Two of West’s worst face off as Pelicans visit Kings
The New Orleans Pelicans will visit the Sacramento Kings on Friday night with an opportunity to complete a three-game season sweep.
New Orleans (25-52) arrives in California's capital city on a six-game losing streak, playing the second leg of a back-to-back set after a 118-106 loss in Portland on Thursday.
Despite their recent struggles, the Pelicans have had success this season against the Western Conference's last-place Kings (20-57).
New Orleans, which stands in 12th place in the 15-team conference, beat the visiting Kings 120-94 on Feb. 9 and 133-123 on March 5 in Sacramento. Trey Murphy III, the Pelicans' leading scorer at 21.6 points per game, netted 21 points in both wins.
Murphy finished with 19 points in Thursday's setback vs. Portland, returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for the 134-102 blowout loss against Houston on Sunday.
Fellow Pelicans starters Zion Williamson (15 points), Saddiq Bey (15) and Dejounte Murray (nine) were held to fewer points than their season averages of 21.2, 17.4 and 16.7 points per game, respectively, heading into Portland.
Jeremiah Fears helped keep New Orleans competitive with his 21 points off the bench. The rookie guard has scored in double figures in five straight games, a run bookended with a pair of 21-point performances.
Fellow Pelicans rookie Derik Queen scored 12 points in Portland, his fourth consecutive game scoring in double digits. Queen also finished with seven assists, six rebounds and two steals.
"That was some of the best basketball I've seen them play together," New Orleans interim head coach James Borrego said of the rookies.
The continued contributions of its young corps set the tone for New Orleans ahead of the offseason, with five games remaining on the docket. The Pelicans have been eliminated from postseason contention but have shown improvement from a 21-win season in 2024-25.
Sacramento, meanwhile, saw its run of the franchise's most consecutive 40-plus-win seasons since 2000-06 end with its disappointing 2025-26. The Kings head into their final five games out of postseason contention and in danger of the organization's worst overall record since finishing just 17-65 in the 2008-09 campaign.
Nevertheless, Sacramento snapped a four-game losing streak on Wednesday, knocking off Eastern Conference playoff-bound opponent Toronto 123-115. Precious Achiuwa, formerly of the Raptors, led the way for the Kings with 28 points -- one shy of matching his career high-- and a season-best 19 rebounds.
Veteran guard DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points in Sacramento's win, marking his third consecutive game with 22-plus points after a four-game lull lost month in which he scored just 32 points combined.
Along the way in his 28-point effort against Toronto, where DeRozan played for the first nine seasons of his career, the veteran passed Dominique Wilkins to become the 17th-highest-scoring player in NBA history.
"It's always an honor passing the greats who came before me," DeRozan told reporters. "I always had a great deal of respect for Dominique, so to pass him is definitely cool."
DeRozan enters the Friday game with 26,688 points. Only LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden and DeRozan's teammate, Russell Westbrook, have scored more among active players.
New Orleans limited the six-time All-Star DeRozan to eight and 15 points in the two previous matchups this season, fewer than his 18.6-points-per-game average in 2025-26.