NBA · Preseason ·
Will the Warriors beat the Kings?
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Warriors win chance
60%
Typical margin: Warriors by 4.5
Market 62%
Kings 40%Warriors 60%
In short
- The market (Polymarket) has the Warriors at 62%, and it carries 85% of our number
- Our ratings favor the Warriors by 8.4 points, home court included
- Injuries tilt it toward the Kings by 7.1 points
Why this number
PremiumEvery step from a coin flip to our number, in the order our model adds them.
- An even game50%Every game starts as a coin flip.
- Home court+151%Playing at home is worth about 3.9 points to the Warriors.
- See how far every step moved our number.
- Our numberWarriors 60%
Each step is that piece's share of the model, so the steps add up to the number we published.
The range
In 9 of 10 simulations, the result lands between Kings by 23 and Warriors by 32.
What if he's out?
PremiumSwitch a player off and we rerun the game without him.
Warriors win chance
60%
Kings 40%Warriors 60%
- Top scorerKings
- Top scorerWarriors
In our model a star out costs his team 4.5 points, up to 9 for a whole roster, halved in preseason when starters sit.
A preview of Premium, which we're building now.
Our number over time
Up 8 from 52% to 60%
Oct 5Oct 8
Injury report
Kings
- Domantas SabonisDay-To-Day
- Keegan MurrayDay-To-Day
- Malik MonkDay-To-Day
- Ben SimmonsDay-To-Day
Warriors
- Jimmy Butler IIIOut
- Moses MoodyOut
- Gui SantosDay-To-Day
- Brandin PodziemskiDay-To-Day
- Gary Payton IIDay-To-Day
- Georges NiangDay-To-Day
- De'Anthony MeltonDay-To-Day
- Yaxel LendeborgDay-To-Day
Our method
- We simulate the final margin 40,000 times from our team ratings (Elo, fitted walk-forward) and the ESPN injury report.
- The win chance is the share of those simulations each team wins.
- When the market has a price (Polymarket), it gets 85% of the say and our ratings the rest: over ten seasons the market was the most accurate single input, and that mix was as accurate as anything we tested.
- Preseason game: starters play about half the minutes, so we halve the expected margin and widen the range. It's graded like any other game and marked preseason.
- Model v1.2.0, updated Oct 9.