After months of waiting, debating draft prospects, dissecting trade rumors, and convincing ourselves that maybe Jalen Duren might be insane enough to turn down life changing money to move to Granite Bay, the Sacramento Kings are back. A new NBA season is here, and with it comes the familiar mix of hope, skepticism, and the nagging feeling that we have all been here before.
There are reasons to be intrigued by this year’s team. The Kings have added some promising young talent, namely first-round pick Darius Acuff Jr. who looks to take the mantle of franchise player and potentially put together a rookie of the year campaign. There’s also Alex Karaban, an older rookie who was one of the winningest players in NCAA history, and second round pick Emanuel Sharp who will quickly become a fan favorite with his defensive tenacity and hustle. There’s also returning players like Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell and Nique Clifford, all of whom showed flashes of being real rotation players as rookies and now have a little experience under their belt as well. I’m also interested to see if Keegan Murray can return to form after missing almost all of last season due to injury.
But it still feels like the Kings are in a holding pattern and haven’t fully committed to a path forward yet. There’s still holdovers like Zach LaVine, Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis on the roster, players who don’t seem to have a future on this roster but will nonetheless play a major role until a new home is found for them. Doug Christie also seems to be about as much of a placeholder coach as any in the league, and it’s hard to see a path where he’s still the coach of this team after this season (if he even lasts the whole season).
The expectations for this team are incredibly low. Las Vegas has the Kings with the lowest projected win total (~21) of any team in the league. ESPN gives the Kings a 0.0% chance of making the playoffs, not even 0.1%. Plus, new NBA lottery rules make it so that finishing in the bottom three punishes teams now, so the Kings aren’t even guaranteed a top five pick this season, potentially not even top ten.
They say it’s always darkest before the dawn, but Kings fans may as well be nocturnal for all the sun we’ve seen the last 20 years. But hope springs eternal, and a new season means a fresh start for everybody. There will be disappointments to be sure, but also surprises we don’t see coming, and hopefully by the end of the season we’ll have a bit more clarity than we do now.
Regardless, we’ll be here all season covering the Kings, and as always the best part about each and every season is this fanbase. God knows I wouldn’t have been doing this as long as I have without being able to commiserate with all of you. That’s what makes covering the Kings worthwhile.
So welcome back, Kings fans. Whether you’re cautiously optimistic or already preparing your tank-related jokes, there’s a seat for you here. The season is long, the questions are many, and the road ahead is uncertain. But the basketball is back, and for now, that’s enough.
Let’s see what happens.
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