Kings vs. Sixers Preview: Ben There, Done With That

Well, the Sacramento Kings are in Philadelphia today and looking to head off their sixth straight loss against the team they’ve been rumored to be wheeling and dealing with the most. Yeah, sure, someone dropped to Woj that the Kings are totally, absolutely done in their pursuit of Ben Simmons and Darryl Morey is a mad man asking for Monte McNair’s first born, but it’s smokescreen season, the Kings aren’t smart and the Sixers aren’t going to waste an MVP level season from Joel Embiid in the hopes that James Harden prefers Philly clubs to Brooklyn clubs.

Between now and a deal that makes Kings fans go absolutely batshit, there’s a game to be played and vengeance to be had. Search back into your memory hole to earlier this season: the Sixers missing their entire starting lineup and some key pieces to their bench… a 25-12 fourth quarter… Tyrese Haliburton scoring zero points in thirty three minutes…. Oh there you go! You found it!

Yeah, the Sixers are as healthy as the Kings were in that horrible loss and winners of thirteen of their last sixteen games so… fingers crossed I guess.

When: Saturday, January 29th, 4:30 PM PT

Where: Wells Fargo Arena, Philadelphia, PA

TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones (play-by-play)

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

More y Less: Does anyone else feel rather, oh how do I say this, contently fatalistic about the coming trade deadline? Like, I’m certainly not feeling defeatist about it – Monte McNair will absolutely do SOMETHING to try to shake things up before the deadline and that team will be something new and different to talk about for 10-20 games. It’s just, being a believe in the power of mathematics, I don’t really see the swaps necessary to fulfill any of the promises this franchise put forward at the beginning of the season. The Kings could swap Buddy to the Lakers for the THT package, Harrison Barnes and something to the Hawks for John Collins, Fox and a whatever picks or players left for Ben and Tobias Harris and for all those move, for all the dust needing to settle, I’d just be like “oh okay! Something new and different to see grab the 11th seed!” Obviously, there’s a better chance that none of those deals happen than one of those deals happening much less them all happening but, I guess what I’m trying to say is… this season is shot, bled out, fly riddled, sun dried, discovered, mourned and entombed. Monte McNair rushing in now with some putty and embalming fluid isn’t going to suddenly bring it back to life.

And I’m fine with it. Certainly not happy, just in the acceptance stage of grief about this version of the Kings. Something will get done, a player we’re familiar with will leave and the world will go on with the Kings still looking from the outside in – spirits haunting team calendars and your DVR till April, watching as the teams they were better than on paper, in reality play deeper into the year than they have in decades. I won’t place an ounce of blame on Daryl Morey’s ego, or other teams’ offers, or a vast conspiracy to screw the Kings. When year after year, 29 teams can consistently do these things and one team can’t, it’s on that one team to catch up or die. The ‘21-22 Kings are dead and worse, unworthy of resurrection. Not even Simmons, Sabonis, Collins can change that.

Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. Update:

So, we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled “A Thing To Read, Watch, or Do” on Monday for the Knicks game, but I’ve got to spend my time talking about this for a second. For those of you who missed the last game, I’m doing a little something to fight off the general dystopic feelings that come from this version of the Sacramento Kings. I’m calling it Operation: Money for Charities & Nonprofits As Incompetence Restitution, or Operation M.C.N.A.I.R. for short, and the general idea was that we (meaning anyone crazy enough to join me) would donate money to charity after every Kings loss for the rest of the season. It takes the edge off these losses and is the kindest form of protest I could imagine.

Okay, so now that you’ve heard the elevator pitch, I’ve got to hit you with the results. I’m a one man operation, these donations are rolling in, even on the off days as people become aware of it and some people have elected not to mention the exact monetary amount they’ve donated BUT from just what I’ve been able to track via Twitter and these comment sections, since posting this on Wednesday, we’ve raised  just under $500 for various Sacramento charities. While I’ve dropped the charity of the night after the game on Twitter and in the recap comments, we’ve seen donations go far and wide:  anti-recidivism, dog shelters, soup kitchens, lupus foundations, WEAVE and on and on.

I assumed I would be the lone idiot, spending his money while the Kings struggled through the rest of the season, tossing his pennies into a wishing well that was constantly giving him the finger. To see a bunch of you share it, commit to it, spend your capital on a message like this – I shouldn’t have been surprised and still, to say I was is a vast understatement. The apathy of this fanbase and this website extend only to the edges of the actual basketball product and these last few days have been a testament to that. I’ve seen the heart and power all of Sacramento holds in even just a few days of Operation M.C.N.A.I.R. existing and I’m so glad to say that we are going to roll through the rest of this season, through thick and thin, helping those that we can, in celebration of a team that seemingly can’t help themselves.

I haven’t felt this Sacramento Proud in a long time. I hope you all feel it too.

Prediction

Joel Embiid has nothing on the true MVP big man lurking at the end of the Kings bench. Neemias Queta goes for 25-10-8 after a surprising move from Alvin Gentry to start the youngin. Daryl Morey calls McNair after the game and offers Simmons for Queta and a protected first. McNair turns him down before flying into the Philadelphia sky like Neo at the end of the Matrix.

The alarm goes off in Monte McNair’s hotel suite. It’s 2:30pm. The game will be starting soon and he’s got a phone call to Alvin Gentry he’s suddenly got to make.

Kings: 118, Sixers: 114