San Antonio Spurs Will Cover In De'Aaron Fox's Revenge Game At Sacramento Kings

Friday marks PG De'Aaron Fox's first game against the Sacramento Kings (32-29) since trading him to the San Antonio Spurs (26-34) last month. I'm calling it the "De'Aaron Fox ‘Revenge Game’". There are mixed reports that he requested a trade and listed San Antonio as one of his preferred destinations, which Fox insists is "fake news". 

Either way, both parties are better off. Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama needed help and a point guard, and the Kings peaked with Fox as their leader. Unfortunately for the good people of San Antonio, Wemby's season is over and his future is in jeopardy because of blood clots in his shoulder. 

San Antonio Spurs at Sacramento Kings odds

These are the ‘consensus odds’ across the market, per Pregame.com. 

• Moneyline: San Antonio (-178) | Sacramento (+158)
• Spread: SPURS +6.5 (-106) | Kings -6.5 (-114)
• Total — 233 — Over (-105) | Under (-115)

The Spurs are a "De'Aaron Fox Team" until Wembanyama returns, which hasn't gone well lately. They are 3-5 straight up (SU) and against the spread (ATS) since the NBA All-Star Game. San Antonio did crush the oddly feisty Brooklyn Nets 127-113 Tuesday. Sacramento is 4-2 SU and 5-1 ATS post-All-Star break and could've, should've beat the Denver Nuggets Wednesday.

But, the Kings return home after a four-game road trip, and teams usually struggle in their first game back home. Plus, they have two new starters, SG Zach LaVine and C Jonas Valanciunas, who haven't played much in Sacramento due to the NBA trade deadline and the All-Star Game being so close together. 

Valanciunas is starting for a hurt Domantas Sabonis and Fox's replacement in the starting 5, Malik Monk, is out with an injury Friday. Sabonis has a +9.1 on/off net rating and Monk is at +6.3, according to CleaningTheGlass.com (CTG). These absences should be enough to scare people off of betting the Kings -6.5 at most sportsbooks. 

However, people are betting on Sactown as if they already know the final score. More than 85% of the betting action is on the Kings at the time of writing, according to Pregame.com. They are overlooking that combo guard Keon Ellis is Sacramento's only good defensive player and the Kings have a bunch of iso-scorers and no legit point guard. 

Sacramento's defense has looked better than it is because of a soft schedule recently, including the Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, and Dallas Mavericks. Those first two teams are tanking, Houston is one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, and Dallas is haunted after trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Granted, San Antonio sucks, but Fox's teammates should be up for this game. It's Spurs SF Harrison Barnes' "Revenge Game" too since he played for the Kings from 2018-24. Finally, the Spurs have two point guards, Fox and Chris Paul, who can pick apart Sacramento's weak defense, and keep this one close.  

Prediction: Sacramento 119, San Antonio 116

• For the record, I'm risking 1.05 units on the Spurs +6.5 (-105) at BetMGM, and I'd bet them down to +5.5.

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