anthony Davis nor De’Angelo Russell could respond to this incredible trio.
The Kings lead the NBA in defensive rebound percentage. Sabonis has been a strong force for them. He has been averaging 20.1 points and 13.5 rebounds this season and his last five games saw him average 22.2 points and 17.6 rebounds. It will be interesting to see how Anthony Davis will try to stop him on both offense and defense.
Starting lineup
LA has Christian Wood, Cam Reddish, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt and Collin Castleton listed in the injury report.
The LA Lakers will most likely start with their usual lineup of D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Anthony Davis.
Sacramento will be without Keegan Murray and Sasha Vezenkov in the upcoming contest. The Kings will start with De’Aaron Fox, Keon Ellis, Harrison Barnes, Kevin Huerter and Domantas Sabonis.
Unlike the Lakers, Sacramento has great scoring options, like Monk. He has been performing amazingly this season, coming off the bench and giving the team the necessary firepower.
Also Read: Ranking the NBA Center Tiers 2023-24 Season
Prediction
The Kings will be playing on their homecourt on Wednesday, so they have a slight advantage. Expect them to cover the spread and win the game. Hence, sweeping the season series against the Lakers.
