Betting picks for depleted Los Angeles Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers are limping into the All-Star Break and are going to benefit greatly from the added rest. The injuries have stacked up a bit and with LeBron James resting in the last game of the first half, Laker fans are getting an interesting lineup on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings.

No LeBron, no Anthony Davis, no Marc Gasol. Kyle Kuzma did not play on Tuesday and his status, at the time of writing this, is still up in the air. Alex Caruso left Tuesday’s game early with neck spasms and his status is up in the air as well.

Simply put, we are going to get a Lakers team that looks nothing like the best version of the Lakers and that is reflected in the betting lines. It is rare when the Lakers are underdogs, it is even rarer when they are underdogs to a team like the Sacramento Kings.

According to the Bet MGM lines on the Action Network, the Lakers enter this game as 3.5-point underdogs. The point total for the game has been set at 233.5. It feels weird even typing that out, but that is the reality of the situation.

This is an… interesting game to pick. This is the prime example of a game that you would never actually bet on with real money, but in the nature of the ongoing series here at Lake Show Life, I have to make my picks.

I am 30-30 on the season.

Betting picks for Los Angeles Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings:

• Los Angeles Lakers +3.5, under 233.5 (Final score: Sacramento Kings 110, Los Angeles Lakers 107)

All conventional wisdom says to pick against the Los Angeles Lakers in this game and that is exactly why I am going with the Lakers. Typically, when I feel so strongly about a certain line I am usually on the wrong side of history and it was a trap line.

See the under from the game against the Suns. I was trapped into that one.

I still have the Lakers losing this game as it would feel a bit biased if I picked the Lakers to win without four of their best six players. However, it is the Sacramento Kings we are talking about and I think we will see some big performances that are similar to the preseason.

I think this will be Talen Horton-Tucker’s night. He is going to have a big game and with the offensive output of Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schroder, I think the Lakers will stay in this game enough to keep it to one possession.

It will ultimately come down to the Lakers needing to hit a big shot at the end of the game and not having Anthony Davis nor LeBron James to hit said big shot. Kings win, Lakers cover.

The under feels like a lock as well. The Kings are terrible defensively and the Lakers are missing pieces in the frontcourt but the scoring absence in LA plus the strong defensive schemes should keep this from being that high-scoring of a game.

I feel a 2-0 finish to the first half in my future.