Kings vs. 76ers Preview – By the Numbers

January 12, 2024

After back-to-back games against the Pistons and Hornets, the Kings move on to a much more difficult matchup against the 76ers. Even without Joel Embiid, who has been ruled out for tonight, Philly is a tough matchup. Their 2-7 record without the MVP begs to differ, but they should not be taken lightly without their star.

To start, let’s look at how the 76ers have faired in the 9 games that Embiid has missed this year compared to the 27 games he has played.

As you can see, almost everything goes down, as expected. Embiid leads the league with a 37.9% Usage Rate, so there is literally not a player that is missed more by any team in the league. With him out, the 76ers will look to Tyrese Maxey, who is having a breakout season.

Maxey is averaging 26.2 Points, 6.7 Assists, and 3.7 Rebounds, all of which are career highs. He’s doing so on 45.3/37.4/86.8% shooting splits. The percentages are slightly down with the increased volume, but he’s quickly becoming one of the most dynamic players in the league.

Looking at his shooting splits though, he shoots 49.1% on his Catch and Shoot 3’s and 29.9% on his Pull-Up 3’s. Again, with Embiid out, those Catch and Shoot looks aren’t as likely to be there as much tonight. For the Kings, make him beat you from distance off the dribble as much as possible tonight.

After Maxey, the 76ers are loaded with great role players. Tobias Harris is having another solid year, Kelly Oubre Jr. has been great for them. Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, Paul Reed…the list goes on. The question until proven otherwise is can they play above those roles when Embiid is out. For our sake, I hope the answer is no for at least one more game.

For the Kings, Keegan Murray is on a breakout path to stardom. I wrote a whole article getting into his evolution this season (https://willzstats.com/keegan-murrays-evolution/), but in his last 5 games, Keegan has averaged 22.2 Points, 7.2 Rebounds, 1.4 Assists on 59.2/46.9/75.0% shooting splits. His efficiency is through the roof right now. It’s not just that he’s hitting his 3’s at a high clip, it’s that he’s become nearly unstoppable inside the arc.

We came into the season saying that the Kings could be a contender if Keegan takes a leap, and he’s done just that in so many facets of his game. The core four of him, Fox, Sabonis, and Monk is legit. Between the four of them, odds are one is going to be on fire any given night. We’ve seen recently what it looks like when all four of them get going, and the results speak for themselves. Changes may be coming with the trade deadline looming, but the Kings are in a great spot with Keegan’s evolution.