On Sunday, the New Orleans Pelicans (27-27) play in the second of consecutive games at home against a Sacramento Kings (29-22) team that will play in the first of a back-to-back of their own. Sacramento is 4-3 in such matchups this season, while the Pelicans are 2-6 when they've played the previous day. Kings point guard De'Aaron Fox missed the team's last game due to personal reasons, and will extend his absence on Sunday.
Tip-off from the Smoothie King Center, where the Pelicans are 18-9 this season, is set for 7 p.m. ET. Sacramento is favored by 1 point in the latest Pelicans vs. Kings odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over/under is set at 228. Before entering any Kings vs. Pelicans picks, you'll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past four-plus seasons. The model enters Week 16 of the 2022-23 NBA season on a stunning 49-23 roll on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning nearly $2,300. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Pelicans vs. Kings. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several NBA betting lines for Pelicans vs. Kings:
- Pelicans vs. Kings spread: Pelicans +1
- Pelicans vs. Kings over/under: 228 points
- Pelicans vs. Kings money line: New Orleans -105, Sacramento -115
- Pelicans vs. Kings picks: See picks here
What you need to know about the Pelicans
New Orleans didn't win by much on Saturday, but after the results over the last month, the Pelicans were happy to finish with a 131-126 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Center Jonas Valanciunas led the charge as he dropped a double-double on 18 points and 14 rebounds along with five assists. Brandon Ingram had his best game since coming back from a toe injury that kept him off the floor for much of the early part of the year and finished with 35 points and five rebounds.
The Pelicans only shot 30% from beyond the 3-point line against the Lakers, which has been par for the course over their last five games (30.7%). Tre Murphy III has done his best to help the matter and has made 39.1% of his attempts from downtown over his last four starts. The Pelicans could be in for an improved performance from deep on Sunday against a Kings team that allowed Indiana to hit 41% of its 3-pointers on Friday.
What you need to know about the Kings
Without Fox, and with Indiana dialed-in from distance, the Kings lost their last game 107-104. Harrison Barnes did his best to keep Sacramento competitive, finishing with 23 points and five rebounds. Domantas Sabonis has been a double-double machine for the Kings this season and put up another one with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Sacramento has to find a way to get production out of the point guard position in the absence of Fox. Davion Mitchell got the start in his place on Friday, but finished with just three points. In four starts this season, he has averaged just 6.8 points and 3.3 assists with a usage rate of 12.9%. Despite Sabonis' dominance on the boards, the Kings need to improve their rebounding as a team, as they have been out-rebounded 44.2-40.6 over their last five games.
How to make Kings vs. Pelicans picks
The model has simulated Pelicans vs. Kings 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in well over 50% of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
Who wins Pelicans vs. Kings? And which side of the spread is a must-back? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its NBA picks, and find out.
