Just when I thought the Sacramento Kings had finally overcome their propensity to underperform against lesser opponents following Wednesday nights 123-89 destruction of the Toronto Raptors, the Beam Team hit us with this stinker in Washington tonight. Yes, it was the 2nd night of a back-to-back set on the road. No, I don’t think that can excuse losing a very winnable game with major Western Conference playoff implications on the line.
The Kings broadcast spent much of the pregame show praising Sacramento’s defense since the All-Star break, and for good reason. The Keon Ellis-era Kings have played some of the best defense we’ve seen out of this franchise in 17+ years, but woof: the first quarter was a throwback to the bad old days. Washington put up 35 first quarter points and got a lot of nice looks while the Kings meandered through their offensive sets.
That paragraph above could have applied to the entire first half, honestly, if it weren’t for a ridiculous 21-4 run the Kings went on with about 5 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. I’ve got to shout out Kessler Edwards here. His defense was great, he brought some real energy to the court, he knocked down a big three, and the dynamic of the game changed when he checked in. De’Aaron Fox got his offense going a little bit, and Sacramento was able to nearly erase a 19-point Wizards lead heading into the 2nd half.
The Kings hadn’t played well for a majority of the first half, but these are the 2023-24 Washington Wizards we’re talking about here. I both knew the Kings were capable of losing to a lesser team, but believed they would eventually figure this thing out and pull away with a win. I was mistaken.
The second half started and the switch never flipped for the Kings. They would go on little runs and close the gap only for the Wizards to pull ahead once again. Sacramento’s defense wasn’t great as the Wizards shot 40% from 3 and 50% from the field, but I thought offense was the bigger issue here.
The Kings shot just 11-39 (28%) from the 3-point line, and we’ve seen what this offense looks like when shots behind the arc aren’t falling. De’Aaron Fox had one of the least efficient games you’ll ever see him play: 25 points on 10-30 shooting from the field, and 5-15 (!!) from 3, including what I thought were several unnecessarily difficult shots. But it wasn’t just Fox – Malik Monk was 1-7 from 3, Chris Duarte was 1-7 from 3. None of the shooters had it going. Nobody was their best self.
The Wizards would eventually cruise to a 107-102 victory. Really frustrating stuff. We’ll see how the Suns and Mavericks games shake out tonight, but the Kings could wake up tomorrow back in the play-in conversation.
I don’t know what it is with this squad, but they are consistently 1 win away from making me feel dangerously optimistic and 1 loss away from making me think they are just barreling towards another first round playoff exit, if they can even make it through the play-in.
Next up: Kings vs. Magic in Orlando on Saturday.
Honest question, how are people going to feel about this season if this team loses in the play-in and misses the playoffs or gets the 8 seed and gets swept in the first round? Genuinely curious how people would view this season retroactively in that context.
I want to applaud this answer because I’ve thought all these things lol. Ultimately I think because of the pick conveyance it would be pretty bad because there would be very few options to improve.
Well said. Many realities that few will acknowledge.
I’d consider the missing the playoffs an unmitigated disaster. You have destroyed all momentum, failed to get better or even stabilize, reset the playoff drought, and essentially wiped most meaningful progress that had been made, and the freaking 1st rounder doesn’t even convey so we’d have draft capital tied up. I mean c’mon – you gotta be in the top 50th percentile to make the playoffs – it’s just not that freaking hard!! The Warriors, Lakers, Suns, and Mavs are all deeply flawed teams that a true playoff contender would beat. We’d be absolute pretenders as currently constructed and I’d want a major shake up of the roster by next season, but again, our draft capital may be tied up. One really could not describe how catastrophic it would be for us to not even make the playoffs. There would be no way to significantly improve in the near term either. So you’re essentially talking about trading Fox and Sabonis and doing a full teardown while they have peak value. I have been really patient and optimistic with this team and I just don’t know where they’d go if they didn’t make it. Back to lottery purgatory. Devastating.
Yeah, and if we miss the playoffs this season, our pick won’t be conveyed to Atlanta.
A first round exit or a play-in loss for me would be a disappointment. Monte stood pat with this roster and Brown hasn’t made adjustments. Something has to give.
The Kings would enter the summer with Monk in limbo and the same starting 5 likely to return, baring a a major (unlikely) offseason trade. Trading two starters in Barnes and/or Hurter isn’t going to get an upgrade in talent unless a ton of future assets are included. Doing so, however, would deplete the depth on the team while leveraging the future.
If continuity happens, I feel Monte may have to pull what Ainge did in Utah. A star needs to be traded to re-shufffle the deck because this team would remain a play-in/first round exit as constructed. If it’s between Fox and Sabonis, I’m sure the fanbase would be split. It won’t be good times.
I think there’s a Fox trade to be made with Orlando, with Suggs and Wagner coming back. Resets the timeline and gets us out of paying Fox $50M annually as he slows down (which advanced stats say is already happening).
Honestly, I’ve thought the same thing.
Adding…it’s avoiding the potential John Wall trap of a super max contract that relies on speed.
I assume you mean Franz? If so, do you think Orlando would really give both Suggs and Franz up?
I do, they’d see the deal as making them a contender. They need scoring and offense generally.
They can just overpay for DeAaron light – Mink in free agency though.
Monk
They can sign Monk outright but they can’t really think Monk is a borderline All-Star like De’Aaron is. They need another star IMO.
Would you rather have Monk for 25 million per and F Wagner, Suggs or Fox without those 2 and at 50”million per.? I would do the Monk thing in a heartbeat !
Yeah, they are a team that can offer Monk more money than the Kings can, a starting role, and on a legit playoff team in tax free Florida.
FYI, they are set to have over $35M in cap space.
If the Kings fail again to be relevant in the playoffs, would anyone blame Monk for jumping to Orlando this summer?
His market will be interesting. He’s sort of a Jamal Crawford / Lou Williams asset, and those guys historically did not get top dollar. But it only takes one team to make an outsized offer, right?
I’m thinking he’s more of a Tyler Herro/Jordan Clarkson type asset. They are recent 6th MOY winners and are each making over $20M per year. Monk is also still a very young guy and a team may not hesitate to give him a long and lucrative deal.
Like you said, it only takes one outsized offer, and their aren’t too many great free agents this summer.
Nice comps.
I real irony here is Monk is likely to walk away with the 6th MOY trophy and it may end up being the very thing that keeps the Kings from retaining him. He’s rightfully earned the largest payday he’s ever going to get.
Sabonis and a solid 4 with a decent 1 and some bench depth.
Monk is perfectly capable.
I think this is actually the thing a lot of people aren’t thinking about. Can you actually compete for a title with Fox and Sabonis as your two main guys? I kinda don’t think so and the only way to reset is to trade star. I’m not there yet and I hope Monte has a plan but I’m skeptical.
Really contend? Nope. I don’t think either of them are a number one on a true contender. I think they could both be twos on a contender/champion. So basically we have two Robins, no Batman
I would agree. Both very good players but your ceiling is capped in the post season.
The star is Sabonis. The other star was Haliburton. Sabonis isn’t available in a deal if Fox was all that Monte offered.
Time to put other legitimate players around Sabonis that will defend and help him down low.
Late to thread but my main concern is what you stated—. Monte stood pat and obviously thinks what he’s got should work and I think overvalued Huerter and maybe Barnes? And thinks these playoffs will show what they have. And he mentioned O-getting back to it-is what the Kings are lacking this year.
Brown doesn’t have the talent he wants and needs for his D and his O. But he’s not adjusting. And thinks D is all they lack to move forward
That seems like a rift/bad thing to have between coach and GM. Lack of agreement on talent and direction. No flexibility.
Hamm has talked about this is his podcast. Plus, Huerter/Barnes and Keegan are not great for this O style. But again, Brown doesn’t seem to adjust. Monte hasn’t moved guys that already showed what they are in last playoffs.
obviously, the kings brass think that if they get to the playoffs, it’ll show them where they are.
what are you talking about?
FKC asked a pretty straight forward question. What’s the confusion?
Seemed like a simple question.
You entered the taboo realm of being a KAngz fan.
Any discussion involving real problems and real opportunities for improvement is not acceptable.
Fanboy for Ellis and you will be ok.
People are literally talking about trading either Fox or Sabonis right here, so how is it taboo? Nor is it taboo for anyone else to disagree. This forum has fan posts about trading each and every King. You are in the middle of a “discussion involving real problems and real opportunities for improvement,” so I don’t understand the eagerness to play victim.
Who is playing the victim?
Daveheart?
Maybe?
Not sure who that is?
It would be a season wasted by timidity and overconfidence in a squad that had everything fall into place last season. We should look to shop Fox and reset.
It would definitely be a disappointment. The consistent inconsistency (playing competitively against good teams and stinking it up against bad teams) has unfortunately been the story of this year. I also feel that last season was just so fun to watch because the team would compete almost every night, and would take care of business against teams they should beat. I don’t know if the pressure of exceeding expectations are in the team’s head, but it definitely has been more frustrating to watch the guys this season despite having a winning record.
I would just be grateful that we still have a team and we are no longer talking about the play-off drought. Just happy that we went from awful to mediocre and celebrating that for a long time. By a long time, I mean, until we start approaching the longest NBA drought without a play-off series win. How long is that, by the way?
I would also help start funding a billboard to rename Golden 1 into Vivek 1 and have statues for Brown (him showing a laptop and saying “more spray 3’s”) and Monte (the statue titled Continuity) as a thank you for creating a regular season juggernau- uhm fringe contend- uhm play-in hopeful and create special participation trophies for this roster.
Light the beam!
I’d be pretty bummed, and then I’d look forward to next year.
Compared with past years, looking forward to next year is progress.
The unlikeliest of the three outcomes–lose the play-in, lose in the first round, or advance past the first round–is advancing, so I don’t think I could be disappointed for long.
I’m already reaching disappointment in the regular season, as my bar was set at 50 wins. And the team certainly has not kept up with the fierce competition in the West, dropping from 3rd seed to potential play-in team. So as it pertains to the regular season, I will likely wind up disappointed. Not rip-the-heads-off-live-chickens disappointed, but maybe pet-my-cat-juuuuuuust-a-little-too-hard disappointed.*
The post-season will be based on whether or not the team gets to the 2nd round. Yes is a success, no is a failure.
The team has been fun and entertaining for the must part, but the holes on the wing (especially defensively) are very apparent. So while I have an appreciation for how much better this team is than what we were subjected to for almost two decades, I also have concern for how this team takes advantage of its current good fortune moving forward – how it improves on where they are right now.
*No animals were harmed in the writing of this comment.
Very reasonable assessment. I agree with most of this.
Easy to read and agree . Also, happy the Rockets got their road act together this late as they would be past our Kings as well .
That’s the question I’m asking my family who are bandwagon Warriors fans
Not today, Kangz
.
YUP
I used to enjoy De’Aaron’s play when he consistently drove to the basket. Now he thinks he’s a three point shooter. He got no free throws because he launched fifteen 3s instead.
Washington picked up their third team foul I think with over half the fourth quarter left. So of course instead of driving most of our remaining shots were chucking three’s.
And shot 28% for the whole game. Great 3 point shooting team. How many games have we shot below 35% this year especially when playing a team below 500?
I agree. Fox took 30 FGA attempts today and half were from deep. His skill and speed lend him to be a rim attacking guard. If he’s settling for 3’s like that, this team won’t go far.
Play to your strength’s, but keep them honest. But for Christ’s sake if Holmes is the only rim protection on the opponent…drive to the basket, especially when the distance shots aren’t falling!
And Sabonis should of had the biggest triple double of the year.
Difficult to get assists when people miss open shots .
But Fox was also 5 of 15 from 2-pt range.
Thanks for saving me the trouble:
Honestly, I lean toward the barreling part simply because they’re not playing consistent enough basketball.
I just think the odds of the team having some sort of epiphany are less than the odds of the team continuing the Jeckyll and Hyde stuff.
On the positive side, I thought Vez was going to be a solid cotributor getting 20+ minutes a night by now, so I’m clearly capable of being wrong! Let’s hope it’s in the other direction with the epiphany.
I don’t get surprised or angry at these losses anymore.
My prediction? Barely holding off the Warriors and Lakers for the 8th seed, losing to Phoenix in game one then losing to the Warriors at home. And then, completely focusing on baseball for 6 months.
At this point, 7th or 8th seed is my prediction where we end up.
*Not for final playoff seeding, but where I think we will be in the standings when the regular season concludes.
My thoughts as well. We are worse and more inconsistent than the Suns and I think the Mavs have a cake final schedule.
I really do think this is the most likely scenario. You just don’t deserve to get in if you keep losing to all the worst teams in the league. These losses say a lot more to me about who this team is than getting up against good teams.
I completely agree. I have the deserve talk with my players often.
Two things I say to my players after losses to inferior opponents:
Or golf.
Do or die for the remaining 13 games, and it is not an easy end of the season.
@ Orlando
vs. Philadelphia
vs. Dallas
vs. Dallas
vs. Utah
vs. Clippers
@ New York
@ Boston
@ Brooklyn
@ OKC
vs. New Orleans
vs. Phoenix
vs. Portland
If they want to have the tiebreakers against Phoenix and Dallas, they have to beat Phoenix and need to at minimum split the games against Dallas.
It probably is going to be coming down to the last game of the season to see where we are officially seeded.
I agree. That road stretch then Pels and Suns at the end could mean a lot. There is nothing “easy” going forward, other than maybe a home game vs. Utah (of which I’m taking the family!)
I hope they win that game for you family’s sake!
Utah is a below 500 team. Better take them to the Boston game.
You want them to fly all the way out to Boston??? 😉
Sorry. You are right.
it was a SEGABABA. not something to freak out over.
LOL
Washington had 2 wins in the last 23 games prior to this game, is arguably the worst team in the league and was missing 3 of their top 6 minutes guys, including their starting point guard Tyus Jones.
He said don’t freak out over it, Rik!
the team appeared fatigued from the outset. I’m not saying you don’t know sports; I’m sure you do and you probably played sports also. but sometimes we forget the physical demands of the nba schedule. the Kings are in a stretch of 7 games in 11 days and last night was a SEGABABA. sure, there were many mistakes and improvement areas from last night’s game, including shot selection as noted by some comments on this thread, and I can’t blame any fan for being disappointed when his team loses, but all of the sudden, after one bad performance on a SEGABABA … some of these comments … wow …
Losing to the worst team in the NBA (11-58 before last night’s game), a team that was 1-20 at home vs. teams with winning records (its only previous win coming back on 12/15 vs. Indiana).
I’m not jumping off a bridge over this loss, but it was inexcusable. The reactions of fan base may vary, but the only reason that the discussion is taking place is because the team lost the absolute most winnable of games last night. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s not the fault of the fans that they feel however they feel this morning. It’s squarely on the shitshow that the Kings put on the floor last night.
I guess that if there is a silver lining, it’s that Wizards fans are probably angrier about last night’s game than Kings fans right now.
makes me want a drink
I’m done freaking out about this team losing to bad teams – they’ve done it so often that I am no longer surprised. But after blowing out Toronto and getting all of the rotation players off the floor pretty early in Canada, the b2b excuse seems a little lame to me. And Washington was 4-28(!!!) at home coming into the game.
The inability to defend rangy wings >>>> SEGABABA. Fox having a bad Allen Iverson night while taking as many shots as the rest of the starting lineup combined >>>> SEGABABA (other 4 starters were 17-30, Fox was 10-30).
A post-script from Ziller:
Dagnabbit!
I was expecting/hoping to see this team at 41 wins tonight which would be the first time in a short eon (17 seasons) that Sac had consecutive guaranteed non-losing seasons.
Well, the good news: the season isn’t over.
And as long as it isn’t over, the Kings have the Play-In, Playoffs, to play up to a level where they make some noise.
Minny (for example) could win 55+ and still not make it out of the first round. The Lakers went to the WCF, the Heat the NBA Finals just last season. The regular season is a long warm up to the second season- the real season.
As much a disappointment as this loss is- with the Kings scoring 102 points? Winning or Losing after April 14 will matter most.
Next.
Is making noise the goal for an NBA team?
100% Agree. Fox had a very off night, it happens. Let’s see what happens in the playoffs.
This stinker of a game right after I renewed for next year. Fortunately I was prepping a meal for 90 people tomorrow so I missed the ass-hattery tonight.
Oooh, now I’m curious what you were making.
Ha! Same thing – I share season tix with a group and yesterday morning was the consideration to move seats or stay where we are currently placed. That means, spend more, spend less or same (relative same as tickets prices rose over 10% from last season).
We decided to remain in current placement, though some nudged for less cost.
And then the Kings shat the sheets. Sigh.
Looking at the game stats…
The point guard that is notoriously quick and has a tendency to drive into four players seriously shot 15 threes?
Coaching or Fox?
I would say coaching; if it’s Fox, it is up to Brown to tell him to stop. If Brown told him and Fox didn’t stop, it is on the coach for not enforcing his will and have his player(s) listen to him.
Fox’s 3 point percentage is (not so very) slowly trending down, and more importantly, his TS% is down from last season, from .599 to .570.
Talking about coaching, it really seems that Brown is really all about shooting 3’s and has no real backup plan, other than talking about defense but not doing much about it.
So I think that Brown:
a. was fine with Fox taking 15 shots from 3 (when he shouldn’t);
b. benched Keon for not pulling the triggers on 3’s;
c. put in other guys who shot the 3, but didn’t hit (and are worse on defense than Keon);
d. the emphasis on shooting 3’s is especially puzzling when the Wizards are one of the worst teams in the league in protecting the paint and are also a bad defensive rebouding team.
With Bagley out (yes, Bagley), the Wizards have just one “quality” big in Holmes and then have to rely on Kuzma and Avdija (shout out to my guy Deni!) to provide interior defense and rebounding. Many teams have beaten them by just pounding the ball inside and attacking the offensivbe boards, but not Mike Brown’s Kings.
Heaving up 3’s, letting Sabonis only take 9 shots and not recognizing that Keegan was hot from midrange and not actively calling plays for him. On the other hand, Washington went right at the Kings PoA weakness and made a living in the paint, while outrebounding the Kings by 8 caroms! Once again, other than Domas, nobody had more than 5 rebounds… No rebounds, no rings.
This is not all on Brown, of course. Fox was bad (don’t let his steals make you think that he was good defensively), and Domas and Keegan have to demand the ball more etc. The roster’s weaknesses are also on Monte, of course. Plenty of blame to go around but I think the biggest piece of the pie falls on Brown. Realistically, it’s also more likely that the coach will be fired than that the GM, or that a blockbuster trade will overhaul the roster.
I like Brown and I appreciate what he has done. I am doubting that he can bring this team to the next level and I wonder if the players are still listening. I don’t know what happened betweern Brown and Monk there near the end. Could be a good thing, could be the writing on the wall.
I’ve been out on Brown for a few months now. Adjustments come too late, let’s the team play too fast and loose (for my liking), and the ball stays away from player not named Fox/Monk way too often. Keegan was off to a good start in the 1st, didn’t get a single shot attempt in the 2nd. Brown needed to get him involved by calling some plays for him.
Brown won’t be the coach that gets this team past the 1st round.
I agree on Keegan. Started off really good then never got touches. If you Brtown can’t or don’t see this then something is amiss. Monty if you don’t see this then open your eyes and trade the guy. You and Brown don’t want to get him the ball( happens a lot over the year} then either get him the touches or trade him. It’s as simple as that.
PS He is a really good basketball player, a 3 and D guy, but can’t show it. I really feel sorry for Keegan not Brown. If he is the coach next year then he needs to find a better offense than shooting 3’s all the time. This year has proven we are not a good 3 point shooting team. I hope I’m wrong but if Brown is telling Fox to layoff so many threes and attack the basket more and Fox isn’t listening as an old coach I would hope he isn’t pulling a Lebron James because I would bench him a few times. I wouldn’t take it. My other concern and my pet peeve is always been these players make too much money and sometimes some of them care more about the money than playing basketball to win a championship. I played the game competitive up to my 50’s. I love the game and IMO is the best sport period. I would hope this is the same for all basketball players on any level. Also for the team I would quote and old saying” When the going gets tough the tough get going”.
I get the analytics of shooting more 3s in the current NBA, but when they aren’t falling, opponents sag to double and triple Domas, which makes life much harder for him.
There has to be some fall back plan other than “better just hope Fox and/or Monk can create something.” They really need another playmaker/creator at the SF/PF spot to help mitigate the lulls when 3s aren’t dropping. Keegan isn’t there yet, and may never be that type of player.
Good point.
Fox driving into the paint and taking all of the defenders with him doesn’t help Sabonis either.
Sabonis needs help.
Do you think the point guard that launched 15 threes should pass to him?
I am leaning this way as well. IMO he needs a much quicker hook in general. He does not make in game adjustments quickly or very well. Seems to stick to a normal rotation to a fault despite what is happening in the games.
It’s like Brown is coaching to some game strategy that never adapts to the opponent or how the players are playing. It’s an autopilot that doesn’t avoid objects on the road or adjust speed for weather conditions. He’s been average to below average this year.
Sat on the loss for a night. Resisted the urge to scream THIS TEAM SUCKS into my phone. I think they are a team that has to be playing well to win Some teams are good enough to play bad games and win – not Sac. Their chances at the play-in / playoffs will depend on how well they are focused and playing – period. On the plus side they usually play better and are focused against better teams. I can see a first round win or a play-in loss. Both have an equal chance of happening in my book.
Kings Broadcast Drinking Game
As a UK based fan, I’ve only just started forking out for League Pass from last season. I always watch with the Kings broadcast team on, and have come to look for a few… noticeable traits. SO the only reasonable course of action was to start a drinking game!
Take a drink when you hear any of the following:
Any I’ve missed?
Jinxing some trait of the opposing team like “This team has the worst 3pt% in the league” or last night when Kayte mentioned that the Wiz are the worst 3rd quarter team late in the first half.
My Kings game drinking game is to take a shot every time Sabonis gets hit in the head or face. I’m usually plastered by the 3rd quarter.
When Kayte and Kyle talk.
When don’t they talk . Sadly, not often about the actual game action .
Well, I would be passed out by mid 1st quarter with the alcohol IV, so I wouldn’t know if they talked the rest of the game, lol.
Drink every time Draper says “lot of contact…” and you’ll be passed out pretty quickly
‘He put him in the weight room’ UGH…
Good one!
“Mouse in the house”
Had to login to say: any time Kyle or Mark are clearly talking to Kate and instead of just responding outright, she says “listen” and then pauses and takes five seconds longer to saying something not worth taking so long to say lmao that’s my biggest pet peave and you’d def enter Randy Travis territory with just drinking on that one alone.
posted funny gif
I was at this game. We looked lethargic during the warm ups. I try not to play the pessimist, but I knew we were going to lose this one. And we needed this win bad. I will say this, if this is the team…we get up for better competition and play down to lesser competition, then I’m not so worried about the playoffs, IF, we make it. At least I know they will put up a fight. This is who this team is.
One good note, the Wizards fans were pretty cool.
Very disapointted………..
Fox and Mike Brown should take all the accountability.
We need Sasha back ASAP, at least with another 3 pts shooter standing at 3 pt line, then Fox should at least would try to drive into the lane, and kick out to those 3 pt shooter….
(As he may know Edwards / Davion is not a good 3 pts shooter, he opted to shoot the 3 ball by himself)
Considering the opponent and the playoffs seeding urgency we have hit a new low. And I don’t care about SEGABABA or excuses.
There is no way that should be a loss if you are a good team.
The Kangz are the ultimate trap game bait, they take it every time.
Since I am a Kings and NBA fan I will continue to watch and pull for them . However , it’s very clear that this team is a slightly above average team as currently constructed . 150 games with same talent has proven . Will support during the playin game and only hope I will not be forced to watch Kings broadcast talkathon . That would be cruel .
I think this is the first time in 16 years where on a given day it’s “We can beat anyone!” to the next day “We suck again. Fire nnnnn and trade nnnnn”. Such a crazy year.
I think we are still fine – live and die by the 3, we just need to live 4 times and die 3 times. No SEGABABA in playoffs (or play-in? this I’m not sure).
And maybe the craziest thing is that is not the fans being overreactive, it is who the Kings/Kangz are.
One thing for sure… The eastern conference is a joke. I mean the Heat just lost to the Wizards and they weren’t even on a SEGABABA…. They should probably replace the coach and reset.
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