Sacramento Kings vs. Phoenix Suns: Picks, Predictions, Odds and Player Props

After disappointing 2023/24 campaigns, both the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns have experienced a revitalization of sorts this season.

Phoenix has improved considerably on the margins while becoming a more efficient offense under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, while Sacramento is a much healthier team and is back to executing well in late-game situations again, thanks to the addition of DeMar DeRozan.

This game promises to be an exciting battle between Western Conference foes on Sunday, and the point spread reflects that. With early season conference positioning up for grabs, let’s get into our expert’s betting picks and predictions for this important tilt in Phoenix.  

Sacramento Kings vs. Phoenix Suns betting picks and predictions

Sacramento Kings ML (-115)

The Kings enter this game having won five of their last seven contests, despite suffering a loss to the Clippers on Friday. While Sacramento is 5-4 on the season - respectable but certainly not the record of a world-beater - the Kings are looking more like the team they were during the 2022/23 season.

It all starts on offense, and the addition of DeRozan has done wonders to take some of the pressure off point guard De’Aaron Fox, especially in clutch time situations. Sacramento is a top eight offense in the league by net rating, while the Kings sit at fifth overall in field goal percentage and sixth in true shooting percentage. This is a well-balanced unit, with six players averaging in double figures.

The biggest improvement from last year’s team to this year’s team is that the Kings are actually playing much better defense. In fact, compared to last season’s bottom of the league unit, Sacramento is up to 12th in defensive rating and 14th in scoring defense on the season. That has to be encouraging for coach Mike Brown, who is also very familiar with the pieces on this Suns team that they’ll face on Sunday.

As for Phoenix, the 2024/25 campaign couldn’t have gotten off to a better start, as the Suns have stormed out to an 8-1 record and currently sit at the top of the Western Conference. However, part of why the Suns have been so excellent has been due to the MVP-caliber season they were getting from Kevin Durant, who was averaging nearly 28 points and seven rebounds per game on over 55 percent shooting.

Unfortunately, Durant went down with a calf strain in Phoenix’s last contest on Friday, and he’ll be out for this matchup. With that in mind, it’s hard to see the Suns being able to keep up with Sacramento, especially since Durant was playing excellent defense as well. Devin Booker hasn’t quite hit his stride yet this season, and he could struggle as the primary option against this improved Kings defense.

All things considered, our best bet is on the Kings on the Money Line in this matchup between conference foes. 

Under 228.5 (-110)

A Kings winning game script used to be one that involved a ton of points. However, that isn’t always the case this season, and Sacramento should be able to lean on its defensive improvements to get the job done in this one.

Even with Durant at full health, games involving the Suns still went under this listed total in five of their nine contests this season. In fact, a few of the games only cleared this number due to overtime. 

Both of these teams rank inside the top 12 in defensive rating and it helps that each team is playing pretty slow this season. The Kings used to play at the fastest tempo in the league, but now they sit at 16th in pace, while the Suns are lower at 19th. 

This should be a game where both teams clear 100, but don’t expect either unit to hit 120 points on Sunday. Let’s go with Under 228.5 (-110) for our game totals prediction.

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Sacramento Kings vs. Phoenix Suns odds

Sacramento Kings	-115 ML
Phoenix Suns	-105 ML
Spread	SAC Kings -1.0
Total Points	O/U 228.5

Sacramento Kings vs. Phoenix Suns player props

Player Points

Devin Booker (PHX Suns)	O/U 28.5
Bradley Beal (PHX Suns)	O/U 19.5
Tyus Jones (PHX Suns)	O/U 11.5
De’Aaron Fox (SAC Kings)	O/U 24.5
Domantas Sabonis (SAC Kings)	O/U 16.5
DeMar DeRozan (SAC Kings)	O/U 22.5

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.