The Sacramento Kings have lost 6 straight games, have fired their head coach, and the season has rapidly spiraled out of control. At this point, nothing would surprise me. Trade one of our stars? Fire the GM? Raise the ticket prices? All of it is on the table. In fact, the most surprising thing this team could do right now might be to actually win a game.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Monday, December 30th, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
Ok. Let me try to talk myself into this one. The Dallas Mavericks will be without Luka Doncic tonight as he’s still dealing with a hip contusion. Naji Marshall will miss this game to suspension after he got into a fight with Jusuf Nurkic (Naji was just doing what everyone always wants to do to Nurk). Dereck Lively II is currently listed as questionable, also with a hip issue. Even down those two or three key players, the Kings still enter this game outgunned. Kyrie Irving, PJ Washington, Klay Thompson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Quentin Grimes, Daniel Gafford, Maxi Kleber…it’s almost like this team surrounded their stars with a bunch of really good depth. What a concept!
The potential saving grace for the Kings is that the Mavs are not a high-volume three point team, averaging just 35.8 threes per game, 23rd in the NBA, just ahead of the Kings at 35.1 per game. Luka accounts for 9.6 threes per game. Given that opponent threes are Sacramento’s Achilles heel, maybe they can stay afloat against a team that doesn’t take them at high volume.
Oh who am I kidding, Klay is gonna set a single game record for made threes in this one as the Kings continually leave him open to collapse the paint as Kyrie drives and kicks. Also, if the Mavs are smart they’ll call up 2-Way contract Kessler Edwards and let him torch us.
Prediction
Something weird happens and the Kings win or something.
Kings 122, Mavs 121
No.
It sucks that people on here seem to care more than the franchise itself. Until I see anything from this franchise that suggests something different my opinion is NO CLASS, NO BALLS.
Lots of stuff here:
‘Nobody wanted to fire Mike’ – What went so wrong so fast for the Sacramento Kings – ESPN
Matina sighting:
And this:
With the possible exception of Ingram, these names don’t inspire me much. LaVine and Kuzma make me scoff.
Ingram actually makes me scoff the most. He’d be a disaster here. Cam Johnson is the only one that would remotely move the needle but at this point they need to blow this up so I don’t see the point of any move that is made with the purpose of winning games this season.
Really? He’s the one with size (Kuzma is a SG caught in a PF’s body). The others are 6’4/6’5 guys.
79-59-52-62-61-55-45-64-18
Pretty cringe other than the rookie year.
Not interested in any of them personally.
Cam Johnson is a legit 6’8 so I’d much prefer him. I just think Ingram is a losing player (He’ll fit right in!). He also does exactly the same thing Derozan does. In addition, he is going to want a huge new contract that would immediately be a huge mistake. I just don’t think Ingram does anything to help this current team’s roster construction. If the options are Ingram are just blow it up and trade Fox, I’d rather blow it up and trade Fox.
100%
Only thing that has changed for me is Keegan should be on the block, problem is, it’s obviously much diminished so the value probably not there
Johnson is not in the original quote. Kings looking at the wrong Cam
Yeah, it would make zero sense for the Kings to be targeting Cam Thomas. Why would they want/need another undersized scoring guard who is about to hit RFA?
My bad I assumed it was Cam Johnson because Cam Thomas would make zero sense.
At least it didn’t seem like some knee jerk reaction. There were conversations during the weeks leading up to it…so that means something.
So apparently, they didn’t discuss the intended decision to fire Brown with Fox and Domas.
I have no idea if that is common or uncommon. Anyone know?
A good question for Jerry, perhaps?
I would be very surprised if their respective agencies would want a direct conversation like that. I think it loads the players with too much baggage, from other org’s being wary of a player who thinks he is part of the FO, to negotiation of contracts, and especially with the media landscape now. There is hardly any reporting any more (Zach Lowe is noticeably missed), and most of the coverage is just content creation & aggregating, hot takes and diatribes not based on anything other than what everyone else is saying on twitter/reddit/blogs. I think most agents are savvy enough to keep their players out of that, sans the few true superstars in the league whose reps are fairly bulletproof.
There was a Matina sighting in the Amick article, too. She’s apparently a big Christie fan.
Rich Paul does all the negative things on his behalf. He paid for that.
…The fuck is Marina doing in these decisions? What has she done to deserve anyone’s ear. It’s fucking ridiculous. Get the F out and take Vivek with you.
Vivek -this org- is so fiucked up. It’s entirely frustrating.
Hehe
https://www.si.com/nba/kings/sacramento-kings-news/sacramento-kings-legend-reacts-to-mike-brown-news-01jg5c6nhye1
Kings “legend” DeMarcus Cousins? On the other hand, if anyone knows what organizational dysfunction is and how to add to said dysfunction, it’s Cuz.
“Legend” gets thrown around too much.
Legendary comment!
I remember when “epic” was the hyperbole du jour.
Epic was legendary. Hopefully some day soon Legend will be considered epic.
Same DMC whose stupid, superfluous comments got Grant Napear in trouble and fired out of political correctness. DMC: STFU. You had your opportunities, you were a great player but sucked as a teammate and as a person.
Does anybody actually even care at this point? The roster is completely broken so until they fix that, every win is one win farther away from the highest draft pick possible.
I want to see if they make trades for the future at this point. Does Keon get more minutes and expand his game. Can Keegan remember how to make 3s. What does Devin Carter look like when he returns? Where does the team end up at in the Lottery.
I am interested to see Carter when he comes back (out tonight), but other than that, I’m sort of in wake me after the lottery mode unless they make a huge trade. I think just getting Derozan off the roster would probably help quite a bit but I doubt they’ve got the stones to cut their losses with him.
Basically it’s a car crash, everyone knows it is bad but can’t look away
Sac. vs. Dal: What is vs. what could have been.
Just another reminder of Fox being the reason obvious moves were not made such as drafting Luka; at least that was Vlade’s logic.
“But they told me that drafting Luka would’ve taken the ball out of Fox’s hands.”
Back at home and now facing Dallas–
A team we should greet with great malice.
If Vlade had just
Picked Luka for us,
And not been an addle-brained phallus!
+1 Vlade’s choices were a lot like his game!
&ct=g
I’m going to the game tonight for my brothers birthday. I’ll have my Highway to Basketball Hell sweater and my bro got the Welcome to Basketball Hell one. Perfect for a fine basketball evening! Or maybe we’ll just leave early and go get drunk.
Start a “Vivek you suck” or “Sell the team” chant!!!
Haha I’ll try Vivek you suck. There’s no telling a new owner would be any better. Bunch of rich a-holes.
It’s done wonders for my Commanders!
This one should be a walk without Doncic, right? Sixers and Grizzlies in the next two, so they probably have to win this one to avoid a nine game losing streak.
Kyrie Irving out for today’s game too.
You gotta win this one.
Build around Domas, keep Monk, Keon, Keegan, Devin, get a decent haul for Fox, get out from Demar deal. Just surround Domas with high iq shooters and watch the team be fun to watch again.
I’ve seen many mention they’d like to see DeMar traded.
I have never particularly like his style of play. But it does beg the question(s):
What team out there would be willing to take on his contract and why?
A team that needs scoring and experience. Orlando, perhaps?
Orlando has the defense to put around Derozan to make that work.
Saw this trade proposal on BR, seems like a fair deal to me:
Doug is in a funny contractual spot. His fully guaranteed date is Jan. 10th, but he can’t be traded until Jan. 15th. The way I see it, Monte either has to cut bait and release him before the 10th to fully guarantee his deal and hope to include him in on a trade. IMO, I think he should be cut before the 10th to open a roster spot for a larger deal down the road, especially if it involves the Kings bringing back multiple players.
Two questions. Maybe I missed it somewhere but what happened in the last King Herald where someone said a reliable source he read Fox wanted to be traded? What happened to that? And Adamsite I missed your answers on the ABC etc. players. The last I got was your answer to my question on how old they were.
The Fox trade rumor was from a parody account, so it’s false.
As to the blind player vote. A) was LaMelo Ball, B) was Zach LaVine, C) was Fox, D) was RJ Barrett, and E) was Tyler Herro.
Those who voted had Fox either second to last or last in desire for a max deal. I picked those other players because I don’t think any of them are considered franchise cornerstones that you build around, but their numbers are on par or better than Fox’s.
I think most King’s fans are in denial about how fox is closer to these players than he is to superstars.
No doubt
Agreed. He’s fringe all-star, not yet (and maybe never will be) a super star.
We’d have to find a new home for Devin Carter; trying to develop tw 6’2” PGs at the same time isn’t going to work. We’d also have to waive two more players, likely ORob and Crowder, and wind up with Jeff Green as the most viable backup to Keegan at PF. None of the incoming players, other than Landale, are shooting a decent 3pt %, and Landale is averaging fewer than 1 attempt per game. The two picks are fine, but I’m not so sure the pick swaps would play out in our favor.
I’d hold out for one of Tari Eason or Jabari Smith to be sent our way.
Agreed. Need some young talent coming over in a trade in addition to the picks as those picks/swaps will likely be in the back half of the first. Same could be said of trades with SAS with picks/swaps going out into the future.
Yup. Gotta have some youth, especially on their rookie deals. If Eason is untouchable Jabari could be an ideal fit between Sabonis and Keegan.
Jabari is the type of player the Kimgs need with their roster of Sabonis and Murray. Add in Carter, Keon and Monk, I think they could work fairly well together.
Kings receive:
-Jabari Smith Jr.
-Cam Whittmore
-Jeff Green (expiring salary filler)
-Steven Adams (expiring and a decent backup, if needed)
-2025, 2027 1st round picks (that 25 pick is the swap rights with other teams, so not quite sure where it would land). Picks can moved around or protected, as needed)
Rockets receive:
Fox
Kings get some SF/PF help and picks. Then they need to find a spot for DDR to be traded too. He just isn’t what the team needs at this point. Find an under performing player and maybe get some 2nd round picks back as well.
I just took a gander at the league wide standings and something struck me. The Kings currently have the 8th worst record in the league, but I noticed every team below them (sans the injury stricken Pels) are either tanking with rebuilding with youth. In reverse order they are the Nets, Blazers, Jazz, Hornets, Raps, Wiz, Pels. That means the Kings are dead last in teams that are “built for” and actively trying to reach the playoffs.
The are the worst of the pretenders. The Kings are on pace for just 36 wins and BBall Reference currently has the Kings at just a 7% chance of making the playoffs.
Wow. Again thanks for your help on my 2 questions. Just one more. I have a trade that sends Fox to the Spurs for Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins and Julian Champagnie plus 3 firsts. All of the 3 are non starters although Johnson was a starter at one time and Champagnie has started sometimes. All young good players. At present only Julian would maybe start and Collins would be a good fit as backup to Sabonis. I have one more idea but don’t know which way to go. Huerter, Lyles and a first for either John Collins or Cam Johnson. Need that big PF but also need 3 point shooting. What do you think?
Keldon Johnson is extremely average. Zach Collins is a career backup that makes way too much for his production. Champagnie would be a fine role player. The 3 picks would most likely be late picks. That return for Fox doesn’t seem too good, in my opinion.
I think you could get more that that for Fox. I harken back to the Knicks giving up 5 first round picks for Mikal Bridges. Now, Mikal fits the NBA’s desire for long 3 and D wings, but he’s also a fringe all-star like Fox.
I think that is a pretty specific situation though. The Knicks badly wanted Bridges, and it was well known, so they lost quite a bit of leverage in negotiating and had to go all in. I can’t think of any team that wanted Mikal enough to give even three-four FRP’s for him, can you?
It reminded me of the PG situation, when he was traded to the Clippers, which Presti gets a lot of credit for, but Kawhi deserves as much credit. Kawhi was not going to sign with the Clippers unless they got Paul George as well, so Presti was able to get a significant overpay for him because they knew the Clips were going all in.
I also think you are correct in saying Fox can get more than that proposal. A team like SA has to think if Fox is as good as he is now with a weird franchise, putting him with the most imposing defender in the league and the synergy they could have offensively, I could see them giving great value.
If all we are getting is young non starters in terms of players, I’d want a boat load of firsts, not just 3.
Your research lends more credence to tanking NOW, aka trading away core players.
Yup, I’m definitely leaning that way these days.
Start with some guards!
And not the small ones!
You know, this has been brought up a few times over the years. Matina has been the only consistent person in the organization for 20 years or something……
Wow no Luka and Kyrie? How many Mavs will have Career Highs tonight?
Why go to the games? Why watch on TV? Why not cost the ownership money? They can’t leave. Exercise your power as a fan.
For me, I just enjoy basketball and having one major sport in the city I live in. I don’t go to many games, but I am going to continue watching games and shaking my head, regardless of what happens. If I didn’t stop watching during the 16 year playoff drought, I’m not sure why I would stop now. Also, I think the Kings have the pieces to turn this around if they are smart in their approach (a big IF, I know).
I appreciate your loyalty. I am one to hold my supplier of any product accountable.
To be clear, when they suck, I play guitar with the game on in the background, so I’m not exactly paying close attention. I also don’t go out of my way to catch recordings if I’m busy during the game. And I only catch a game or two in person. My level of involvement ebbs and flows based on the success of the team. I just don’t necessarily turn off the TV entirely.
would that be blues guitar? Maybe with a slide
I’m a drummer in a local Americana band but have historically written most of my band’s songs. I’ve been trying to get serious about learning how to actually play guitar for the past year or so. I love the sound of slide and pedal steel but for now I’m just learning finger picking.
There are lots of answers to your questions, but it boils down to good fortune for me. I am a season ticket holder, been one since 2011-12 when the lockout shortened season had the Magoofs offering season ticket for ~$330 (no fees, no tax, just $10/game). I bought a single ticket and went to almost every game solo. That got me locked in at a low price that means I am still paying a low price relative to all/most ticket holders around me. Even as I added a ticket for my girlfriend now wife and steadily improved my seats to lower level corner. My daughter was born in 2019 and that means I only go to a handful of games a year (I digress but how parents bring their young children to 7 pm games on a weeknight baffles me). But I can always unload the tickets for at least my face value and always 4-5 times that for warriors/lakers/celtics and 10 times that for -lol – playoff games. At this point the tickets pay for themselves on resale and I get to go to a handful of games for essentially free each year.
This is where the good fortune comes in. Fronting multiple thousands every year is not an issue for my family. We are fortunate. We are also fortunate in that this team has been so bad for so long, that they disincentivize me attending more games and feeling a bigger sting of paying for more games.
I know that once I bail on these tickets, I am probably never coming back at the “new” price. And since the Kangz are probably headed to another long string of awfulness, I doubt the ticket price hikes continue. In 14 years, they have raised ticket prices a handful of times – the move to G1 and the 2 years proceeding the playoff appearance. Every other year prices have either held steady or actually dropped because of their pathetic display (ironically this was the year they made the trade for Domas and turned the ship around ever so briefly).
And so…I stay.
So you go for free. Those who buy your tickets are getting ripped off. By your own admission.
I’m getting tired of all the Fox hating on this site. DeAaron is the core of this team.
He is a superb player who has gotten better every year. Nobody’s perfect.The coaching of this team has been the main issue IMO: shooting way too many 3’s (and relying on them way too much); and not defending the 3 effectively due to poor defensive strategy; dubious rotations; and missing the infamous big wing/defender bench player. I liked Mike Brown but just think he couldn’t recognize his own pitfalls.
I’m hopeful DC can fix this. And soon.
I think most fans are aware that Fox is the best player to play for this team in nearly two decades. Some are annoyed at his public comments but he’s still been good for Sacramento and the team overall.
At the same time, the record and trajectory says the team needs a shake up, Fox is clearly not super max worthy, and he’s made comments that indicate he has one foot out the door. Based on that, it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep Fox on this roster beyond the 2/6/25 trade deadline, so fans are thinking a trade involving him could help jumpstart a rebuild / retool.
You overrate Fox. Kevin Love averaged 26 points and 15 rebounds in Minnesota before he went to Cleveland. When you play for a crappy team someone has to be the leading scorer.
Reminds me of how excited I was about the Kings adding Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 2005-06. His career numbers were pretty good but he had put those numbers together as one of the only options on shitty teams. That said, Fox has a lot more value than Shareef did at that time.
Strong coping regarding Fox.
His W/L record since entering the NBA as the “core” player of this team says all you need to know. Time for King’s fans to face reality.
Random thoughts from a rando:
Doncic, Irving, Lively, Marshall, and Exum are all out for the Mavs.
&ct=g
We’ll be without Crowder.
Yep, 30 point loss, here we come.
Klay as well
Badge Legend