The Pacific Division is heating up, and is the closest in the NBA
Divisions don't come much closer than this. The Sacramento Kings occupy last place with a very decent bottom placed PCT of .474 - that's only three wins behind Golden State at the top.
As close as it gets
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The close nature of the division suggests there isn't a stand out NBA Championship contender in the Pacific, and the betting odds agree with that. Only GSW are less than 21.00 to win the NBA whilst the Kings are 76.00.
Golden State might not be at the top of the Pacific Division betting odds for much longer though - they have lost three games straight.
Steph Curry remains the most prolific Warriors player, despite being out with a knee injury.
Current NBA Pacific Division betting odds:
Sacramento Kings \\
Phoenix Suns \\
L.A. Clippers \\
Golden State Warriors \\
Los Angeles Lakers \\
Current standings
| Team | Record | Win % | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento Kings | 45-30 | 60.0 | 1 loss |
| Phoenix Suns | 40-35 | 53.3 | 2 wins |
| L.A. Clippers | 40-36 | 52.6 | 1 win |
| Golden State Warriors | 40-37 | 51.9 | 1 win |
| Los Angeles Lakers | 37-38 | 49.3 | 1 loss |
Here we have a breakdown of all the teams in the running to win the NBA's Pacific Division in the 2022/’23 NBA season. The winners will be awarded the Chuck Cooper Trophy
At The Jump Hub, we have assessed their chances as we see them and will update this article regularly to see if we were right. We will post statistical updates and any breaking news or results as they come up.
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Odds are subject to change.
*See foot of article for the key to terms used
General update: 29th Mar 2023
With the Pacific Division all but tied up, the Sacramento Kings might have (ahem) dropped a touch of focus, losing 3 of their last 5 games for a record of 2-3. Overall, however, they have been nicely consistent this season. Unusually, they are more effective away from home than most teams, winning a higher percentage of on-the-road games than home games. Their 60% winning percentage would only have seen them in 5th position in the Eastern Conference but is good enough for 3rd in the Western.
The team most likely, but not really very likely to catch them at the top are the rollercoaster ride that is the Phoenix Suns. 4-6 in their last 10 games, the Suns have been up and down more times than our blood pressure watching the Hawks this season (Go Hawks!).
Long runs of both wins and losses have cost them...
...and even though they've actually won one more game at home than the Kings, their away record is pretty poor at 16-23.
After topping the NBA at the end of the regular season last time and finsihing 2nd the season before, fans might be a little disgruntled with 9th (at the time of writing). So to them we say -
Cry us a river
General update: 16th Mar 2023
The Pacific Division is the only one where the spread of winning percentages is only 10% from the first-placed team to the last. It's not the tightest race in the NBA for the top spot, as both the Atlantic and Southeast Divisions are tighter, but at just 6% between first and second place, it's still pretty close.
The only team that the bookmakers appear to have written off as potential Pacific Division winners are the hapless LA Lakers @ 301.00
A few words on the scourge of deliberate tanking
Before we go any further, it saddens us to have to address the elephant in the room. Deliberate tanking is easily our least favourite aspect of the NBA and one that we wish we didn't have to think about. For those of you unaware of what it means, to put it very briefly, the way that the NBA is structured means that the worst-performing teams have a better chance of picking the best players in the following season's NBA Draft.
Sadly, we live in a cynical world where blatant cheating is tolerated and often even encouraged. If it cannot be proven and will result in an advantage then some teams clearly feel that it is worth the loss of integrity and dignity. That it is worth snubbing their nose to their own fans and admitting that they are too shitty to achieve anything without cheating. That they would rather field weakened sides and lose on purpose than accept the task ahead of them and get those same noses to the grindstone instead. Even with the, clearly inadequate measures that the NBA introduced and the new lottery system that makes it harder to guarantee an advantage, it still exists.
It is too complicated and depressing for us to try and figure out which teams are engaged in this lowest-of-the-low behaviour. It should be pretty obvious. We'll mention it for sure if it's beyond question. But, otherwise, we have decided to write these articles as though tanking didn't exist. As though we live in a world where winning through hard work and dedication is the only goal.
Pleasing the fans and doing your absolute best to represent them with honour at all times should be a given. Tanking is for scumbags and suckers. We hope franchises that deliberately set out to lose games wither and turn to dust.
However, for the purposes of these articles, we will assess the teams in front of us on their merits and pretend that there is still some integrity in professional sports.
Chuck Cooper Trophy
Sacramento Kings \\
NBA Pacific Division betting odds progression:
@ 401.00 — @ 51.00 — @ 19.00 — @ 8.50 — @ 6.50 — @ 4.50
Aug 9th — Nov 16th — Dec 6th — Dec 30th — Jan 6th/10th/11th — Jan 16th
@ 2.50 — @ 2.70 — @ 3.00 — @ 5.00 — @ 4.50 — @ 2.80
Jan 25th — Jan 27th — Jan 30th — Feb 14th — Feb 27th —Mar 8th
@ 1.14
Mar 16th
NBA Western Conference betting odds: @ 21.00
NBA Championship betting odds: @ 51.00
Record: 45-30
Streak: 1 loss
23-16 at home
22-14 on the road
Current table positions:
Pacific Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd
NBA: 7th
The Sacramento Kings have an excellent set of results this season, especially at home. The Kings have one more game there against Toronto, followed by a gruelling 7 straight games on the road. They have no more than 1 days' rest after any of them. At one point they even have to play in New Orleans on a Monday, then Houston the next day. This run should be a serious test of their focus and determination. Based on their on-the-road record so far this season, we expect to see them handle the challenge well. But anything can happen.
Now, don't get us wrong, we know that these players travel in the kind of luxury that most of us can only dream of. But still, it is proven that extended periods of games on the road affect teams adversely and they will need to use their roster wisely and cope as best they can.
Luckily for the Kings, they only have one player (Metu) currently out injured and should have access to most other players during this period.
The Kings have decent strength in depth when it comes to scoring points. They have 6 players averaging double-figures per game and their current high scorer is:
De'Aaron Fox
2022/’23 averages per NBA game:
G: 43 \ GS:43 \ MP: 33.5 \ PTS: 24.0 \ FG%: 50.7* \ 3P%: 33.2 \ FT%: 78.4* \ TRB: 4.3* \ AST: 6.1 \ STL: 1.0 \ BLK: 0.3 \ TOV: 2.6 \ PF: 2.4
*Career high
Fox scores well and, although he is not the most prolific chance-creator on the team, he has been impressive recently with 9 and 10 assists in his last 2 games respectively. Averaging 6.1
The team's assists and rebounds leader is the extraordinary:
Domantas Sabonis
2022/’23 averages per NBA game:
G: 43 \ GS:43 \ MP: 34.3 \ PTS: 18.7 \ FG%: 60.9* \ 3P%: 35.8 \ FT%: 75.3* \ TRB: 12.5* \ AST: 7.4* \ STL: 0.7 \ BLK: 0.5 \ TOV: 2.8 \ PF: 3.6
*Career high
Just take another look at those stats
A 60.9% conversion rate for field goals is outstanding
12.5 rebounds per game is something more than that. It is sensational
It makes him the NBA's rebound leader with 0.6 per game more than the unstoppable Giannis Antetokounmpo. To be able to add 7.4 assists and 18.7 points on top of that is truly something that we would only expect to see from the most elite players.
Sabonis has achieved triple-doubles three times in January alone and missed out by a small amount 6 more times. He is having the season of a lifetime so far and has to be one of the main reasons that Sacramento have been so good this time around.
We'd like to see him keep those turnovers (TOV) down a little but we can't bring ourselves to criticise a player who is performing like a man possessed.
What else is going well for Sacramento?
The Kings are performing with skill and determination. Resulting in them being the Pacific Division leaders per game in:
Points (120.0)
Field goals (43.3)
Field goal conversion rate (49.3%)
They are also the youngest team in the Pacific Division for good measure, with an average age of 25.4
They turn the ball over less than any other team in the division except for the Phoenix Suns, who they match with 14.2 occurrences per game.
Any potential issues or problems?
Aside from the long stretch of games on the road that we mentioned, the Sacramento Kings have nothing to worry about unduly it seems.
We might point to a slight lack of depth when it comes to playmaking as a potential issue. If we were to take Fox and Sabonis out of the equation then the pickings become decidedly slimmer very rapidly.
7.1 and 6.4 from those two, down to 3.9 from Malik Monk then 3.0 from Kevin Huerter
And that's about it...
Ideally, they need some more creativity in reserve as it puts a lot of pressure on those 2 players to provide nearly all the assists. Let's see if any others can step up to lend a hand...
L.A. Clippers @ 26.00
NBA Pacific Division betting odds progression:
@ 3.10 — @ 2.35 — @ 8.50 — @ 3.25 — @ 4.00 — @ 6.00
Jul 29th — Oct 23rd — Dec 4th — Jan 6th/10th — Jan 11th/16th — Jan 25th
@ 5.00 — @ 4.20 — @ 4.00 — @ 5.00 — @ 41.00 — @ 26.00 \\
Jan 27th — Jan 30th — Feb 14th — Feb 27th — Mar 8th — Mar 16th
NBA Western Conference betting odds: @ 7.00
NBA Championship betting odds: @ 20.00
Record: 40-36
Streak: 1 win
21-18 at home
19-18 on the road
Current table positions:
Pacific Division: 3rd
Western Conference: 5th
NBA: 11th
The Pacific Division is another tight one and just a 6% spread in winning percentages covers the first 4 teams. It's then another 6% before we reach the struggling L.A Lakers, but it's a close-run thing through the middle.
The Los Angeles Clippers' best scorer is:
Paul George
2022/’23 averages per NBA game:
G: 36 \ GS:36 \ MP: 33.9 \ PTS: 23.5 \ FG%: 46.4 \ 3P%: 38.9 \ FT%: 88.5 \ TRB: 6.0 \ AST: 5.3 \ STL: 1.5 \ BLK: 0.4 \ TOV: 3.3 \ PF: 2.6
George made a major contribution to the Clippers' 5-game winning streak in late January. In fact, it only ended when he missed a game with a sore knee.
The Clippers are approaching the halfway point of a 6-game on-the-road stretch. Up next they meet the Chicago Bulls and then the Milwaukee Bucks so they have their work cut out for them.
Where do the Clippers need to improve?
Although they do restrict their opponents from scoring, the Los Angeles Clippers simply don't score enough themselves (they have a 0.0% win differential). They are 3rd worst in the whole NBA when it comes to scoring, in fact.
They are the only team in the top 12 of the Western Conference not to have a positive points differential.
This is somewhat unusual, as they are one of the few teams to have 7 players scoring in double-figures per game.
Maybe we shouldn't expect the oldest team in the NBA (average age of 29.5) to snatch as many points as those with more youngsters.
Some other causes for concern are:
Fewest points per game in the Pacific Division (PTS) with 109.4
The least number of field goals attempted (FGA) per game in the PD with 85.4
The lowest number of field goals scored (FG) with 39.5
Worst field goal conversion rate (FG%) at 46.2%
The lowest free throw percentage (FT%) in the Pacific Division at 76.2%
Fewest assists (AST) per game in the PD with 22.8%
In fact, they do not really have enough strength in depth when it comes to playmaking at all and no single player who sets the team alight and controls the floor in that way.
Do they do anything well?
They have reasonable depth when it comes to taking rebounds.
They have the 11th-best winning percentage in the NBA
Otherwise, the Clippers are the epitome of a middle-of-the-road team. Now, that's not to say you can't have any success that way.
Slow and steady wins the race and all that...
But the Clippers might just be that little bit too slow to get very far. We shall see.
Phoenix Suns @ 7.00
NBA Pacific Division betting odds progression:
@ 2.80 — @ 1.43— @ 4.00 — @ 3.75 — @ 4.33 — @ 4.50
Jul 29th — Dec 21st — Jan 6th/10th/11th — Jan 16th — Jan 25th — Jan 27th
@ 4.00 — @ 1.50 — @ 1.62 — @ 1.50 — @ 7.00 \\
Jan 30th — Feb 14th — Feb 27th — Mar 8th — Mar 16th
NBA Western Conference betting odds: @ 3.50
NBA Championship betting odds: @ 7.00
Record: 40-35
Streak: 2 wins
24-12 at home
16-23 on the road
Current table positions:
Pacific Division: 2nd
Western Conference: 4th
NBA: 9th
The Phoenix Suns have their next matchup at home against the Atlanta Hawks (Go Hawks!) before 5 straight games on the road. Judging by their home vs away record, they will not be relishing those away games too much.
That 52% win rate would see them in 2nd position in 2 of the other divisions of the NBA but the Pacific is a pretty competitive division and they currently find themselves in 4th.
They have 6 players making double-figures in points per game, the most prolific of whom is:
Devin Booker
2022/’23 averages per NBA game:
G: 29 \ GS:29 \ MP: 34.6 \ PTS: 27.1* \ FG%: 47.7 \ 3P%: 37.0 \ FT%: 85.0 \ TRB: 4.6 \ AST: 5.6 \ STL: 0.9 \ BLK: 0.4 \ TOV: 2.4 \ PF: 2.7
*Career high
In his 8th season with Phoenix, Devin Booker brought some decent consistency and some soaring high points. He scored 51 against the Chicago Bulls on the first day of December and 58 against New Orleans on the 18th.
Sadly for the Phoenix Suns, he is currently sidelined with a groin injury, having already missed the whole of January. He is not expected to return for at least another 4 weeks
Things the Suns do well
The highest 3-point percentage (3P%) in the Pacific Division (PD) with 38.6%
Best free throw percentage (FT%) in the PD at 79.8%
Most offensive rebounds per game (ORB) in PD with 11.9
The highest number of blocks (BLK) per game in PD with 4.9
Most steals (STL) per game in PD with 7
Things they don't do so well
Lowest defensive rebounds (DRB) per game in the Pacific Division with 31.3 per game
That's not so bad really, is it?
If Phoenix can improve by just 1% in terms of their winning percentage, then they will climb to 2nd place in the Pacific.
That's how tight it is in this division.
The Suns have decent strength in depth when it comes to taking rebounds. Especially with Deandre Ayton taking 10 per game.
They look less solid in terms of playmaking. If we take Chris Paul and his 8.7 assists per game out of the equation, then things start to look a little on the lean side. But by no means is it anything to worry unduly over, we're clutching at straws a bit to find many negatives to be honest. Booker and Payne still give 5+ assists each and there are teams in the NBA that don't have anything like that kind of backup.
All in all, the Phoenix Suns look to be in a solid position. They will surely make the NBA Playoff series unless the wheels fall off completely. They just need to dig deep and get some results on the road in that next stretch and they should be fine.
Time will tell...
Golden State Warriors @ 26.00
NBA Pacific Division betting odds progression:
@ 2.95 — @ 12.00 — @ 2.38 — @ 2.50 — @ 2.75 — @ 3.40
Aug 27th — Dec 22nd — Jan 6th/10th — Jan 11th — Jan 16th — Jan 25th/27th
@ 3.60 — @ 26.00 — @ 11.00 — @ 16.00 — @ 26.00 \\
Jan 30th — Feb 14th — Feb 27th — Mar 8th — Mar 16th
NBA Western Conference betting odds: @ 6.50
NBA Championship betting odds: @ 12.00
Record: 40-37
Streak: 1 win
31-8 at home
9-29 on the road
Current table positions:
Pacific Division: 4th
Western Conference: 6th
NBA: 13th
The Golden State Warriors have had a somewhat unusual season so far. Runs of wins followed by several losses. A real roller-coaster ride of performances and results. At the time of writing, they have just added another win and are on a streak of 3.
With only Iguodala out injured, they are in as good a position as any team to go deep into the NBA Playoffs again this season.
No analysis of the Golden State Warriors can be complete without a closer look at the phenomenal:
Stephen Curry
2022/’23 averages per NBA game:
G: 35 \ GS:35 \ MP: 34.6 \ PTS: 29.7 \ FG%: 49.4 \ 3P%: 42.7 \ FT%: 92.1 \ TRB: 6.3* \ AST: 6.5 \ STL: 1.0 \ BLK: 0.4 \ TOV: 3.2 \ PF: 2.0
*Career high
In his 14th season with the Golden State Warriors, you could be forgiven for thinking he was a player further down the roster desperately fighting to be given a real shot. His stats are exceptional yet again.
Currently his 3rd best points average and 2nd best field goal conversion rate of those 14 seasons and joint 3rd-best free-throw percentage.
In his last 2 games, he has upped the performances even further:
35 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists
38 points, 8 rebounds, and 12 assists
He is taking more rebounds (TRB) than at any other time in his career right now. Especially those defensive rebounds (DRB) with 5.7 per game
His accuracy from the free-throw line is nothing short of supernatural
He has taken 54 free throws in January so far. He has missed just 4 of them.
92.6% accuracy and currently 3rd in the entire NBA
Stephen Curry is ageing like a fine wine and is an absolute game-changing player for the Warriors.
What do the Warriors excel at?
If we compare them to the other teams in the Pacific Division then they:
Attempt more field goals (90.1)
Shoot from 3-point distance a lot more. (43.7) Almost 14 times more per game than the bottom team, the L.A. Lakers
Score more 3-pointers (16.3). This is easily the highest in the whole NBA and is a very direct representation of having Stephen Curry on your team
Give most assists per game (29.4)
The Golden State Warriors have a lot to be pleased with in terms of their individual and team performances. But there are
Any problems?
Well, the Warriors barely score more points than they concede. Their points differential is currently 0.1%
If we look at their roster, it might be obvious as to why that is. They are one of the very few teams that only have 4 players scoring in double-figures on a regular basis. Now, one of them is the aforementioned phenomenon, Stephen Curry and he is ably supported by the likes of:
Klay Thompson: 21.1 points per game (PPG)
Jordan Poole: 20.8 PPG
Andrew Wiggins: 17.4 PPG
There are a reasonable number of other players getting between 6-8 points. But not enough overall to be considered strength in depth. If the Warriors were to lose one or two of those top scorers for a spell, they might find themselves struggling very badly.
They turn the ball over more than any other team in the NBA except the woeful Houston Rockets, 16.7 times per game to be precise.
They give away more fouls than almost any other team in the whole NBA, 22.1 per game.
The Warriors are a touch shy of where their fans might like to see them in terms of playmaking too. They have a few solid chance-makers, but again lack a little bit of strength after the top players are accounted for.
Their top 4 players contribute a total of 21 assists between them
Next up, they have Minnesota and then Denver on the road. They will be hoping to consolidate those recent wins and leapfrog the Los Angeles Clippers in both the Pacific Division and the Western Conference.
Let's see if they can...
Los Angeles Lakers @ 301.00
NBA Pacific Division betting odds progression:
@ 9.00 — @ 161.00 — @ 46.00 — @ 51.00 — @ 36.00 — @ 14.00
Jul 29th — Nov 24th — Dec 5th — Dec 28th — Jan 4th — Jan 6th/8th
@ 17.00 — @ 14.00 — @ 15.00 — @ 14.00 — @ 81.00 — @ 56.00
Jan 11th — Jan 16th — Jan 25th/27th — Jan 30th —Feb 14th — Feb 27th
@ 201.00 — @ 301.00 \\
Mar 8th — Mar 16th
NBA Western Conference betting odds: @ 12.00
NBA Championship betting odds: @ 36.00
Record: 37-38
Streak: 1 loss
21-18 at home
16-20 on the road
Current table positions:
Pacific Division: 5th
Western Conference: 9th
NBA: 18th
Last and, at the moment very much least in the Pacific Division, we have the once-mighty Los Angeles Lakers.
They are 1-9 against the other teams in their group and struggling badly.
So, what went wrong for the Lakers?
Well, for a start, they are absolutely rock-bottom, dead last in the whole NBA when it comes to scoring 3-pointers. They are also:
24/30 in the number they attempt (31.3)
Although the 'Curry factor' certainly affects this statistic, it is interesting to not that the most prolific 3-point shooters in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors take 12 more shots from distance per game than the Lakers. They are also:
26/30 for their success rate when they do try them (33.6%)
They are the worst offenders in the Pacific Division for allowing other teams to score heavily against them. So much so that they are the only team in PD to have a negative points differential.
But they are by no means the worst in the NBA.
They are the 7th-worst. Funnily enough, this is in direct correlation with their actual position and they find themselves just 7 places above the bottom of the league. Sadly, it doesn't work all the time, or predicting where teams finish would be a whole heap easier.
Are there any crumbs of comfort to be found?
In a word, yes.
The Lakers are:
5th in the NBA for field goals per game (43.3)
11/30 for field goal attempts (FGA) with 89.7
8/30 at converting those attempts into points (FG%) with 48.2%
They take the most rebounds (TRB) per game in the Pacific Division (45)
In fact, the Lakers are pretty much middle-of-the-road in lots of stats. It's quite shocking to see how that doesn't seem to affect things as much as we might expect...
They still have the inimitable:
LeBron James
2022/’23 averages per NBA game:
G: 40 \ GS: 40 \ MP: 36.3 \ PTS: 30.2 \ FG%: 50.7 \ 3P%: 31.2 \ FT%: 77.0 \ TRB: 8.5 \ AST: 7.1 \ STL: 1.0 \ BLK: 0.6 \ TOV: 3.1 \ PF: 1.6
In his 20th season in the NBA, his 5th with the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James is scoring almost as well as he ever has. Only last season was higher. By a measly 0.1 points per game! So we can forgive him that.
He's even hitting 77% from the free-throw line. His best number since 2011/'12
We have heard more voices than we feel we should that want to apportion some of the blame to James for the Lakers' lack of success so far this season. We would like to ask those commentators;
What more do you want the guy to do?
He contributes 30+ points per game, snatches 8.5 rebounds, and even finds time to make 7.1 assists for his teammates. He's averaging 34.4 points for January!
Across his last 4 games, he has amassed:
144 points
37 rebounds
30 assists
If you think that the reason the Lakers suck this season is down to LeBron James then you need to give your head a wobble.
He's one of the only things keeping them going...
A fact that seems to make no sense when we look at the situation the Lakers are in is this:
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of, if not the only team we have come across so far in these breakdowns to have 8 players scoring double-figures per game.
They appear to have reasonable strength in depth when it comes to rebounding. Although he has not featured in enough games to be added to the official list, Anthony Davis gets 12 per game and that puts him 3rd in the whole NBA. They're not even struggling too badly when it comes to playmaking and assists. Although, if you were to take James and Westbrook out of the reckoning, that would be a very different situation.
Still, it's almost unfathomable why they aren't doing at least a little better than they are.
The bottom line is this:
We don't really know why the Lakers are doing so poorly this season. No single stat seems to lead towards any kind of satisfactory conclusion. But they are consistently allowing their opponents to outscore them and it's hard to think of anything more damaging than that in the long run.
They're on the road to the Indiana Pacers next, and then the New Orleans Pelicans. 2 very challenging matchups from where we're sitting. But the Lakers need to push on from their last win over the ninnies at the New York Knickerbockers. There is still a chance that they can slavage something from this season.
The betting markets agree and have them @ 41.00 to win the whole shebang.
We can't see it if we're honest...
*Key to terms:
G: Games \ PTS: Points \ FG%: Field goal percentage \
3P%: 3-point percentage \ FT%: Free throw percentage \
TRB: Total rebounds \ AST: Assists \ STL: Steals \ BLK: Blocks \
TOV: Turnovers \ PF: Personal fouls \
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