Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets play host to De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings at the Ball Arena on Wednesday night.
The Sacramento Kings will be looking to continue their stockpile of young talent after missing out on the playoffs yet again last season. De’Aaron Fox agreed to a max deal and the Kings drafted Tyrese Haliburton, Robert Woodard III and Jahmi’us Ramsey. In terms of free agency and trades, the Kings also acquired Frank Kaminsky, Hassan Whiteside and Glenn Robinson III while letting go of Kent Bazemore, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Alex Len. The Kings are expected to improve on last season, but they’ll likely miss out on the playoffs again with the Western Conference getting stronger.
Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets are coming into this season with plenty of confidence after experiencing some success in the playoffs last season. Nikola Jokic led the team with averages of 19.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game, Jamal Murray averaged 18.5 points and 4.8 assists per game while Paul Millsap averaged 11.6 points per game. The Nuggets will need more from Will Barton and Gary Harris who struggled in the bubble and they shipped off Jerami Grant, but they will be eager to see what the newly acquired JaMychal Green can offer.
Looking at the betting trends, the Kings are 0-5-1 ATS in their last six Wednesday games, 20-8 ATS in their last 28 games playing on three or more days rest and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games following an ATS loss. The Nuggets are 4-1-2 ATS in their last seven home games, 1-5 ATS in their last six Wednesday games and 10-4-2 ATS in their last 16 games overall.
Head to head, the over is 5-2 in the last seven meetings overall and the over is 4-0 in the last four meetings in Denver.
The Kings should be able to improve on their play from last season, but they’re still a young team in a citemded Western Conference, so I’m not expecting too much from them. The Nuggets are a different story as they would’ve gained so much from their playoff run in the bubble and they could go to another level as a team if Michael Porter Jr. continues to improve. I think the Nuggets start their season on a high note as they get the win and cover here.