Update: 7:30 pm
The Sacramento Kings, at least as of right now, have the worst record in the NBA (12-39), a credit to the tank and clutch 116-112 loss to the Washington Wizards Sunday. The Kings were within 3 points in the final moments, but a long three by Zach LaVine missed and the loss went to Sacramento.
LaVine finished the game with 35 points. DeMar DeRozan finished with 32 points. Maxime Raynaud had 14 points and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes. Daeqwon Plowden, Isaiah Stevens and Devin Carter all got decent minutes in this game. Even a Doug McDermott and Drew Eubanks sighting.
The tank now hurdles toward the trade deadline.
From Earlier Preview:
I will have much more to say about the Keon Ellis trade in tomorrow’s Monday Morning post, but for now, the Kings have a must-lose game to play. It’s the worst of the West meets the worst of the East, loser take all!
Who: Sacramento Kings (12-38) vs. Washington Wizards (12-35)
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
When: 3:00 PM PT / 6:00 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass
The Kings currently hold the worst record in the NBA, but the Wizards are right there with them as the only other team in the league with just 12 wins. Both teams are angling for a top pick in this draft, but the Wizards have already started their rebuild in earnest while the Kings are just starting.
The Wizards have some fun young talent already, particularly in second year players Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George. Sarr and George currently lead the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. Unlike the Kings, the Wizards are a very young team, with veteran Khris Middleton being the only rotation player over the age of 26. They did acquire Trae Young in a big trade a couple of weeks ago, but it sounds like they might opt to just sit him for the rest of this season to allow him to recover from his injuries while they continue to chase another top pick.
This is the last game of a season-long six-game road trip for the Kings and so far they haven’t managed to win a single one. In fact, the last team they did beat was this very same Wizards squad back on January 16th, when the Kings won 128 to 115 in Sacramento. Russell Westbrook led the way in that one with 26 points, but he has missed the last couple of games and probably will sit this one out as well if I had to guess. If he does sit, and with Schröder now gone, it will be interesting to see how the Kings handle Point Guard duties, as the other player who has traditionally played Point Guard, Malik Monk, is also questionable. Maybe we finally see some extended Devin Carter action.
Prediction: Kings 116, Wizards 121
This is the game that could drop the Kings one draft spot, from superstar to bust, thanks to multiple veteran players who shouldn’t have been here in the first place, shouldn’t be here today and won’t be here through next season.
This is exactly the type of game that Utah would sit Lauri last season. Sure, the NBA fined them, but for the shot at a generational talent is well worth it.
They are sitting Lauri an awful lot this season also. Much to my fantasy team’s chagrin.
From this streak, the Wiz may give relief
Though any wins now come with some grief.
It’s a clash of two tanks
To maintain their ranks.
This dysfunction’s been Vivek’s motif!
+1 How low can we go?
2 Games to “showcase” Carter before the deadline!!
Tank keep-a-rollin all night long!
It looks like Nique at the point, with Carter backing him up? We need that L
And Domas is a late scratch…???
Bagley starting at the 5 for the Wiz.
Lol, Kayte is saying Perry is trying to make some changes to the team he inherited. HAHAHA, he traded away two guys he brought in this past summer!
Shill gonna shill
It’s the only way your allowed to be a part of the Kings organization. Its written in the contract.
Precious should never try to create for himself from the three point line. He’s done it twice this game.
Correction..four times
Oh look a team with a bunch of young athletic wings. Must be nice.
CBS wags the trade.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/keon-ellis-deandre-hunter-trade-grades-cavaliers-kings-bulls/
Brutal takedown. Especially damning that they didn’t let Keon he RFA last summer in order to save money so they could sign Dennis. Now they’ve packaged them both in a trade. BWHAHAHAHA!
Kings have screwed the pooch for sure. But, kings did not ‘give away haliburton’.
Sabonis has been a damn good return for hali. I still think that trafe was close to even.
Best thing I’ve read in awhile
Monk and DeMar look like they don’t want to be out there tonight. Just play all the young guys and two-way guys.
Those are the two I worry about willing this team to an unwanted win tonight.
Good Lord. Carter just drove to the basketball and threw the ball BACKWARDS into an opposing players hands during a layup attempt.
For being a “fast” player, he has good awful speed. Like he’s playing in mud.
He’s so fast, it’s blown his hair back!
.
.
.
.
I’ll see myself out now.
DeMar is trying to teach a lesson. Great narrative Kayte.
I am at this game live and the Kings are playing easily the worst basketball I’ve ever seen played at the professional level. Im ready to ask DC to throw me in. If you hear a “sell the team” during free throws, it’s probably me.
Maybe Devin Carter plays like he’s stupid to escape from basketball hell.
Nice! Make a scene!
Also just need to get this off my chest: Lavine is a selfish, losing basketball player who will quit the moment the going gets tough. He hasn’t even been here for 82 games and his attitude is palpably awful. Of every Kings player, he may be the one that deserves to spend the rest of his career playing meaningless basketball.
Send him to Stockton!
Wow Kayte, was Doug McDermott’s three point shot that exciting?
LOL, challenging an out of bounds call in the first half again. WTF is wrong with them? Again, even if successful it guarantees you nothing but possession.
Let’s go Zach! Heat up and get traded! Please please please! LOL. Kayte’s like hey I said they were going to win! Ok Kayte.
They got so damn excited about Lavine hitting those shots. I just had to turn the game off.
Trade Zach now!
Is Bagochips an honorary tank commander today? That would be hilarious
Skal sighting? Didn’t know bro is still in the league
Yeah! According to Kayte he’s a “high-flyer!”
Glad the Kings opened some spots for the younger guys so Monk, LaVine, and DeRozan could take 50 shots.
Zach LaBeam tank commanding. Love it best of the worst
Tank LaVine!
Awesome, the tank lives on. I got scared there for a second.
Great thing about this “contest “was the Wizards were trying to lose too. The Washington bench played twice as many minutes as the starters.
Kings dodged a bullet there. Washington definitely pulled the Utah “bench Lauri in the 4th” tank method. Doug stupidly played DDR and LaVine over 30 minutes and it almost cost us. My guess is he just wants to break the losing streak.
Great loss!
How pathetic when you’re trying hard to win, they’re trying to lose, and you still end up losing. It gives me hope that this team is so good at being bad.
Yo Doug, any words for the haters?
He was asked after the game why he didn’t play Keon more when the team needed outside shooters and defense on the floor and his answer was “log jam.” It’s bewildering.
The Kings having the worst record in the league is just the chefs kiss on this season. I can’t wait for them to win 4 out 5 at the end of the year and get the 6th pick which turns out to be the only player in the top-7 that’s a bust.
It’s so sad that I’m legitimately rooting for pure futility at this point. They set the playoff drought record? Set it again! Let’s get 15 more years of this!! I want Vivek to go down as the worst owner in professional sports (non-Donald Sterling et al. edition). Just pure ineptitude for like 30 years. Even guys like Dolan stumble into competence every once in awhile. Vivek managed to get out of the way for ONE SEASON and the Kings were a 3 seed. Then he got back involved and right back out of the playoffs. It’s truly amazing how incompetent this guy is. He’s so incompetent he made Malcolm Gladwell lose all credibility LOL.
Oh and the Sacramento media… man… for the most part it’s just amateur hour. Some of the justifications for the Keon/Schroder trade are just incredible. Do these losers have no shame? Seriously? Can any of them just grow a pair and call this for what it is? I have never seen a collective media environment that was more of a physical embodiment of a participation trophy than the media in Sacramento. It’s absolutely shameless.
Oh and Zach Lavine is the most Vivek Ranadive player that ever existed. A complete loser who only does anything against other bottom feeders. Then when it’s clutch time he generally disappears and or is awful. This guy having a couple cool dunks years ago and Vivek being completely enthralled is so on brand nobody would believe it if you told them.
Nice arena thou… Actually no, at this point even the arena has lost any of its charm.
Tank gon tank…keep on tankin…sneaky tank…stanky tank…tankonia…tankramento
Today’s motivational quote, Scott Perry paraphrasing Project Runway:
I will never understand people having any hope for Scott Perry. The guy has done NOTHING in his career to suggest he’s competent. The Schroeder signing was an immediate red flag and shockingly that move blew up in his face. This is just more Vivek nonsense and always will be until he mercifully kicks the bucket in 20 years.
At that point Anjali might become the majority partner and get herself Sterling’d for banging the players. That’s the pathway out of this mess.
I don’t know how or why you guys still watch the games. You’re the real MVPs.
Anyways, for your reading pleasure. Thanks Vivek.
https://www.theringer.com/2026/02/01/nba/giannis-antetokounmpo-nba-trade-rumors-cleveland-cavaliers-trade-keon-ellis
“Hunter is an indifferent playmaker and inconsistent defender who ranks 13th on his own team in estimated plus-minus (this also puts him at 159th out of 167 players leaguewide who average at least 25 minutes per game). Considering he’s guaranteed $24.9 million next season, the fact that Cleveland was able to get off this contract—and severely reduce its luxury tax bill—without attaching any draft compensation to the deal is remarkable. It’s also easy to understand when you remember who was on the other side of their negotiation.
Can the Kings go five consecutive minutes without imitating a whoopee cushion? Here’s a quick recap of what led them to make Saturday’s otherwise incomprehensible trade: Last summer, the Kings traded Jonas Valanciunas for Saric so they could afford to overpay Schroder. (This was before they signed Russell Westbrook to a veteran’s minimum contract; Russ plays more than Schroder, despite the fact that they signed Schroder to a ludicrous three-year, $44.4 million deal.)
They overpaid Schroder because they needed a point guard. They needed a point guard because they ran their franchise point guard, De’Aaron Fox, out of town after steadily eviscerating his confidence in their ability to ever again look like a respectable franchise. Every dumb move has a forebearer, which brings us to this weekend.
Back on their bullshit as the most confusing, antiquated, and purposeless product in the NBA, the Kings at least had Ellis as a crown jewel they could point to with pride. Undrafted, Sacramento offered him a two-way contract and used the G League to develop his offensive repertoire. But instead of seeing things through after Ellis proved himself worthy of real NBA minutes and rewarding him with the extension he deserved, the Kings curiously spent most of this season jerking his minutes around—doing their damndest to harm one of their most appealing asset’s trade value.
In the end, Sacramento could not get a first-round pick for a useful player who was coveted by every smart team in the league, so they moved him (and a future Hall of Famer!) for Hunter. If you’ve already read the previous two paragraphs, you understand how ridiculous that was. Also, I know the price would’ve (probably) been a bit more steep, but getting Hunter instead of Jonathan Kuminga, who’s younger, cheaper, and someone the Kings really wanted once upon a time, is just funny.
Now the Kings have a few days to cut some salary, which would make sense: At this moment they’re projected to be over the first apron next season. They also currently have the worst record in the league. (Clears throat: LOL!) Trying to follow what motivates this franchise is a futile exercise. Someone light a candle for Domantas Sabonis. Basketball fans who like watching good basketball players in stable situations should hope he’s eventually traded to an organization that isn’t aimlessly drifting from one month to the next without any rational guiding principles. Aside from being a reliable source of comedy, though, what’s happening in Sacramento is totally irrelevant compared to what’s happening in Cleveland.”
Specia\
This is awesome.
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