Kings vs. Spurs Preview: Still searching for that elusive win

The Sacramento Kings have yet to record a win this season, and now embark on their first road trip of the season starting tonight in San Antonio.

Who: Sacramento Kings (0-3) vs. San Antonio Spurs (1-2).
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
When: 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass

The Kings played a bit better in their two home games than in their awful season opener, but it still wasn’t enough to get a win.  News came out yesterday that the Kings will still be without Keegan Murray, Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell for at least the next week or two as well, so it’s on everybody else to step up.

Rookie Darius Acuff Jr. is setting records, but not necessarily the good kind.  Through three games, Acuff has 73 field goal attempts, the most by any rookie in their first three games.  The previous record was Kevin Durant at 64.  But despite the prolific volume, Acuff is shooting just 32.9% from the field and 14.8% from three.  For reference, Domantas Sabonis has taken just 26 shots through three games, yet has only three fewer makes than Acuff.  It’s nice that Acuff has a ton of confidence in himself, but the Kings should probably try to rein in the rookie a tad before some bad habits set in.  There’s a lot of season left.

It remains to be seen if Doug Christie and the Kings will make any lineup changes tonight or going forward.  Precious Achiuwa will likely get the start in Keegan Murray’s absence, but I think he should remain in the starting lineup even when Keegan gets back.  Achiuwa has been one of this season’s early bright spots, averaging 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds.  De’Andre Hunter on the other hand, should probably not be in the rotation at all at this point.  He’s been bad on both ends of the court, and I’d much rather see Daeqwon Plowden or even Jonathan Mogbo get his minutes.  The Kings also need to make some room to get Nique Clifford involved, who was a complete DNP last game.  Maybe even try out Alex Karaban; Why else would you trade up for older, “NBA ready” prospects if you aren’t going to play them early on in their career?

The Spurs are going to be a very tough matchup for the Kings.  In preseason, they absolutely dominated Sacramento in what was essentially a dress rehearsal for the season with both teams playing a regular rotation.  The Spurs have had their own rough start to the season, but they’re on their home floor and still have one of the most terrifying two-way players in recent history in the 7’5 Victor Wembanyama, not to mention the three headed monster of Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox.  The Spurs have been particularly bad at guarding the three point line so far this season, allowing both the most attempts and percentage.  Unfortunately the Kings aren’t particularly well suited to exploit that weakness, as they’ve been dead last in both attempts and make through three games.  With Wemby patrolling the paint, the Kings will need to try to stretch the floor a bit more than they’ve been used to, or else this could get ugly fast.

Prediction: Spurs 126, Kings 104