Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons Prop Pick: Can Jaden Ivey Show Out for the Pistons Tonight?
The Detroit Pistons are hosting the talented Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night without their star, Cade Cunningham. Can Jaden Ivey step up in his absence and have a big game against the Kings? Ben Rajavuori provides his top prop pick in Kings vs. Pistons.
Ben Rajavuori - January 9, 2024, 4:55 PM EST
5 minSacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons Prop Pick: Can Jaden Ivey Show Out for the Pistons Tonight?
The Sacramento Kings hit the road today and travel to Detroit to take on the Pistons. The Sacramento Kings enter this game off a big loss against the Pelicans, a game in which they lost 133–100. The Kings are still in decent shape as they sit in fifth place in the Western Conference with a record of 21-14. The Pistons are still struggling this season. After breaking their losing streak against the Raptors back on December 30, they have lost four games in a row since then, dropping games to the Rockets, Jazz, Warriors, and Nuggets. However, those four games were on the road, and now they are back at home, where they have seemed to play better this season. Can the Pistons cover as underdogs against the Kings tonight?
Kings vs. Pistons Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: January 9, 2024
- Game Time: 7:00 pm ET
- Where to Watch: NBA League Pass
Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons Prediction
If the Pistons want to win this game, they will have to do so without star point guard Cade Cunningham. Cade Cunningham currently leads the team with 22.8 points per game and he also leads the team with 7.3 assists per game. Cunningham is out for the time being with a knee injury and is expected to be reevaluated in 7 to 10 days. On top of the loss of Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart is still out for the Pistons as he has been out for a little over a week now. With Cunningham out of this game, others will have to step up, and I like Jaden Ivey to do so tonight. Jaden Ivey has been up and down this season but he will have to step up in the loss of Cunningham. This is the first game the Pistons will be playing all season without Cunningham, and Jaden Ivey will surely start this game. Jaden Ivey began this season in the starting rotation but was taken from it for a while, before recently coming back to the starting lineup for the Pistons. Ivey's scoring is down a bit since his rookie season last year. He averaged 16.3 points per game last season on 31 minutes per game on average. This season he is averaging just 25 minutes per game and only 12.9 points per game. However, he is averaging 15 points per game when he is a starter this season, which has been about half of his games. Ivey is set at 16.5 points tonight, which is above his season average, but it is warranted given the loss of Cunningham. Last season, when Cunningham was injured, Jadon Ivey was averaging 16.4 points per game. He is also shooting four percentage points higher this season than last season, so his scoring is bound to see some progression with Cunningham out of the lineup. Ivey also has a great matchup against this defense. The Kings are allowing the seventh-most points per game to shooting guards at 23.3 points per game. Conversely, they are very good at defending opposing centers, thanks to Domantas Sabonis. Due to this, I expect Jalen Duren to be shut down tonight. That leaves Jaden Ivey and Bojan Bogdanovic to pick up a lot of the scoring for the Pistons tonight. With Ivey taking a bigger role in this game, 16.5 points doesn’t feel like that high of a line for him. I think he goes over with ease and gets to 20+.
Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons Prediction
3 Unit Play: Jaden Ivey Over 16.5 Points (-110) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
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