The Sacramento Kings have lost 14 of their last 18 games but never fear! Fox is back from his ankle injury, Domas Sabonis is in Sacramento and ready to play (although it’s still unclear if he’ll play in this game) and Monte McNair still has a good deal of time to screw up whatever I’m writing right this second. The Kings lost to a damn good Timberwolves squad last night and now get to run it back, and possibly with their newly acquired reinforcements. Am I still in mourning? Sure. Am I intrigued as hell? Absolutely. Am I sure Monte McNair is done wheeling and dealing? HELLLL NO. Gotta get this one out quick!
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Wednesday, February 9th, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones (play-by-play)
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
You’re the Man Now, Dog: Greg just published a really good undressing of the Hali-Sabonis trade and while I have my own opinions, I’m not sure still how I want to form them. It’s hard to tell just yet what the Kings are doing with 24 hours to go before the deadline but suffice to say, I don’t think they’re done quite yet. One thing I will say about all this hubbub so far is that, this lays it all on De’Aaron Fox. He’s the timeline, he’s the cog by which it all goes and while there was a sense from many of us that the winds were changing in Hali’s favor – this snuffs that out forever. The trade for Sabonis and vets are as much to appease Fox as they are to appease blood thirsty fans. Fox is going to have to play at an All-Star level every single night right now to get this roster to the promised land (aka the 7th seed in ’23) and while the Kings finally have a front court offensive force to pair with him, this needle is going to require some very precise threading.
As for the game tonight: I really love this Timberwolves team, with their mishmash of lost toys all pulling in unison towards a playoff spot. Sure, the Wolves gave up a lot to get to this point and probably could have been there sooner or more often if they hadn’t been lulled into Jimmy Butler’s hypnotic gaze but they’re on the precipice now and I’m incredibly happy for them.
I’m not going to risk McNair bombing my preview to hell again like he did yesterday so I’m keeping all discussion at 1000 feet in the air.
The tank is dead, long live the tank.
Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. Update:
So I wouldn’t usually do this but I’m telegraphing my donation plans tonight because, well, they’re a bit special. Tonight’s potential donation goes to the ASXL Rare Research Endowment, an organization that researches in the hopes of better understanding the ASXL gene family and improve the care for those living with Bohring-Opitz, Shashi-Pena, and Bainbridge-Ropers Syndromes – rare, spontaneous genetic mutations that can lead to seizures, sleep and feeding difficulties, visual impairments, atypical growth, and congenital malformations. Again, these three syndromes are rare, with an estimated 500 people world wide that have been diagnosed and as such, they aren’t well studied or well known.
There’s a newly five month old Sacramento-area resident named Cooper Crowe who has been diagnosed with ASXL3, and who I’d like to donate on behalf of, tonight or whichever game our next round of donations goes out. This week is Feeding Tube Awareness Week, something that Cooper requires the use of, and I’d like to think that between now and Cooper’s first Rare Disease Day on the 28th of February, we can ensure he feels celebrated and loved by his hometown. I’ll throw in the Instagram that his parents run in the hopes of building awareness for Cooper’s condition and if you’d like to follow them or just send some encouraging words their way, I’m all for making their lives that much brighter. In the instance that the Kings lose tonight, I’m donating DOUBLE – the loss of Haliburton and a second loss in consecutive nights deserves at least that.
Tonight (or the night of the next loss, I guess) I’m asking that you please write-in that your donation is in honor of Cooper Crowe or The Crowe Family, and if you’d like to mention Operation:M.C.N.A.I.R. or Haliburton they have a separate notes section for that inclusion. If for some reason you can only pick one, I ask you write in Cooper’s name and know that we as a community will be just as proud of you.
If you have been holding off on giving a donation to the many good places we’ve been able to help – maybe this is the one that you throw a little money their way, if not for the Kings or trading away your favorite player, than for your neighbors, who have a handsome, strong five-month-old and more questions than answers about what lies ahead.
Prediction
Domas Sabonis starts his Kings tenure with a triple-double, going for 20-15-15 and all of a sudden the Kings aren’t exactly the Kings tonight. More players get swapped, more players come in, the Kings get the 10th pick in the draft and the word tank is officially outlawed in Sacramento. Cooper Crowe blows the lid off of our current donations record.
Kings: 113, Wolves: 109
Will, it looks like you’re already running fast with Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R., and have really thrown yourself into it. I’ve told you before, but I couldn’t be prouder of you coming up with this, and how you’ve already turned it into a force for good.
If we could get people the world over to make small contributions after Kings losses, we wouldn’t need to cure cancer, we could just pay it to go away.
As expected the Timberwolves won.
Have to hope now that Monte’s not done.
Need someone who makes threes
And handles with ease*
A young wing could really be fun!
*Hmm…didn’t we just trade away someone who fit these criteria?
If you’re old like me, no explanation is needed…….
Sneaky good. I took my journalism final in Monte Hall.
It’s Dominique Sabonis time, may the good times roll.
(Keep up the spelling variations, it’ll distract us from the dumpster fire)
10 TOs from starting backcourt against a meh defense is not a good start, and I hope we’re not seeing stat-Fox the rest of the year (27ppg, 6apg, 6rpg, 3.5 TO/g, 26% 3p, 64% FT)…
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