After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Sacramento Kings

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

30 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 25 to 36 wins.

The market

22.4 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

22-60

2025-26 · net rating -9.8 (28th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 8.6 wins above the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 31 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 22.4 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 30, middle 80%: 25 to 36 Market 22.4

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 0.2% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 7.8% Outside the top 10: 92%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
1567¢ 92¢ 80¢ 100%
2063¢ 66¢ 65¢ 100%
2533¢ 35¢ 34¢ 92%
3019¢ 25¢ 22¢ 58%
356¢ 8¢ 7¢ 17%
401¢ 20¢ 11¢ 2%
450¢ 9¢ n/a 0%
500¢ 5¢ n/a 0%
550¢ 5¢ n/a 0%
600¢ 5¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 22-60 (26th in wins)

Points per game
111.028th
Allowed per game
121.027th
Offensive rating
109.326th
Defensive rating
119.128th
Net rating
-9.828th

2024-25 · 40-42 (16th in wins)

Points per game
115.710th
Allowed per game
115.319th
Offensive rating
114.78th
Defensive rating
114.324th
Net rating
+0.516th

2023-24 · 46-36 (16th in wins)

Points per game
116.69th
Allowed per game
114.817th
Offensive rating
114.913th
Defensive rating
113.215th
Net rating
+1.717th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-1.8428th
Defense
+2.3824th
Net, games only
-4.2228th
Roster value
-3.20

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (7)

  • Leaky Blackfrom WSH
    28.8 min, 7.1 pts a game
  • Jonathan Mogbofrom TOR
    6.6 min, 1.6 pts a game
  • Ben SimmonsReturningLast played 2024-25 for LAC
  • Adam FlaglerReturningLast played 2024-25 for OKC
3 moredepth and rookies
  • Alex KarabanRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Darius Acuff Jr.Rookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Emanuel SharpRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (6)

  • DeMar DeRozannow with DEN
    31.3 min, 18.4 pts a game
  • Russell Westbrooknot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    29.0 min, 15.2 pts a game
  • Dennis Schrodernow with CHA
    26.4 min, 12.8 pts a game
  • Keon Ellisnow with BKN
    17.6 min, 5.6 pts a game
  • Devin Carternow with BOS
    18.4 min, 8.9 pts a game
1 more
  • Drew Eubanksnow with NY
    13.2 min, 5.2 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Nique Clifford G · age 24 · 35.5 projected min 2025-26: 75 g, 8.6 pts, 3.8 reb, 2.4 ast

2025-26 · SAC

75games
25.1min
8.6pts
3.8reb
FG41.8%249/596
3P33.3%77/231
FT72.2%70/97

2.4 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Maxime Raynaud C · age 23 · 32.7 projected min 2025-26: 74 g, 12.5 pts, 7.5 reb, 1.4 ast

2025-26 · SAC

74games
26.6min
12.5pts
7.5reb
FG57.1%383/671
3P32.4%24/74
FT78.6%132/168

1.4 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Keegan Murray F · age 26 · 29.9 projected min 2025-26: 23 g, 14.0 pts, 5.7 reb, 1.7 ast

2025-26 · SAC

23games
34.6min
14.0pts
5.7reb
FG42.0%126/300
3P27.7%31/112
FT77.6%38/49

1.7 assists a game

2024-25 · SAC

76games
34.3min
12.4pts
6.7reb
FG44.4%364/820
3P34.3%154/449
FT83.3%60/72

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · SAC

77games
33.6min
15.2pts
5.5reb
FG45.4%443/975
3P35.8%183/511
FT83.1%103/124

1.7 assists a game

Precious Achiuwa F · age 27 · 29.9 projected min 2025-26: 73 g, 10.1 pts, 6.7 reb, 1.4 ast

2025-26 · SAC

73games
24.0min
10.1pts
6.7reb
FG52.8%316/598
3P27.8%27/97
FT55.4%77/139

1.4 assists a game

2024-25 · NY

57games
20.5min
6.6pts
5.6reb
FG50.2%164/327
3P27.8%10/36
FT59.4%41/69

1.0 assists a game

2023-24 · NY/TOR

74games
21.9min
7.6pts
6.6reb
FG50.1%235/469
3P26.8%26/97
FT61.6%69/112

1.3 assists a game

Daeqwon Plowden G · age 28 · 29.1 projected min 2025-26: 32 g, 10.8 pts, 3.0 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · SAC

32games
26.3min
10.8pts
3.0reb
FG43.0%120/279
3P33.3%62/186
FT85.7%42/49

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · ATL

6games
11.7min
7.2pts
1.8reb
FG64.0%16/25
3P52.9%9/17
FT100.0%2/2

0.3 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Domantas Sabonis F · age 30 · 27.7 projected min 2025-26: 19 g, 15.8 pts, 11.4 reb, 4.1 ast

2025-26 · SAC

19games
29.7min
15.8pts
11.4reb
FG54.3%120/221
3P18.5%5/27
FT72.7%56/77

4.1 assists a game

2024-25 · SAC

70games
34.7min
19.1pts
13.9reb
FG59.0%527/893
3P41.7%65/156
FT75.4%218/289

6.0 assists a game

2023-24 · SAC

82games
35.7min
19.4pts
13.7reb
FG59.4%634/1068
3P37.9%33/87
FT70.4%292/415

8.2 assists a game

Zach LaVine G · age 31 · 26.9 projected min 2025-26: 39 g, 19.2 pts, 2.8 reb, 2.3 ast

2025-26 · SAC

39games
31.4min
19.2pts
2.8reb
FG47.9%262/547
3P39.0%99/254
FT88.0%125/142

2.3 assists a game

2024-25 · CHI/SAC

74games
35.3min
23.3pts
4.3reb
FG51.1%625/1223
3P44.6%239/536
FT82.5%235/285

4.2 assists a game

2023-24 · CHI

25games
34.9min
19.5pts
5.2reb
FG45.2%170/376
3P34.9%59/169
FT85.4%88/103

3.9 assists a game

Leaky Black New here F · age 27 · 26.1 projected min 2025-26: 15 g, 7.1 pts, 5.0 reb, 1.5 ast

2025-26 · WSH

15games
28.8min
7.1pts
5.0reb
FG38.8%40/103
3P34.5%19/55
FT87.5%7/8

1.5 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24 · CHA

26games
10.9min
2.7pts
1.8reb
FG48.1%25/52
3P45.0%9/20
FT66.7%10/15

0.9 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.