It is a 36-46 finish for the Phoenix Suns after losing to the Sacramento Kings 109-98 on Sunday.
The last day of the regular season can often lead to matchups like this one, where one team vying for some type of postseason positioning comes up against another with zero stakes left at all. That was this one, with Sacramento needing the win it got in order to secure the No. 9 seed, meaning a home game in the 9/10 matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.
Phoenix sat Devin Booker (right calf soreness), Bradley Beal (rest), Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and Nick Richards (right elbow inflammation). The Suns started Tyus Jones, Collin Gillespie, Grayson Allen, Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee.
This was not the veterans sitting for the young guys. Royce O’Neale, Monte Morris and Cody Martin also got run.
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That was a bit surprising, as was the Suns keeping this one relatively competitive throughout. Sacramento didn’t really stretch this one out until the last few minutes. It was a single-digit game for the majority of the contest.
Allen led the way for the Suns with 20 points, followed by 17 for Jones. Sacramento’s top players didn’t really need to press, with the highest field goal attempts for any Kings player sitting at 11. Jonas Valanciunas had 22 points and 10 rebounds off the bench while Domantas Sabonis added 20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals in 24 minutes.
With the Kings win, they will host the Dallas Mavericks in a do-or-die play-in contest on Wednesday.
The lottery ball odds are now set for Phoenix’s first-round pick owned by the Houston Rockets.
The Portland Trail Blazers won on Sunday, tying them at 36-46 with the Suns. Those two will split the ninth-best odds as much as possible, with a coin flip determining the remaining tiniest percentiles. That is roughly a 17% chance at a top-four selection and a 3.8% crack at getting the No. 1 overall pick. If both teams do not move up and hold positions, there will be a coin flip to determine who picks ninth and 10th. The NBA Draft Lottery is on May 12.
As for the Suns’ second-round pick via the Denver Nuggets, it will be either 52nd, 53rd, 54th or 55th. We’ll have to wait for — you guessed it! — another coin flip.
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