Sacramento visits Los Angeles for Saturday Night’s featured DFS NBA Showdown slate. The Western Conference rivals will meet for the first time in a matchup where minutes are still being ramped up and rotations revealed. We're here to help you make the right read and build some winning lineups!

Here are our Kings vs. Lakers DFS picks, projections and playbook for Saturday night’s Showdown slate and nationally televised game on NBA TV.

 

 

 

NBA DFS Showdown Playbook For Kings vs. Lakers On NBA TV

The Lakers play on their first back-to-back of the 2024-25 season. LeBron James says he’ll suit up, but it remains to be seen what restrictions, if any, rookie head coach JJ Redick has in store.  

It’s only a two-game sample size, but Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura both have seen their respective roles grow significantly. Reports from the team have been transparent about this being a planned area of emphasis. Both are top DFS options each night until further notice.

Sacramento’s season opener was spoiled by Minnesota on Thursday. The Kings conceded a terrifying 20 3-pointers to the Timberwolves. This continues a concerning trend for the team, which has been a bottom-5 of 3-point defense each of the past three seasons. 

 

 

 

Offseason signing DeMar DeRozan looked wholly settled on his new squad. The 16-year-pro played 43 of a possible 48 minutes and scored 26 points, Sacramento’s team-high.

The Lakers opened as slight home favorites, but lines have quickly swung towards Sacramento. The game is essentially a pick’em, with the total sitting at 229.5 points. When it comes to NBA DFS, minutes = money, and if this game stays competitive, that will be especially true in this Showdown slate tonight.

Kings vs. Lakers Notable Injuries & Lineups

Sacramento Kings Key Injuries

  • None

Sacramento Kings Starting Lineup

Los Angeles Lakers Key Injuries

Los Angeles Lakers Starting Lineup

 

 

 

Kings vs. Lakers NBA DFS Showdown Picks: MVP & Captain 

Domantas Sabonis - $10,400 DK, $15,000 FD

Our NBA DFS Projections predict Sabonis and Davis will put up comparable fantasy scores and point-per-dollar values on both sites. I wanted to challenge this projection for diligence’s sake, but didn’t need to see much beyond last year’s splits. In 4 games against the Lakers, Sabonis averaged 18.5 / 17.5 / 8.5 in 37.3 minutes. 

Regardless of whether or not you expect Brow to get the better of Sabonis, the Sacramento center’s price is lower by just enough that we need to pay attention to him as the possible top option at Captain, especially on DraftKings. His salary savings will go further there, plus he likely will benefit from a double-double and/or triple-double bonus tonight.

Anthony Davis - $11,400 DK, $16,000 FD

Brow has been the best player in basketball through two games. His price has been raised accordingly though, and if you’re building multiple lineups, then he’s not a must-roster in all of them. 

My biggest concern for Davis tonight is a drop in minutes. Earlier this week, Redick said that there would be no premeditated plan for how they handled their star duo’s workload on back-to-backs this season. Since LeBron has said as much about this Saturday’s game, I’m more inclined to believe them than not.

 

 

 

That said, this is only the third game of the young season and players of all ages, shapes and sizes are still building themselves back up into peak gameshape. Brow has played 38 minutes in both games, so a reduction into the range of 32-34 minutes wouldn’t even be that surprising if players were in pristine, mid-year form.

Make no mistake - if there are no major limitations, Davis automatically becomes one of if not the top option on this slate. We need to find ways to differentiate our lineups in such a star-studded Showdown slate though, so consider Brow for your Captain, but don’t click him as the first player into that spot. The ceilings of De’Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan and even D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves are too high in this specific spot to not allow yourself a second to see how many you can fit into your builds if you don’t make Davis your MVP.

De’Aaron Fox - $9,600 DK, $13,500 FD

I alluded to it above, but I am fine with Fox as my MVP if it makes the rest of my lineup click. 

Fox always seems to have a fantastic fantasy game each time he takes the floor against the Lakers. In 4 matchups with Los Angeles last year, he averaged a terrific 32.5 / 4.3 / 6.0 in 36.6 minutes.

DeRozan’s arrival definitely detracts from Fox’s DFS upside, but the net usage at least looks like it will be split between the two. In the season opener, Fox attempted only 14 FG - he has not averaged fewer than 18.2 FG attempts since 2020 - but dished out 11 dimes, something he only did twice in 2023. He’s fantastic DFS pick and Captain candidate tonight.

 

 

 

DeMar Derozan - $9,000 DK, $12,500 FD

DeRozan is more difficult to get right in DFS than you might think. He always has an extremely high floor, but his game is built on the mid-range, which curbs his ceiling any time his salary is on the higher end of the spectrum.

Tonight’s projections are the perfect example. He tracks to score the 5th-most points on the DraftKings DFS Showdown slate, but projects to only be the 10th-best value from a fantasy points-per-dollar perspective. 

He’s a better MVP play on FanDuel than DraftKings, and an elite play as your Star or Pro. If his 43 minutes from Sacramento’s first game prove to be no fluke - they very well could be, though - then he should skip to the front of the line as your first pick after your crown a Captain in cash games.
 

Mid-Tier & DFS Value Plays for Saturday

Austin Reaves - $7,200 DK, $11,500 FD

Reaves checks all of the boxes I’ve been preaching about for the players above. He is playing big minutes and stuffing the stat sheet with balanced box scores. The fourth-year guard has increased his fantasy output each season and will be the biggest beneficiary of anything rest-related that Redick ends up rolling out tonight. 

Even if Brow and LeBron play with no restrictions, Reaves is firmly in play as a top NBA DFS pick and value play for Kings vs. Lakers Showdown contests.

 

 

 

Rui Hachimura - $6,600 DK, $9,500 FD

I touched on Rui’s expanded role above. He was asked to be more aggressive this offseason, and the 9th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft has been happy to accommodate the request. 

Hachimura’s price has been raised enough that his ceiling is no longer sky-high, but his floor remains fairly firm. He’ll see a couple of extra shots if LeBron or Davis don’t see the same heavy minutes as yesterday. You can play him on DraftKings, but he’s a significantly stronger value on FanDuel. For the former, if you’re only building one lineup, he needs to be in it.

Malik Monk - $6,400 DK, $10,000 FD

Monk is one of the few bench players in the NBA who doesn’t need to see monster minutes in order to put up a monster fantasy score. His median projection is far from anything you could consider “monster,” but that doesn’t mean Monk shouldn’t be on your mid-tier value list.

I can see a lot of people coming in over the cap and needing to check down from Reaves, Rui or Russell to Monk. He will be a popular NBA DFS pick on this Sacramento vs. Los Angeles Showdown slate as a result.

 

 

 

Kings vs. Lakers NBA DFS Picks: Value Plays & Dart Throws

Jaxson Hayes - $5,200 DK, $8,500 FD

I’m not high on Hayes, but he has a clear path to 15+ uncontested minutes as the backup center. With Alex Len and Trey Lyles still seeing minutes behind Sabonis, Hayes will be needed to match up with Sacramento’s bigs. His ceiling is extremely low, especially on DraftKings, but lower-priced options get very ugly very quickly tonight. 

Gabe Vincent - $3,000 DK, $7,000 FD

This is a dart throw, but one I’m definitely going to have some exposure to. Vincent signed with the Lakers last offseason and was expected to be a key rotation piece. Injuries derailed these plans though, and the backup point guard is still looking to get going with his new team.

Vincent has seen 17 and 21 minutes, respectively, the team’s first two games. He should see minutes in the same range tonight - and perhaps he’ll finally see some shots as well?

He has never been a high-usage player, so you shouldn’t have high expectations. But boy do things get easy if Vincent 6x’s his salary on Saturday. His price is so close to the minimum that it wouldn’t take much for him to do so. 
 

Player Pool

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