For the second time in a month, the Sacramento Kings got their asses kicked by the Golden State Warriors. The final score of 130-104 gives a pretty good sense of it, but even when the Kings fought back and closed the gap to a respectable margin it still never felt like they really had a chance to win this one. After all the big talk following Tuesday’s loss to the Knicks, the Kings put on a repeat performance and allowed the Warriors to set the tone early and often. Steph Curry made his 4,000th career three pointer (approximately 2,500 of those came against the Kings), but finished with just 11 points. Jimmy Butler had just 6 points. And yet the Warriors thoroughly destroyed the Kings. The Warriors had 7 players score in double digits, led by Draymond Green’s 23 points.
I normally break down my previews into multiple sections, highlighting various thoughts and observations from the game. But for this game, I just have one general observation to explore: This roster is broken.
Remember when Sacramento’s issue was a lack of help from the bench? The Kings got 42 bench points from Keon Ellis (18), Jake LaRavia (13) and Trey Lyles (11). Devin Carter also had 5, and Isaac Jones had 2. 49 bench points in a 26 point loss, and don’t be mistaken, those weren’t a bunch of garbage time points. Malik Monk went 0-5 from 3, 3-13 overall, and had just 7 points. Monk did add 6 assists 4 rebounds, and 2 steals, but it wasn’t enough. Jonas Valanciunas had 5 points, filling in for the still-injured Domantas Sabonis. Keegan Murray was 2-8 from 3, 2-10 overall, and finished with 6 points. DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 23 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 1 steal. Zach LaVine had 14 points on just 6 shots, but therein lies a much larger problem, why did LaVine only take 6 shots??
The few remaining optimists out there will surely point to Sabonis’ absence as reason not to be too down on the starting unit, but I didn’t think they looked much better when Sabonis was playing post-trade deadline. This team has a lot of talented players. I’d argue they have more talent now than at any time since the glory era. But the players don’t fit together, so the result is a team that is less than the sum of its parts. The Kings have looked decent when playing bad teams, but every time they face a good team they look exposed for the middling pretenders they truly are.
This team will likely still make the play-in, unless Phoenix suddenly goes on a win streak and the Mavericks reverse their curse. The Kings may even manage to sneak out of the play-in. But I have no faith in it, and certainly don’t have faith in them to win a playoff series. The Kings are mediocre, and will remain so unless major shakeups happen this offseason.
Up Next
The Kings have no time to dwell on this loss, the Kings visit the Phoenix Suns tonight. Two back to backs in one week! Great job, NBA schedule-makers!
Mediocre sportsball team does mediocre basketball things during a game.
More at 11, back to you Bob, and may the flying spaghetti monster have mercy on Kings fans.
May you be blessed by his noodly appendage.
Now that our ceiling is a 9 seed, the Kings losing tonight would be BY far the best thing for the franchise moving forward. Does anyone see them beating the Warriors, TWolves or Clippers and making it into the actual playoffs? I certainly don’t. So hope and pray that either Dallas gets healthy or the Suns figure something out.
I am breakfast because I waffle on maybe winning some play in games and dropping out and keeping a pick .
On the one hand, I think that falling out of the play in would be good because it would force change. Monte would almost certainly be fired and there would be a FO shake up. There would likely be a roster restructure too. Maybe Sabonis would ask out next and the Kings would be forced into a full rebuild.
However, does that actually help? Monte may not be good at his job and maybe should be replaced.
Great, do it. And yet the disfunction of the Kings FO exists independent of who sits in the GM spot. The FO is NOT firing Vivek, Vivek’s kid, Matina, Matina’s kid, Vlade speaking in Vivek’s ear, Jeremy Lamb or whoever else is dating someone and all the untold other voices in the mix.
The next GM will be operating in the exact same environment as Monte. At the end of the day, the Kings success is predicated on a complicated mixture of voices and agendas randomly assembling a successful product regardless of who they replace Monte with.
So, here is where I land on all Kings related issues these days:
I agree with you on all counts. I just think that the only real chance to get out of the purgatory we’re in, regardless of the owner, is to somehow luck into a number 1 pick and get someone like Cooper Flagg. At least that raises the ceiling of the team. That’s all I’m hoping to accomplish at this point.
This. It actually happened for the Kings in 2018! And the worst GM in the history of sports blew it.
Yeah it’s crazy that the impossible thing happened and we had the only GM who could possibly mess it up.
Hilarious, yes probably the worst GM ever. I don’t need to crosscheck it, in my heart I know it’s true.
Absolutely. Lucking into a generational talent can do wonders.
How would the Bucks and Nuggets be viewed if somone else had taken a flyer on Giannis and Jokic a few picks earlier?
Just so much harder to do now, but even Houston got Sengun at the 16th pick just 3 years ago (not saying that Sengun is generational, but pretty darn good).
Yeah you’ve gotta hit home runs with a pick or two somewhere along the way. That’s hard to do with no picks lol.
It’s more than picking the right (or luckily right) player. It’s developing them (or allowing them to develop) and not trading them. Oh, and coaching. Sigh.
Like letting go the current starting power forward for the Dallas Mavericks or the back up center of the World Champion Boston Celtics. (I kid, I kid – but my point is valid. Giannis on the Kings doesn’t become MVP Antetokounmpo. He’s probably an inch shorter and/or is traded for Zach Collins)
You certainly need to do more right than pick the right guy but I’ll disagree on a player like Giannis. He’s got a maniacal work ethic and I think he would have been a star regardless.
Don’t trade star players is certainly a good mantra though. Especially when you’re the Kings.
The only thing I can say about Monte is I thought he had a pretty good under the radar trade deadline (absent the Fox/LaVine trade). I thought picking up JV, LaRavia and Fultz filled the bench in nicely and balanced the team a bit better. Of course Huerter is not having a resurgence with the Bulls but we all expected that to happen. So, give Monte some kudos.
The title of this article is right on point. There is nothing left to say. Apathy is here. At least it is for me.
Welcome to basketball purgatory!
Not good enough to get out of the play-in, not bad enough to keep their draft pick.
Ah, I see…we’ve simply descended into the next level of Basketball hell.
Or we never left!
Lol we just got a little outside time then right back in.
Man, haven’t posted on here in a while. Been watching this circus of an organization devolve into the clown show that it is today.
Problem is Vivek… always has been. Many of us were saying this back on the old site.
Remember way back when Vlade was finally fired after being perhaps the worst GM of all time, and the league hired an independent consulting firm to make the Kings less embarrassing? I had hope back then that they would finally begin to fix things after addressing the root problem of incompetent owner meddling. Names mentioned to replace Vlade back then included Sachin Gupta and even rumblings of Sam Hinkie.
But Vivek somehow managed to avoid any meaningful change in the FO by hiring a guy in McNair who would not orchestrate a true rebuild, but instead a half-assed re-tool around our “star” Fox that would do nothing but end our all-time record NBA playoff drought. You see Vivek cares little about competing, but his ego would be bruised by being associated with such a dubious record.
Turns out, the “earned” that record anyway (own that Vivek!) But after again taking the short-sighted route and trading an up-and-coming true star that fell in their lap in Haliburton, they doubled down on Fox, and got another (older) fringe all-star to solidify our ceiling at mediocrity. Many of us (although we love Sabonis) were saying this team will top out at first round exit. And although they surprised us with a 3 seed, that’s exactly what they did.
Anyhoo, it’s just funny (in a sad type of way) to see this thing come full circle. After years of pandering to our “star” Fox, passing up on the likes of Mitchell, Doncic, and trading Hali to cater to him… he forces his way out, and we end up with pennies on the dollar.
Now we’re standing to lose our pick this year due to another short-sighted trade and miss the playoffs yet again. One brief year of shining first round playoff glory, and back to the laughingstock of the league.
And insanely, Vivek has learned nothing. He continues to meddle and override actual basketball minds, with people in his ear who have no business making professional basketball decisions. I think the league needs to step in again, but that playoff appearance probably bought us another decade or so before we are even noticed.
Sorry for the essay, just had to chime in after last nights thrashing at the hand of the Warriors… who incidentally began their dynastic ascent right after Vivek left that org.
Looking back I think “what if” someone other than Vivek had saved the team in Sac, and he remained with Golden State. They probably would have hung on to Monta Ellis a few more years at V’s insistence, and maybe we’re the ones picking up guys like Curry off the trash heap and winning championships. If only…
Well stated.
I agree with most all of this.
Smallest of nitpicks:
Domas was 25 when the Kings traded for him. lol
Yeah, but an old 25.
Haha oh yeah I was mostly thinking older in comparison to Haliburton (who was 21 at the time)… but I worded it wrong. Domas is just slightly older than Fox (maybe a year?)
Don’t be a stranger, AirmaxPG.
Shared misery is just as miserable, but at least with more volume!
Nailed it man. Don’t be a stranger!
I just wanted to restate what i mentioned in the post-game thread. The Monk experiment at PG has been a failure. He needs to return to a bench role. It will be better for him and the team. Unfortunately, as the national commentators stated last night, there really is no other PG on the roster. From that, I’d like to see Keon start to at least give the team a defensive identity. Just to update the running stat: The Kings are now 9-3 in the Christie era when Keon gets 30 or more minutes and are 9-4 when he starts.
Shocking that asking a player that is good in one role to be good at a completely different role isn’t working out. When has that ever failed before? 😉
I’m fine with experimentation because it may net results. IIRC, the Spurs tried a Sochan point forward experiment last season for a number of games. They tired it, it didn’t work out so well, so they made changes. The Kings, however, keep beating the same dead horse
This might be the only comment on this thread that proposes something to do this season. Thanks for bringing it to the present time.
i agree Keon should start. His ranginess helps cover for the below average defenders. That said, I think Doug Christie has been doing a good job and I would be comfortable letting him choose the rotation.
Yes, Keon should start (probably over Monk). Short term, that might be the one thing they can do right now to make this team better– and more watchable.
Probably won’t happen, but I would also add against some teams we could create a mismatch by starting JV over DDR, and slide Keegan to SF.
Here’s another possibility to consider:
Monk, Sabonis, Keegan, LaRavia, and either Lavine or DeMar.
I don’t think he is really a PG, but I also think it points to a bigger problem.
We have 3 players with somewhat similar archetypes: Talented scorers who are are a mixed bag at creating for others and who are mediocre to poor on defense.
Could Monk, LaVine, or DDR work with the right supporting cast carefully crafted around them? Probably. But we are starting three very similar players. LaVine is the extreme as the most dynamic and elite scorer, but also the worst creator for others and worst defender. If you imagine some sort of NBA 2K type of skill slider, Monk and DDR are similar, but their sliders are both more towards the middle (not as talented scoring, but slightly better creators and passers).
Ironically, all 3 could thrive as 6th men for very good teams, coming in and providing instant offense while closing games when they are on a heater.
What is definitely true thought is that they are not a good fit together. Too much redundancy and too little defense. Too much of the ball sticking in one place. And too many players where if they are not producing scoring value on a given night, then they are a net negative on the court due to their other deficiencies.
So maybe Monk could be better and thrive with the right supporting cast. But this is the wrong supporting cast for him. And it’s an open question if it’s worth building a roster around Monk, when you are right that he is ideally a 6th man of the year candidate.
I’d say probably not. Too much offensive redundancy and way too deficient on defense. You can’t hide 3 poor defenders, it’s just too much.
Sorry if that was unclear, meant could any one of them work with the other 4 starters being crafted to maximize their strengths and minimize weaknesses. Not could the three of them work together.
From the rest of my post as you can probably tell my answer is probably no (unless the other two starters were prime LeBron and Embiid).
Monk is a very movable piece, in my mind. I know he is a fan favorite, but he really isn’t a talented scorer like DDR or LaVine. Monk is really below average from deep and his TS% has declined for 4 straight years. On any good team he is a break glass in case of emergency off the bench player you bring in when you starters just don’t have it. He’s best at bringing energy and flair that can spark a team. He is not, however, a guy you want to count on with big minutes to win games.
Of the 8 dudes the Kings currently have on the books for next season, Monk and DDR are my 1a and 1b of guys that should be moved.
Agreed. With his age and contract, he is probably the most likely player we can move and get value back either without giving up picks or packaging with other players and picks for something closer to a star (what does Monk + Keegan + 2-3 firsts get you?). He’s also the most likely to be a strong 6th man if we fill out the roster, which is too bad.
LaVine we are probably stuck with. $47M and $49M for rich man’s Buddy Hield isn’t going to draw much interest. Warriors wouldn’t even give up Podz for him and Bucks were offering Middleton’s contract.
DDR we agreed on yesterday. You can likely swing him to an elite team for a worse player on a similar contract and some draft compensation or you have to pair him with a pick to get a worse team to eat his contract.
Even if you trade both, not sure what a LaVine-Ellis-Keegan-Sabonis base gets you to. Obviously in part would depend who we get back.
Not arguing you’re wrong, but both Keon and LaVine are not good decision makers with the ball in their hands. There isn’t a starting quality point guard on this team.
Also, I’ve heard the “let’s trade for a point guard” talk, so…let’s say we could deal Zach LaVine for say, a scoring point guard, who is quick to the basket, is good in clutch situations, is a decent but not great defender. That by itself…doesn’t change the equation much.
I think you keep LaVine and move DDR and/or Monk for that lead guard, who really doesn’t need to be a high volume scorer, just a solid defender who, like you said, can make good decisions. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but a guard like VanVleet would be perfect for a team with LaVine, Keegan, and Sabonis as the core. I’m not saying Fred is the guy to get, as he’s up there in age as well, but a dude like him.
Not a high volume scorer but solid defensively? Let Davion sta…oh wait.
I don’t think Davion is a starting quality guard in terms of scoring or running a team, but he’s still a fantastic man defender, and shot 36% from three last season and is shooting 38% this season. Credit to him and not at all a bad player to have in your rotation.
I agree Carl. Not a starting level PG against tier 1 teams, but against same tier and below tier teams? Possible off night for the opponent’s PG
Oddly enough, he is now starting in Miami.
Just think, Monte had to pay Toronto to dump his deal and then Davion became part of the package that landed Butler in Golden State. Cruel karma for Monte.
It’s mind blowing that Davion Mitchell is currently a better three point shooter than Kevin Huerter, where we used a first on Davion, gave up a first (likely this season) to get Huerter and used a second (or two?) to get rid of Davion.
It’s all minor in the grand scheme of the Kings screwups, but that’s a lot of picks to accumulate nothing.
Adam, even more odd is that Davion replaced Rozier, a high volume streaky offensive player, in the starting line-up. Sounds like something the Kings need to do, eh?
Kings Herald commenters are not really in a good position to criticize for decisions regarding Davion. This site ripped on Davion for over a year, placing most blame on him whenever the bench underperformed. I spent at least a full calendar year defending him on this site, a truly exhausting endeavor, especially when everyone disregarded his improving three point percentage on set threes.
I was also always a Davion fan, in spite of his limitations. Brown’s worst decision (who I liked and should still be the coach) was surrendering to the Warriors in Game 7 by sitting Davion, while Curry torched everyone else on the team.
As far as i know, the blame wasn’t solely on Davion. The bench was just horrible offensively and underwhelming defensively. Davion was 100% pure hustle, but his height did him no justice when he would close out on 3 pt attempts or when players easily shot over him. Miami just has that culture that the Kings can only dream about.
I don’t disagree that VanVleet might give you some incremental improvement, but the roster fit on this team is so bad that if you added him to the team for no salary and no player movement, they’re still topping out at a first round exit. If you subtract any one player for VanVleet, they’re still topping out at a first round exit.
I think the roster need much bigger changes to even have a chance to break out of their mediocrity.
Solid points, my only thought is that if you remove DDR and/or Monk with the high usage and replace them with a steady PG who can get MORE quality looks for LaVine, Keegan, and even Keon, it could pay in dividends. Sort of an addition by subtraction.
PG is now the glaring hole. Monk-Sabonis have a decent PnR game. Without Sabonis, there is no real offense other than give it to Demar and isolate him while he dribbles for either a turnaround midrange or a kick out if he’s double teamed. Zach isn’t really initiating offense at all. So the offense is just really limited. The second unit gets almost all of their offense in transition due to their defense and hustle.
Sabonis coming back will help, but PG is an issue. Monk can run the PnR, but I don’t see Ellis or Carter initiating the offense. So that leaves Sabonis and Demar to run the show in the half court.
The owner is a glaring (a) hole
The best thing going for this team is that we have some assets. If played correctly Sabonis could net 3-4 FRPs and young talent. I think Keegan could net about the same. Ellis maybe a pick. If we could draft correctly, I would be more comfortable blowing up the team. Maybe we should blow up the management.
Sabonis is actually (imo) a perfect frontcourt pairing with Wemby.
Perhaps we could get some of the picks from SA we were unable to get in the Fox trade.
I think people are going to be really bummed out by a potential return for Sabonis. If you thought the Fox package was bad, the Sabonis package will be much worse.
I disagree. A lot of folks can do what Fox does, and do it more efficiently. Few dudes can do what Sabonis does. It’s the Kings who are squandering peak Sabonis at the moment.
I just disagree. I’ve listened to enough national podcasts/writers that consistently say Sabonis doesn’t have a ton of value around the league because his skill set is so specific and he doesn’t protect the rim. I tend to agree. I like him and he’s a good player but who’s paying him to be a top-2 player on their roster when he’s never made it out of the first round?
Love the guy but I don’t see it. Happy to be proven wrong but we’ll see.
I think the return for Fox was fine. The problem was it was the wrong kind of return. Would have preferred youth and picks.
Yeah from an asset standpoint it was ok but the type of return was the problem obviously. Lavine being the key piece just does nothing for you long term.
.Whatever players are acquired in a potential Sabonis trade will most likely never be as productive, hard working and unselfish
Probably but I worry we won’t get ANYTHING of real value.
I’m not seeing it. MAYBE they’ll deal DDR or DDR and Monk for a Fox or sub-Fox level point guard. My prediction is DDR, Monk and multiple first round picks for Trae Young. That’s not going make the team better.
It’s just as likely that they’ll use the team’s Doug Christie as coach record as a reason to do little or nothing, and we’ll be having this same conversation next March, for the third year in a row.
The only team I can see right now that might have the short term interest in DDR is Orlando. They really need help offensively with their young core. They could benefit from a bucket getter like DDR and his short term deal could be useful to them with the extension of Wagner and Suggs kicking in and Paolo up next.
The Magic also have a fringe starting level PG on their bench in Cole Anthony. He’s not great, but I could see him being an effective PG in the right situation. If they add a young prospect like da Silva or Black to make contracts work, I could get behind it.
Agree that there’s not going to be a ton of interest in DDR. He’s a good individual scorer and likable player, but he just grinds everything to a halt.
I do think the Kings need to move on from some of these ISO scoring guards. I’m not sure how they’re going to turn DDR into a real improvement. There’s a certain level of dumping salary in moving him, which as you noted might be OK in a very specific et of circumstances.
The DC as coach is going to be pretty mediocre by end of season. Even more so if they keep starting Monk.
Have to agree with the overall premise here–the Kings are not good at basketball. The talent is there, but the cohesiveness is not. Even with Curry/Butler having quiet scoring games, this one wasn’t ever in doubt–you could see how easily the Warriors passing and cutting created open look after open look–Moody, Green, Post, etc, just getting wide-open 3’s all night. We just don’t create easy looks like this.
Having said that, I’d still rather win as many as possible, and hope for some galvanizing force/experience from any sort of post-season basketball. Can the Kings still get to the 7-8 game, have a hot shooting night and end up the 7th seed? Sure, and with seed #2 being up for grabs still, maybe you get a decent matchup. Could they win a 9-10 matchup, survive to become the 8th seed, and have a fun series against the Thunder where they learn a few things? Why not?
I get it that it’s more likely that they lose the 9-10 game (or win that and then lose the game for the 8 seed), but playing after others have gone home still worth something to me. And honestly I’d be fine ripping off the band-aid and just being done talking about the pick that may or may not convey to the Hawks. Cooper Flagg ain’t walking through that door (c’mon we’re Kings fans–we already know he’s going to the Spurs).
The path forward from here, in my mind–
I totally understand those who are ready to tank, hope to miss the playoffs, keep the pick this year–makes logical sense, we’re not doing much in the playoffs regardless this year. But for me, I’m hoping to beat the Suns–knock them out if you can, no need to risk Beal/Booker/KD in a winner-take-all game–then get a home game against Dallas for the play-in, win that game, and take your chances with whoever loses that 7-8 game.
Your 2024-2025 Sacramento Kings, ladies and gentlemen!
I really don’t agree with your view on the path forward, but it is well-reasoned and I can understand it, to an extent.
Rec’d.
Not that many of probably care right now, but if we want to talk about team chemistry and flow going forward, DC should take the ball out of DeRozan’s hands and give it to Zach and tell him to attack the basket. I’d tell him to just always be in attack mode. He’s a finisher, and a good FTer.
He passes after he’s penetrated under the basket (too much lately to JV who doesn’t have Sabonis’ hands). He and Monk are the only ones who can create for themselves, and ZL gives a chance for a basket and the chance to be fouled. DeRozan is a black hole, unless we absolutely need someone to get to the line or a 4th quarter bucket in crunch time, like HB did for years for us.
ZL, Keon, and Monk need the ball in their hands, especially Zach. Start Keon, and bring DeRozan off the bench.
I know…Yawn…
Just not sure if they are troubled being embarrassed over two straight games. It’s one thing to lose to the Clippers and Denver in well-played games, but quite another to wave the white flag in the first five minutes. Just not tough hombres.
And, btw, Fox did exactly what he would have done if we decided not to trade him at the deadline and that is go and get season-ending surgery on his pinky finger.
I don’t think Fox would have called a season in Sac had he not been traded. With all-nba dudes like Wemby and Kyrie going down, and others now likely not to meet the minimum game threshold, Fox would have upped his usage to get into the all-nba race. With Sabonis hurt he’d have the green light to be chucking it right now. That supermax would be a lot of potential money left on the table.
It will be interesting what contract the Spurs agree to with Fox . I’d bet it will be much less than previously thought . Pop and company make few overpays .
It’s not so much that the Sacramento Kings are pretty much locked at the lower Play-In (either the 9 or 10 seed), it’s that they are locked to finish no worse (or better depending on perspective) than 13th in the NBA Draft selection.
The FO evaluated Keegan incorrectly after his rookie season, projecting him to have a near-All Star ceiling when he simply doesn’t have the mental makeup for it–he’s too passive and reticent to be more than a supporting cast member. This mis-read drove the FO’s decision to “run it back” in 2023-24 instead of aggressively pursuing upgrades. Now the bench is solid (finally), but the starting lineup is broken b/c the team bought high on Monk, paired him with a fellow ball-dominant guard (LaVine), and added to the mix a ball-dominant iso expert with a style perfect for the NBA in 2001 (DeRozan). Bleh.
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