Sacramento Kings clinch Pacific Division as historic long shot

The preseason favorite in each NBA division is on track to win in every division except the Pacific, where the Sacramento Kings were 250-1 to win. They reached as long as 400-1 in November but clinched the division in New Orleans against the Pelicans on Tuesday night.

The Kings are the biggest preseason long shot to win any division in the four major sports since at least 2010. The only other team that had odds longer than even 50-1 was the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL in 2017-18. The previous biggest NBA long shot to win its division in the last 15 seasons was the 2017-18 Trail Blazers at 26-1.

It is the Kings' first division title since 2002-03. That snaps the second-longest active drought in the NBA, only behind the Charlotte Hornets, which have never won a division title.

The Kings went over their win total of 34.5 on February 26th. Sunday was their 48th win, the most they have had in a single season since 2004-05.

Recently, the Kings have had some historically high point spreads. Sunday, they closed as 15.5-point favorites over the Spurs, their largest spread in any game since 2006. Prior to that, they were 14- and 14.5-point favorites in back-to-back road games in Portland, their two largest road favorite roles in over 30 years. They are the first team to be favored by at least 14 points in three straight games since the 2018-19 Golden State Warriors in Kevin Durant's final season there.