On Inside the NBA, Charles Barkley gave a guarantee that the Sacramento Kings would triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers or Golden State Warriors in the postseason.
The Sacramento Kings were once viewed as the epitome of amateurism in professional sports because they had missed the playoffs for 16 straight seasons. They last participated in the postseason in 2006, when they were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in the opening round in six games.
They now, however, have a chance to clinch the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference going into Friday, April 7. They also secured their postseason berth. This occurred during the inaugural campaign of new head coach Mike Brown, who served as an assistant coach with the team from 2016 to 2022.
Barkley continued, where he set his focus on the Lakers, saying that they aren’t going to make a run. While Kenny Smith tried to make a case for the Lakers, Barkley brought up how Clippers star Kawhi Leonard “ran them out of the building” during this past Wednesday’s game.
In the aforementioned game, Leonard scored 25 points while making 9-of-17 shots from the field and 4-of-7 shots from the three-point line in the Clippers’ 125-118 win.
The Kings will realistically play either the Lakers or Warriors in the first round. If they are the No. 3 seed, they will know who their opponent will be once the regular-season ends. But if they are the No. 2 seed, they will have to wait and see who wins the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game in the play-in tournament. The latter works in their favor, as no team that has made it out of the play-in tournament, won a playoff series.
