The Kings are in LA to take on the Clippers. Can the Kings manage to finish the preseason with a win?
When: October 17th, 7:30 PM PT
Where: Intuit Dome, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Streaming on Kings.com or the NBCS CA App
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
I already wrote about why I’m not panicking over an 0-4 start to preseason. I personally won’t be panicking over an 0-5 preseason either, but it would be nice if the Kings could get their act together and get a win before kicking off the regular season.
No word yet on whether or not newly-signed Doug McDermott will be in action with the team tonight, but I’d hope we can get a glimpse of him. Less for our sakes and more for him to have a few minutes of game action to start meshing with the team. McDermott has history with Sabonis, so I don’t worry about the chemistry there, but there are plenty of other new teammates for Doug to find rhythm with.
Orlando Robinson and Devin Carter will be out for the Kings. Trey Lyles is unlikely to play, although he should be getting close to returning. His original timeline was to be re-evaluated in three weeks, and the injury was announced about three weeks ago. Kevin Huerter has been cleared for full contact and is practicing with the team, but has not appeared in preseason yet. We haven’t heard yet if he’ll be able to appear in preseason, but if he’s not he should miss little-to-no time in the regular season.
The Clippers will be without Kawhi Leonard, who is now being reported as being out indefinitely. This is a huge blow to the Clippers, who are on track to be the worst team in the Pacific this season. To make matters worse, the Oklahoma City Thunder own the Clippers unprotected first round pick this year. If OKC lands Cooper Flagg, Sam Presti should be put in prison.
A quick couple of links from The Ringer, where the Kings got some nice recognition this week. 5 Sacramento Kings appeared on The Ringer’s Top 100 list, with Fox at 22, Sabonis at 25, Derozan at 49, Monk at 90, and Keegan at 98. They followed that up with an article recognizing Keon Ellis as one of the players not on the Top 100 who could still be a major impact this season.
While you’re here, I’ll also mention that we added a bunch of new designs to our store. Grab yourself a new shirt or mug for the start of the season. You’ll look great and it helps us keep the lights on.
Since it’s preseason, this post will serve as both the preview and the game thread.
Go Kings!
Pretty grateful that we are not currently in the Kawhi Leonard business.
He’s an all-time great, and it’s awful that he’s been so riddled with injuries. When KL is right, he’s as good ans anyone in the business.
Clips just inked him to that 3 year extension as well. He’s great when healthy, but if he can only give 60 or so games a year and is 80% of his former self, is he worth $50M a year?
I’m going to utter a phrase I haven’t had to use in a while and its awesome not using it for the Kings…….nice arena though. 😉
Hahaha, that quote took me back!
This game’s at the Clippers new home:
They’ve named it the Intuit Dome.
They won’t have Kawhi
So maybe let’s try
To get rid of this losing syndrome!
&ct=g
If Harden decides to play defense will be helpful.
lol good one
Pre season and playoff games are at his option. Mid season is when he decides what team he wants to play for.
Harden gets a lot of criticism, but he has taken more teams to the playoffs and had more success than the Kings in nearly 20 years.
Hundreds of NBA players on 10 day contracts have won more playoff games than the Kings have. Harden is an amazing talent that has self destructed his worth to a team because every owner knows he is definitely leaving.
Good on ya, Keon!
Fair critique of him. He’s shown some exciting flashes, but we still have no idea who he is yet. Ideally he’s an All-Defense player who shoots 40% from deep, rebounds, and keeps the ball moving. He may also be Kevin Huerter’s backup.
Domas at 25, the disrespect continues.
OT: Just saw this and think it’s fantastic. McDermott is on a vet minimum deal (that means the Kings still have their full MLE) and only $750K is guaranteed…up until January 7th! Good opportunity to kick the tires.
https://x.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1847069310012788860
While we’re all talking about how the Kings added players but have looked bad during preseason, the Clippers are talking about how they’ve lost players but looked good during preseason.
I’ll tell you which team I’d rather be.
Good point.
an unlikely trade for your pregame consideration (it only fails because Monk isn’t eligible to be traded til Dec.15):
I personally would not do this deal. You are throwing everything we have for IMO to a player who isn’t rising but falling. He is beyond his prime.
Why move Monk?
Hearing G-Man complain about technology not working when you need it most speaks directly to this old man’s soul.
No worries. It’s only preseason. The Kings will look totally different when the season starts. LOL.
The defense looks bad. Offense looks bad, too.
Keegan has been the preseason MVP of the team
McBuckets has taken 4 three attempts in 5 minutes and he made 1. The future is bright.
They look bad. Why do they look so bad?
Part of it is a lack of talent. Another part is running the same system with no adjustments for the 3rd straight year.
2nd straight year. This garbage is not year 1 offense.
That first year nobody knew what it was. Now they do, though.
It changed after year 1. Even Brown said so- that he was slowing them down so they could play better defense.
Time to take off the rev limiter and let these dudes move!
Yes it’s preseason…but at what point does this become worrisome? I guess if they are down 15+ after the 1st quarter against Minnesota.
If Minnesota is the blowout I’m thinking it will be, Brown is going to have to figure out how to implement some semblance of a structured offense. Because this free-flow thing we’ve seen the last couple seasons looks to have been cracked.
Nothing like implementing an offense at the start of the regular season.
Well, ideally Brown would have done it last preseason, after we got exposed by GS. But here we are. ☹️
Yep.
I think Isaac Jones should be converted to an NBA contract; then give B. Ellis the remaining 2-way.
IMO, I. Jones has passed M. Jones, C. Jones, I. Crawford, O. Robinson, & T. Taylor in terms of earning a guaranteed roster spot.
Murray // Lyles // I. Jones
Really? Does anyone really deserve a promotion right now?
Watching this team suck ass hurts my heart.
I’m really hoping we haven’t added DeRozan too late in his career.
He looked awesome for two games. Now he looks like he’s doing a Harrison Barnes interpretation
Which I’m hoping isn’t his new normal.
yeah. It’s concerning. I’m more concerned about the team as a whole though. It’s pretty pathetic so far.
The fact that McDermott is taking so many shots and playing so much after just being signed shows the Kings are DESPERATE and searching.
It’s not going to be easy to turn this train wreck around next week. The Kings look absolutely terrible.
Hollinger’s predictions for the season are…once again….looking unpleasantly accurate.
No mention of Keon?
Certainly not an nba starter if he can’t play offense to the degree he has in the preseason
not a Huerter fan, but he’s starting at this rate come game 1
That assumes he’s even able to play game 1.
Also assumes he went back to January of ’23 and found his shot.
Mcdermott out played him and could easily take his spot until Huerter is back. Hopefully Keon gets an NBA game sorted out and can continue on an upward trajectory. Many times the peak is not enough.
I was really hoping Kobe Brown would have fallen to us in ’23.
It’s just preseason.
Colby Jones is just stealing money from Vivek at this point. Thankfully it’s not a lot of money.
It’s going to be bittersweet to see Boogie sign with another team this coming week.
The Kings have got to be running the most G League team during the preseason.
So starved for Kings content in Socal that I’m watching this trainwreck until the end.
Not sure if I saw any positives from this game. Maybe that Doug McDermott might have some good offense off the bench.
IMO Sabonis has done a pretty good job this preseason.
I’d love some predictions for game 1 against Minnesota. I’m curious what people think is going to happen next Thursday.
Seriously?
Yes?
They are going to get their asses kicked and it’s going to be an embarrassment. After that pre season I don’t know how you could predict anything else. I care zero that they lost every pre season game. I care immensely how they played while losing every pre season game.
This. It’s not that they lost, it’s how they lost that leaves room for concern.
There will be Kings basketball!!!
Or Kangz basketball.
Certainly one or the other!
Time for me to dust off the “Welcome to Basketball Hell” t-shirt?
Had they went 5-0 in the preseason, I’d be concerned. I think they are going to turn it on come Thursday. We’ll get off to a nice start. 5-2, 7-3…hit a slight rough stretch. Maybe lose 2-3 straight, then go on a tear. It’s pretty evident the only person that plays real basketball all the time is Domas. Everybody else just seems bland for games that don’t count or against mediocre teams. Not a good trait, but they are who they are. Now, if they realize we have a pretty good team once healthy, add a piece here and there, then we could actually be a top 3-4 seed. That’s not me being biased toward the team, that’s on them to realize that they can be really good this year. If Fox is betting on himself, then his ass needs to do what he needs to do and go crazy on every team’s PG.
I would not bet on Fox. Fox having confidence is healthy though. Run with it.
DeRozan’s value to this team is being the #1 option when Monk/Fox are out or cold and the rest of the team plays scared, which happened far too often last season. He isn’t going to help on defense or in three point shooting. That didn’t happen tonight, which is disappointing.
IT’S OVER!
And now we have a clean slate and a 0-0 record again.
So….the Kings have waived Boogie Ellis.
Maybe I’m confused, but he seemed to be one of the few bright spots over the preseason.
Is it one of those situations where they waive him to re-sign him to a g-league deal?
Could be, but there are like 5 other dudes I would have cut before him. The timing of if makes me think he got an offer from somewhere else and he Kings are doing him a solid.
Are all of the Jones boys still around?
Could be a goal of collecting the most common names and there simply is less Ellis.
I would prefer the Kings to do themselves a solid.
The preseason experience, in gif form:
The opportunity for this team is amazing. Starting like this only leaves room for immense improvement.
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