Luke Walton next NBA coach fired odds: Walton could be canned Monday after Kings choke away 8-point lead with minute left Sunday, lose at home to Hornets

The struggling Sacramento Kings were home against a Charlotte Hornets team missing three key injured players in Gordon Hayward, Devonte Graham and Cody Zeller on Sunday, and it appeared the Kings had the game in the bag up eight points with just 53 seconds remaining. Yet, they stunningly lost 127-126 – Sacramento was -3.5 on the NBA spread and -150 on the moneyline – to raise questions about whether Coach Luke Walton will be fired Monday in the wake of that collapse. His name is trending massively on Twitter at the moment. SportsLine offers updated next NBA coach to be fired odds.

The loss was Sacramento's 10th in the past 11 games so Walton was on thin ice at it was. The Kings went up 123-115 on a Harrison Barnes dunk with 1:13 remaining, but things started falling apart when De'Aaron Fox was flagrantly fouled with 1:09 left and missed both free throws. Sacramento was able to get the offensive rebound after the second one, but Marvin Bagley's driving layup was blocked by Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball, the heavy betting favorite at William Hill Sportsbook to win Rookie of the Year. 

Charlotte's Terry Rozier started the comeback by hitting a three-pointer with 52.4 seconds left. Bagley was then fouled with 44.8 seconds to go and promptly missed both free throws. Rozier was fouled attempting a three-pointer with 33.9 seconds left and made all three free throws to cut the lead to 123-121.

Fox would make a floater with 23.8 seconds to go and a four-point lead, but then PJ Washington hit a three-pointer with 17 seconds left. Buddy Hield made one of two free throws with 10.6 seconds remaining and a 126-124 lead, but Malik Monk was fouled making a driving layup with 1.4 seconds left and hit the winning free throw. Hield missed a desperation heave from beyond midcourt as time ran out.

"That's a painful loss for our guys. We didn't finish it out," Walton said after in an understatement. "NBA games are never over and we should know that."

With the All-Star break starting after Thursday's game in Portland for the Kings, that could be when owner Vivek Ranadive makes a move on Walton if he doesn't Monday. Sacramento's next game is home vs. the Lakers, the team Walton formerly coached, on Wednesday. 

Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Favorites to be next NBA coach fired

• Luke Walton +150
• Dwane Casey +250
• Steve Clifford +500
• Lloyd Pierce +800
• Michael Malone +1000
• Scott Brooks +1200
• JB Bickerstaff +1500

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, and it returned over $5,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks last season. The model is also up almost $8,700 on top-rated NBA picks over the past two-plus seasons. Dating back to last season, it enters Week 10 of the 2020-21 NBA schedule on a stunning 85-49 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread. Anybody who has followed it has seen HUGE returns.