Update: 11 p.m.
In what turned into a surprisingly good game, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Sacramento Kings 100-98 at the Golden 1 Center Tuesday.
The Kings jumped out to an early 10-point lead. Throughout the game Dallas would make small runs and get it close and Sacramento would manage to push the lead back up again. The Mavs won the third quarter 30-20, which led to a close game in the fourth.
Down the stretch, Dallas took a two-point lead with 1:20 left. DeMar DeRozan responded with a three. Cooper Flagg responded with a nifty spin move at the basket to put the Mavs back up. DeRozan answered with a midrange jumper. The Mavs responded with a three. This was a pretty fun back and forth sequence. The Kings then had two shots at a three, but missed them both. Then the Mavs got free throws and missed both of those. DeRozan got a chance to win it at the buzzer with a three, but that missed. Dallas wins by 2.
DeRozan led the Kings with 21. Zach LaVine had 20. Maxime Raynaud had 14 points and 9 rebounds in 35 minutes. Dennis Schroder had 11 points and 9 assists off the bench.
A close call for the tank, but it was entertaining.
From Earlier Preview:
The Kings have lost 5-straight games and find themselves in the national TV (streaming?) spotlight tonight against the also-terrible Dallas Mavericks. Peacock will surely get their money’s worth for this one.
Who: Sacramento Kings (8-28) vs. Dallas Mavericks (13-23)
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 8:00 PM PT / 11:00 PM ET
Watch: Peacock!
The season from hell continues for the Sacramento Kings as news broke earlier today that Keegan Murray will miss at least 3-4 weeks with an ankle injury. Domantas Sabonis remains out, but at least Zach LaVine is back? The Mavericks are still without Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively, and P.J. Washington.
In addition to the injuries that continue to pile up for the Kings, half their roster is also drowning in trade rumors, and the result is an on-court product that is extremely hard to watch. It feels like the entire organization is just treading water until the February 5th trade deadline. At least we have Maxime Raynaud to watch.
It’s unclear who will get the start for Murray tonight. It’s also unclear why Peacock didn’t do everything in their power to flex this game out of the national TV spot. I’m sure there is some logistical reason why that isn’t possible, but good lord. Will there be a worse national TV matchup all season?
Anyway. Go Kings?
Prediction: Kings 117, Mavericks 110.
The NBA gods even punished us with an 8 PM game. Is there no rock bottom?
The NBA gods gave you a sign.
Did you stay up and watch? That’s on you.
We beat them when AD was sitting;
Keon started—our threes were hitting.
Looks like AD will play:
Our tank should be OK.
Can’t wait for Vivek to be splitting!
+1 I’m sure Scott’s been on the phone 24/7…
I don’t know how you keep doing it, Jman, but please don’t stop.
National TV game – maybe…
Vivek will be there.
There will be SELL THE TEAM chants and signs.
would be a great time to break out audio and visual fan frustration
I only saw the end of the game. Did something of the kind happen?
Vivek hasn’t been courtside for some time now. Maybe he’s sitting somewhere else now or just not attending?
Cardwell is a joy to watch as usual.
These announcers have done nothing but talk about Cooper Flagg and the Mavs.
Which is much better than just making shit up for four possessions.
No wonder AD gets hurt so often. He hit the floor multiple times like a freight train throughout the game.
These announcers suck. They’re excited anytime the Mavs do something then couldn’t sound less excited when the Kings do something. Am I missing something? Are Mavs playing as the NBC home team tonight or something? They’re acting like the Mavs aren’t just a few spots above the Kings in the standings. Also, this Mavs squad is a lot better than the Kings and it shouldn’t be this close.
Great tank commander vet play by Dennis, DeRozan, and Westbrook! Roll on stealth tank! Roll on!
So, the Kings were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
Is this the type of math that Vivek does? Might this explain the inability of the team to make any progress?
Got back from playing pickleball and caught last 5 mins of game. That’s when Kangz lost the lead and game. You are welcomed. Tank on baby
Kings basketball is in a pickle.
Russ has secretly been the tank commander for the past few weeks. His shooting has been BAAAAAAAAAD! He was 1-7 last night on taking some pretty bad threes. He has this horrible tendency to catch the ball while open, punk fake, let the defender get set then hoist a 3 a good 2-3 seconds after holding the ball. It’s the weirdest damn thing I’ve seen from a non-shooter. Just shoot the ball in rhythm my man.
It still blows my mind that the Kings are starting a dude and relying on him every night to run the team, but he wasn’t on a single NBA roster to start camp. And that is is after they overpaid Dennis to be the staring PG this past summer. It’s comical.
In all honesty, if the Kings can’t move Russ by the deadline for peanuts, do they just cut him so he might join a contender?
That’s my hope.
Nobody wants Russ or wanted him. His numbers are just a guy doing whatever he wants every possession because the Kings have no system or accountability. No good team will ever want him again.
I’m shocked that no one could have ever seen this happen
This Franchise is just a clown show
Picking up Westbrick was the icing on the cake. What the hell was Perry thinking?
LOL
That’s throwing your players under the bus and then making a token effort of trying to drag them from under the weels…
What a pathetic shit show.
LOL, when you got like 4 dudes on the court who believe they should take the last shot, and screw the play call because this is an 8 win team, this kind of shit happens.
I’ve been getting vibes that DDR, LaVine, and Russ aren’t even listening to Doug anymore. They are just going through the motions until they are traded, Doug is fired, or the season ends. Punching a pay clock.
If he quacks like a duck and sits like a duck, it’s probably a sitting duck.
Do you think they ever did?
Not only are at least one (Westbrook) and probably two (DeRozan) Hall of Famers, Lavine is a former All-Star (and former 6th Man) and is being paid $46M this season (Lavine) – why listen to … Doug Christie? And what if they don’t?
They still won’t play Keon (or Devin Carter). Monk with another DNP-CD. So very strange.
Bad coach, great tank commander.
Fun game! And we were able to pull out the loss at the end! TankOn!
OT: As the trade winds begin to pick up some random Kings rumors:
1) Mrc Stein says Kings shot down an effort by LaVine’s camp to trade him to ATL this past summer for a Young package.
2) Lots of teams are calling about Keon.
3) Kings are still in the front seat in trying to trade for Kuminga.
None of these rumors give me much hope.
Only way this could get worse is if a Kuzma rumor came around also.
Kuzma feels inevitable.
Kyle Kuzma’s Kangz.
ROFL! This is perfect!
Kuzmangaz incoming…we haven’t quite hit rock bottom, brace yourself
Kuzmangaz = Kuzma + Kuminga + Kangz. Correct?
I watched Kuzma play the other night against the Kings. IMO he should not play for the Kings. What a waste.
Please, no Kuzma. I can’t even look at that guy. If you think this is rock bottom, you haven’t seen nothing yet.
Don’t worry, y’all. I got this.
Trade 1: Unloading contracts
WAS receive Trae & Risacher
ATL receive Lavine & Schroder plus pick(s) from WAS (and maybe a 2nd rounder from SAC)
SAC receive Middleton & McCollum
Trade 2:
CHI Receives Sabonis
SAC Receives Vucevic, Collins, 2026 CHI 1st
Trade 3: Seems obvious enough
LAC receives DeRozen
SAC receives Collins + 2030 LAC 1st (likely with decent protections)
OFFSEASON (Pre-draft):
Use all the new cap-space to provide cap relief/take on bad contracts in exchange for picks. (Ie, ATL
Last night was the perfect example of what makes this team so supremely unenjoyable. LaVine, DDR, Westbrook and Schroder took 67% of the team’s shots (62). Raynaud, Ellis and Clifford took 18% of the shots (17). Just unwatchable.
Watching a bad basketball team led by young prospects is one thing. Watching a bunch of selfish, overpaid has beens get theirs is something entirely different. How in the ever loving fuck did we arrive at this point?
Yep, that tracks.
Did anyone catch McGrady’s halftime comments on the Kings? He basically said this is an old vet driven team with no direction and has no one to build around. He was like, WTF are they doing?
I imagine McGrady has zero pulse on the comings and goings in Sacramento, but if he can see this train wreck from a distance, I really have to wonder what Vivek is thinking.
Yeah, for all of the hand-wringing over tanking, the simpler and more accurate truth is that two of the three worst teams in the league (Sac and NO) aren’t tanking – the organizations just suck to the high heavens. The answer isn’t in tweaking the lottery further or applying punishments that will ultimately impact the fans. The answer is to find better owners.
It does give me a laugh that Dumars is the GM of the Pels. Perry is from the Dumars tree and Dumars has worked under Viviek for years. It all fits.
NOP doesn’t have any incentive to tank this year. SAC does.
Right. And therein lies the canard that is tank talk. If the Pels had their pick, accusations of tanking would be flying. But since they don’t, they just suck. I posit that the Kings are not tanking, either. They just suck, though they do have their pick.
I read one of the articles on NBA tanking and they had some interesting ideas. Most disturbing was the solid truth offered by (Hall of Famer) David Aldridge who feels that the NBA should given even odds for all lottery participants (Some advocated 14, another writer wanted to include the 1st round losers in the playoffs, so 22).
HIs point is a valid one – Bad organizations will be be bad and rewarding them with high draft talent is to the detriment of the League (my paraphrase).
I agree with this to a large extent. It is why the lottery was instituted in the first place. You had Clippers Donald Sterling not even trying to win and grabbing high draft picks every single season. As we Kings fans know, the same idiots who run this circus aren’t going anywhere, and if they can’t do better than one (1) playoff appearance in 20 seasons, why should they deprive a star from shining elsewhere?
This circles back to my beef: The NBA is the conductor of this train wreck. Incompetence IS a reason to force a sale. Everyone answers to someone. Everyone. Vivek and Matina are here because the NBA continues to allow it.
On the flip side, if this team’s goal is to lose as much as possible, they are doing a great job.
You could run the Stockton Kings out there every night and I’d be more entertained than these clowns, might have better results too. The tank is strong!
Anybody read ESPN today? Tons of quotes from Six Pillars Scottie. Any news junkies out there who know Betteridge’s law of headlines? Any headline that contains a question can be answered by the word ‘no.’
Headline: Can the Sacramento Kings be fixed?
Best Scott quote is at the end.
I saw. Thoroughly unimpressed with Perry. His bullshit stealer thing. The fact that he loves and backs Doug Christie, despite Doug showing nothing.
And that he still wants to trade for Kuminga. I find it idiomatic to bring in non-shooters. Why is he so gung ho to chase after this guy? Just because he’s athletic? Athleticism doesn’t win titles. Of course you need some but you need skills and shooting.
We’ll see
What’s sad here is that we are still 3rd from the bottom of the tank race. We can’t even win at loosing…
I was afraid the Kings might win that one, but DDR iso to the rescue.
Wiz have saved us from getting Vivfucked.
flat out salary dump
no draft picks, solid vet and shooter prospect in Krispert. Wiz on the hook for salary – seems like there must be some under the table agreements as well, but who knows. Bad teams gonna be bad
We now know what LaVine may get in return. We can hope for a large expiring and filler at best. No picks.
Done. Lavine for Porzingis and Kennard.
Make it so.
With CJ there, why do they want Lavine?
I predict Lavine will be here for his contract, maybe next season’s trade deadline.
The good news is – I’m usually wrong, so there is that.
Interesting pick up for Washington, he is a better version of Jordan Poole and more serious version of John Wall (apparently a big party all the time guy) and that sure didn’t work out for them. And 1 – he’s a unarmed version of Gilbert Arenas.
Domas for Porzingis, Kennard and a pick?
My trade: Sabonis for Barrett, Agbaji, Colin Murray Boles and their 2026 first( somewhere around #20 )
Oh, I don’t think there is any chance of ATL targeting LaVine now, it was just a hypothetical. That being said, ATL didn’t acquire CJ for his skills, it was more for his expiring deal, which may or may not get flipped again if the rumors about them wanting AD are true.
btw, with my mention of Jordan Poole, it triggers how Warriors put a coat of polish on their young players that has them shine brighter than their mettle. It’s the same with Spurs players under Popovich. Put them on another team and … welp.
Kuminga coming in 8 days…
Kuminga Monk Porter 3 way deal
Travis Schlenk work for the Wiz and worked for ATL when they drafted Trae.
I actually like this deal for the Wiz. Vet PG to provide some structure to a young team. They might be able to make a push for the play-in this season and they still have NOP’s #1.
Try him out for a year and either extend him or trade his expiring deal next deadline.
It’s ATL that has the Pels pick, not the Wiz. However, I agree, it’s a good trade for the Wiz.They had to fill their cap space with something next season (they aren’t getting any free agents), and if Trae works out for them, it’s a win. Worst case he’s a bigger expiring deal for them in 27′ than CJ was form them in 26′
Duh. Brain fart. Thanks for the correction.
Funny you mention that but I think this is key reason the Wiz made the deal often execs love their guys especially guys they drafted. Can see the likes of Schlenk pushing for this deal
You mean the teams that keep their GMs?
Instead we have GM Vivek (Buddy, DDR, Lavine and who knows who else is next, no matter what we hear from Six Pillar Perry.
Maybe we get back Stauskas?
Anyone: Ellis for Knecht and a second. IMO Knecht going to the Kings where he has chances to be a really good offensive player. He shoots the three which we really need and is said to be working on his defense.
He’s a lot worse from 3 (this season and career) than Ellis. He is a way worse defender than Ellis. And for that, if you are following the ESPN article, you get a 2032 2nd rounder. Yuck.
Dalton Knecht 4/19/2001 (24.72)
Keon Ellis 1/08/2000 (26.0) Happy Birthday Keon!
no significant age difference, so the “youth movement” argument does not apply either.
Added: Jonathan Kuminga 10/6/2002 (23.27)
$4.2m next year, $6.5m the following year, so not exactly mouthwatering contract value, either. He got off to a good start with the Lakers early his rookie season, but he’s kind of been ass since.
I’d rather take a look at Sochan and the rights to the Utah 2026 2nd rounder for Keon and Saric.
Don’t Mess with the Sochan!
Jeremy Juliusz Sochan
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