Kings win! Full recap to follow, but for now let’s celebrate a win!
Postgame Thread: Kings 116, Timberwolves 114
Light the Beam!
By Greg Wissinger | 162 Comments | Feb 3, 2025

Feb 3, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis (11) works against Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) in the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

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LTFB!!!
Great win! Did Keegan get a shot off at all 2nd half?
He had 2 points in the 2nd half.
Not sure why Kings keep getting players who take ball outta Keegs hands. He’s (can be) an efficient scorer.
They just need to look for him more consistently and make him be involved.
Right. Run more sets etc.
He also needs to get himself open not just sit in the corner. And not just in the corner away from ball movement.
How many highs and lows can you fit into one season?
Doug coached a really fine game tonight.
Midtown Mike notes the D by Keon and Lyles with 5 steals and 4 blocks in the game. Jones played some solid minutes tonight and had some nice rebounds on 50-50 balls.
Fun game to watch.
Agree 100%, Lyles and Ellis were both very disruptive, and just played smart basketball at both ends.
And piggybacking off of Amonk’s above comment about Keegan, why the hell do they keep Ellis stashed in the corner, immobile, when the team is trying to score? The man makes 43% of his threes. Maybe letting Monk pound the rock (John Salmons-style, yeah, I said it) for fifteen seconds and hoping DeRozan can clean up the mess isn’t the best use of personnel.
And as hard as it is to lose Fox, I took some consolation that Lyles didn’t go with him. Smart ballplayers make a difference, and he does, whether it shows up in the box score or not. He could still be traded of course, but the Kings would miss him if that happens.
Andy I am right there with you on Lyles. I am not so sure he will still be a King after Thursday but I hope the Kings flesh out the roster with some length and make sure it is a player that is a step up from Trey.
I’m getting to like Jones and the way he plays. Could be something more their with some more minutes.
Jones is fun to watch, he’s all hustle, and not scared to bang against anyone. I love that he’s getting a ton of floor time in Stockton (and crushing it), and also time in Sacramento. Ike is a tremendous athlete, and seems like he has the building blocks to get better and better.
He’s smaller than you’d like at power forward, but if he can make threes at something like league-average, his athleticism and that dawg in him could make him viable. Ike is very easy to root for.
Pretty tenacious effort – and I think we saw a bit of what we expected. Effort and defense were there consistently, but secondary ballhandling and ability to really break down the defense off the dribble was sketchy.
Will be interesting to see how LaVine fits.
Keon was nove tonight. Lyles play with effort and energy. Malik was somewhat disruptive as well.
I think Lavine will fit in just nice as another ball handler and self creator.
I thought Keegan was nove too
Ha. Not sure how “nove” was written. “Nice”, I meant to type “nice”.
I guessed right. Keegan was nice too
Team D was really nove. Novely done late in the game.
See they can all pretty much play a little defense but they have to want to. Need it most every night.
I nove your response.
I nove you all!
Nove game by the bench.
Keon Ellis – 13 PTS, 5-8 FG, 3-3 3PT, 3 REB, 2 AST, 3 Steals.
195 deflections. Dude is a beast on D.
It’s funny how effort and defense seem to be fairly consistent in the 4 games Fox hasn’t played for the Kings in 2025. Has the albatross left the room?
Love that you’re back, boss.
Great effort . Mr. Clutch 2025 was huge . Hope we get some Zach attacks Wednesday .
Good win! Well done. Hope we see Zach on Wednesday
Believe it was reported he would be in the building. Hope he plays.
I’ve always wondered how you can win with non shooters -ie- why I hated keeping Fox over Hali.
More shooting may be much better for this team than Fox.
However, they still have the same problem of unbalanced roster w Levine. Getting DDR didn’t help this. Drafting Carter. Maybe if they make a move but it’s been fucked up
Yeah still need another trade
At least. But at least trading Fox has forced them to have shooters. Though DDR isn’t a 3 shooter.
Unless he is four feet behind the three point line and Caldwell Jones, I mean, Rudy Gobert is on him.
Then DeMar is nove.
i think Valancuinans( not a good speller) would be a good help as a backup to Sabonis
There was a non call on Gobert on what should have been an aggravated foul of swinging his left arm high and fast on a rebound with the intent to make contact on Domas. I don’t know how the ref under the goal misses that call.
If that elbow would have connected with Domas’ head, it would have started a fight. Domas would probably be seriously hurt. Gobert is a clown.
100%.
Domas outworked him for a critical rebound and he tries to hurt him, there is no other way to look at what he did. Fortunate it was just a glancing contact.
Disagree completely. Sabonis gets away with so many push offs and elbow flare outs it’s not even funny. A big reason he is not recognized as great. He’s a regular season player.
That doesn’t get away with his shenanigans in the playoffs. His playoff stats and performances all prove that.
Put a big body on him that is just as physical. Hes done. It’s been proven time and time again. .
It actually hasn’t. It takes 5 minutes to look up just this season and see he’s had some of his bigger games against (wait for it…)
Jokic. Zubac. The 2 big ass dudes up in Utah. Triple double and the win against Portland and Ayton. You know, big body, physical MFers.
If you wanted to pick him apart with facts instead of, whatever your issue is, you could easily point to his struggles against speedier, more athletic centers in the league and his decision making when an opponent’s strategy is to take him out of the game with double teams and traps.
Come on, now. W-L and playing in small markets are the sole reasons for this. Don’t be ridiculous. Draymond Green is one of the dirtiest players I’ve ever seen and he’s a 4x All Star and 2x All NBA.
We may have been watching different games. We disagree. That’s ok. I know what I saw and what the tape shows.
So glad Domas is far classier than I. Cant stand that dirty Frenchman. Once again, Sabonis beat to hell down low and continues to fight. Demarcus Cousins would still be in a murder trial if that happened to him.
Actually disagree. For all his regular season accolades. Sabonis is a foul machine who doesn’t get called for fouls nearly enough.
He actually should be getting called for fouls a lot more. With his constant push offs. Kings fans don’t want to see. They have tunnel vision with his bloated stats.
That become mediocre fast In the post season.
14-7-5 those are his numbers in the postseason . So please don’t me he hasn’t played enough playoff games or the sample size is small. Kevin Looney showed him the door In the Dubs series.
3x with the Pacers, 1x Kings and 1x OkC.
This is also another reason he doesn’t get the pub some fans expect him to receive.
Gobert is a clean player. Actually too soft.
so completely disagree.
Again I respectively disagree. You must haven’t watched the game last night.Yes I will agree Domas does push too much but isn’t out their to hurt somebody like Gobert does.Go back and watch Gobert closely. Doesn’t even compare with Sabomis.
PS I would rather have Sabonis on my team than Gobert anytime.
Oh, you’re trolling. I thought you were being serious above.
Is this sarcastic because Gobert is one of the dirtiest if not THE dirtiest player in ALL basketball!
It’s interesting, because I see what you’re seeing with Domas’s constant push-offs. However, I saw Gobert absolutely maul players last night in addition to doing the same push-offs. During the game, I was actually thinking that it made me feel better that Gobert got away with doing some of the same things that Domas does. I only watch some NBA games that don’t involve the Kings, so I don’t have a feel for Gobert but the guy did not come off as a clean or soft player last night. It just felt like one dirty play after another. But hey, only 2 fouls, so I guess he’s clean?
It’s funny because Gobert is so big and strong, yet he often falls on his ass or stumbles around the court.
Sabonis is certainly not averse to the occasional hold or pushoff under the basket, but my feeling is that he’s on par with the behavior of his contemporaries.
The fouls that kill me are the really dumb ones, and he’s good for at least one per game. Sabonis is one hell of a screener, but sometimes he moves so much that the refs absolutely have to call it.
And he gets the hell beat out of him, generally with no fouls called. I really hope that Fox can get a fair whistle now that he’s out of Sacramento. DeRozan is finding out about the Sacramento tax, his career FTA is 6.6, and he’s at 2.5 this year.
And Gobert is a first-ballot hall of famer, and should be unanimous, but won’t be.
There, I am done being all over the place.
The foul discrepancy was trash. MIN was allowed to rough the Kings up all night.
The interesting thing is it seemed to even out at the end of the game and the refs for the most part were consistent. As in any sport all players want is consistency, and the NBA has a problem there and I think it may be mostly due to experience. That is just my gut level feel. The data may show I am foolishly off the mark in the stupid range.
We danced over the Wolves!
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Husky in a Parka dance! Kings Win!
As an Arizona State alum, the Kings need to adopt the shocker sign. This God damn team shocks me every day. We may not win anything but boy it will be totally unpredictable.
While this game was going on I was working the trade machine for swaps like DDR for Collins/Cam. By the end I thought, “maybe we should keep the guy who wins the games.”
He’s such a hard dude to figure out. I keep beating this drum but I swear he would light up our team off the bench and closeout situations. Not too many players like him in that regard. Keep Keon starting and have NutZACH in his place starting.
Zack will be starting. He’s not coming here to come off the bench.
Zero reason for Nets to take DDr. For what? If they are doing a full rebuild? The picks the Kings received are garbage. Garbage. The Charlotte pick is really 2 seconds. The Spurs pick? They will be contending for a championship in 2 years. Mark my word.The 31 pick? Lol?! 6 yrs from now. Kings made a lateral trade. For a player that shoots the 3 better and plays worse defense: That’s what the Kings got.
i keep seeing this narrative and it’s asinine.
Yes the CHA 1st rounded will turn to 2 seconds.
but to assume that in 2 years the Spurs will be a competing for a championship is crazy.
Wemby is great, but he’s no where near carrying a team like the other superstars of the league.
And thats just talent wise.. You look at their salary cap and the fact they will need to pay Fox his “supermax” along with Wemby his Supermax all by 2027. you realize just those 2 players alone will make up about 60% of Spurs payroll? ( 90 million dollars of their 140 million allowed ).
In 2027 they will have 2 players still under contract.
Vassell & Castle. ( 24 million & 12 million )
quick math tells me 90 million + 36 million = 126 million owed to 4 players.
that would leave them 14 million ( no counting any draft picks from here till then they sign ).
AND this is even if Fox works out for the Spurs. He’s shown that he’s an inconsistent player at time and that hand/finger is often injured.
End result of this is that anyone who’s saying just because the spurs have fox and Wemby they are a playoff/contender lock is crazy. that 2027 pick does have value to those paying attention
Outside of last season when Lavine had the injury to his foot, he and Fox played nearly the same amount of games since the 20-21 season. Lavine gets a lot of flack for “being injured all the time”, but it’s not like Fox is healthy all the time.
Now the Spurs get to take a chance on paying Fox for the next 5+ years at a huge amount, hoping he stays healthy and fits well. Fox doesn’t run the PnR well and isn’t a floor spacer, so the fit with Wemby might not be as seamless as some think it will be.
This.
Im not even looking at it through purple colored lenses here. Im just pointing out the cold facts of the spurs situation.
with the questionable fit of the players they do have.
I don’t even care so much about the 2027 pick itself, i think it’ll be used in a trade anyways. It just drives me crazy that everyone is throwing that pick in the trash just because of Wemby and Fox.
Over that same period from the 20-21 season, Lavine’s team averaged 42 wins…Fox’s teams average 41 wins.
The view of Fox being “that guy” just hasn’t been a real thing when it comes to winning basketball. Good player, his best season was 22-23. Never eclipsed those numbers again.
Totally, plus Wemby, for all his greatness, looks like a stick figure. I can’t imagine how his body possibly holds up to the beatings that NBA forwards administer. I hope he remains healthy but I cringe every team he takes contact down low or collides with anyone in the open floor.
truly i compare him to a guy like Giannis physically.
obviously there is an age difference on their rookie years, but overall id bet they are on a similar path.
Wemby will be Elite/Mega Star, i don’t doubt that. but right now i’d give him another 3-4 years before he’s that level of player.
Rec.
Nove win!
Do we pronounce it as dove with an N? That’s how I’m hearing it in my head.
It’s Hobby’s word, so I’ll leave to him. It wouldn’t be nove of me to poach the pronounciation.
…pronoveciation…
compassionativity
46-37 edge by the Kings in rebounds and the bench held its own (along with DDR who had a huge game in all categories tonight) when Domas went to the bench with his 4th quick foul.
When he came back in the Kings still had the lead.
That was the tipping point of the game in my mind.
Lyles was an animal boxing out Gobert tonight. Completely outplayed him on the boards.
Lyles sort of defined the “make them feel you” trope tonight, didn’t he?
I am hoping there is another mobile big for the bench that can slip into one of the exceptions. Trey is a good player, but on this team he needs to be great. Getting another 4/5 would go a long way to helping the Kings of asking too much of Trey.
This was caffeinated Trey. He was running the court, in on every play.
Laid back Trey is the more typical one.
I say maybe having DeMar on the team and knowing Zach is incoming is making him a Red Bull.
And Red Bull has wiiiings!!
If we can find a sandpaper King’s jersey on Amazon, Lyles would have reduced Gobert to sawdust.
Tight, tight D by Lyles kept him off the boards all night.
Hope we trade the 5 second rounders for playoff push depth and save the first rounders for the off season.
Anybody know their record this season without Fox (including tonight)? Seems like they win more when he is not there?
4-0 in 2025.
Thanks. I thought it was something like that. Obviously, that speaks volumes about their chances without him.
They’re undefeated without LaVine, too.
Lets see how long that lasts!
But seriously, I feel his impact on the team will be more positive than Fox has been the last couple months. No overall knock on Fox, but his injuries that he is playing with have obviously made him less effective.
one could argue that Sidy Cissoko, who was the 44th pick 2023 is a 6th 2nd rounder.
But only if they really wanted to.
Cissoko is a good prospect. He’s a big wing who plays D and has the ball handling and passing of a guard. Just needs to improve his three point shot. If he can raise his percentages on catch and shoot threes, he might take someone’s minutes.
If he was a 1st round pick, do you think he would have gotten more of a chance to get minutes on the Spurs? Higher picks tend to get more chances as the investment to develop them is much higher.
I haven’t followed his development for the last couple years, so I’d have to speculate on that one. He’s 20 years old.
The Spurs have found enough gold in the second round to suggest that they know what they’re doing. Sidy may have been a throw-in, but him having a couple of years in that organization can only have been good for him.
Let him run wild in Stockton for a while, get some serious minutes and see how he does. If he earns time in Sacramento, I look forward to seeing him play.
I would counter that it doesn’t speak shit.
Devin Carter has not shown the ability to adapt to length in the NBA.
Careless turnover that led to an edwards layup.
He did blow by that one defender though but was not expecting resistence at the rim so he threw up a wild layup.
The shot is there.(?), ability to blow by is there, but length is a problem for him.
I think his ceiling could be a pritchard type player but he has to get stronger so he can be our secondary ball handler.
Light the beam.
Carter doesn’t seem to have good feel around the rim. Or maybe in general. Pritchard isn’t a realistic ceiling IMO. But light the beam anyway!
Monte may have just put together a good roster after all. Gotta give the guy some credit, he tends to make the most out of being dealt bad hands.
Carter is still a rookie who has only played a very small number of games. He is still green. He may learn and adjust. Too early to make declarations on him.
I hope you’re right. But he was on the older side coming out of the draft, right? I’d be more optimistic if I saw flashes of special ability.
You all have to realistically give Carter some space. He will be fine.
He’s played in thirteen total games….13. He’s played just one hundred and thirty minutes of NBA basketball…130.
For reference, Isaac Jones has played 192 minutes in 23 games.
Give it time.
Patience is tough with Carter – his hairline is 35 years old.
Ouch. I’m glad you went there before I did.
My wife hates his hair. Hope that doesn’t affect his game.
Yeah, it really is something, and I have no room to talk, what with wearing a Mohawk for the last five years.
Any person should do whatever they want with their own hair, but I’m having difficulty putting it into any context. I’m sure there must be people that think it’s hawt, but it really gives comb-over vibes.
And I assure you, it is a shitty Mohawk.
Definitely needs time. And Monte better have gotten this pick right-Carter needs to be good/an asset because the redundancy of his position.
Monte always talks about getting talent (no matter the position) and assets and flexibility to make moves. This is an unbalanced roster that needs moves-hope he does something. More
I firmly agree not only on Carter but on Jones also. I like them both.
I agree with everyone that he hasnt played enough minutes and games. Im in no rush to see him have an immediate impact. thats why we have to be patient with him and develop him. Gotta get stronger so he can absorb contact at the rim, and be able to spot up since they always put him in the corners.
I remember Keegan routinely getting stuffed at the rim his rookie season. I’m not worrying about Carter’s ceiling just yet, personally.
If you look at his points per game in college, he was at 9.0 as a Fr, 13.0 as a So, and 19.7 as a Jr. That tells me the guy can adapt. For comparison, because a lot of people like to throw out the Davion comp, Mitchell had 3.7, 9.9, and 14.0.
I think Carter is going to be a baller in time. He just needs the game to slow down for him a little.
I have hope that he can be our secondary ball handler with enough time and reps. That boston game showed me he can be a baller man.
Right now he just has a short leash since we’re trying to win games.
He made 2 bad plays and was immediately subbed out and never returned in the 4th. So thats on him to avoid turnovers and wild shots and prove he can stay on the floor when malik needs a rest.
Keep at it Dev Carter! The role is yours to take since Fox is no longer around.
He got subbed out after the back of his head slammed against the floor.
Pritchard ain’t bad.
Don’t remember where I read this, but Kings were supposedly drafting Carter for another team on a trade that didn’t go through. Would love to know that team and see if we can offer picks and Carter for someone useful on that team. Maybe Monte started the rumor to take the heat off drafting another guard.
It was a conversation James ham and Kyle madsen had with Chris biderman from the sac bee on espn 1320’s the insiders. They said Carter was picked for another team only the trade fell apart at the very last second.
Only saw the second half, but boy am I glad to have tuned in. Team played with grit, people knew their roles, and we played DEFENSE!!
DeRozan was clutch AF, Monk was flying around like a wild banshee, and Sabonis was a wrecking ball.
imo this type of play may be hard to sustain, but thank you Kings for showing up and fighting
let’s fill out this roster and make a run!!
If Ant gets the ball in the corner instead of McDaniels, that’s a foul on Monk 100% of the time. Instead, it is off the Wolves and going the other way. Nove break! But will take a win any way we can get them.
But not a foul on a 3pt shot. So we still probably win.
That was energy and effort- and that will win a lot games.
Only 24 3PA. Only 23 assists and a low scoring 3rd Q and yet-
They figured out a win with this short handed squad.
I give a lot of credit to the energy of Monk, the mid range tenacity of DDR, the start out of the blocks shooting of Keegan, the defensive effort of Keon and Lyles and the steadiness of Domas who had a quiet game. Nice few minutes by Isaac Jones too.
Big big minutes for the starters. And they needed every second.
These guys need more bench help. Hope that comes by Thursday.
Their energy was incredible, much better than the last few games! It was more like how they played during the 7 game win streak. Hopefully, the Fox trade possibilities can be attributed to distracting them and they will get back to playing with energy and purpose. I am also glad to see Doug playing Isaac Jones. He always seems to give the maximum effort and finds ways to make an impact with his play.
I think this game shows both the good and the scary of brining LaVine in. We will need his offense on nights where Monk, Murray, and DD can’t carry the full load.
However, Ellis defense was a bit key to winning and taking him off the court for LaVine probably results in a net negative given Ellis’ importance tonight.
Will be interesting to see how Christie handles the rotations to keep our offense clicking without losing defensive intensity.
You don’t need to take Lavine out to bring in Ellis. Lavine plays point guard also so he can move up to Monk’s spot if need be and now Ellis can come in. No problem.
But then you are taking Monk out.
I think the “issue” and perhaps a good issue to have is our theoretical starting lineup is:
Monk
LaVine
DDR
Keegan
Sabonis
Of course, there are still minutes for Monk and you can rotate him in. But there is a very real possibility that our *best* lineup is 4 of the people above and Ellis.
Can certainly play a mix of matchups and the hot hand, but that’s why I said will be interesting how Christie handles the rotations.
Does he default to “best players” and leave Ellis out more or at end of games. Does he have a stable rotation where one of the above 5 sits more for Ellis. Does he mix and match?
The last option will sound like the best on in a vacuum, but is easier said than done and of course risks issues if someone is benched and we lose and they start grumbling.
I could see a lineup of Monk, Ellis, and Lavine, with Lavine playing “SF”. Lavine is bigger than Fox, so it might work out in certain games.
But I do think Monk/Ellis/Lavine need to split those 98 backcourt minutes fairly evenly, about 33mpg each. We all see how good the team looks when Ellis is on the court. He just flat out needs more minutes.
Agree. And he provides something unique. I think between four of LaVine, Monk, DD, Keegan, and Sabonis – we have plenty of firepower.
Ellis is arguably our only elite defender, with Keegan also playing an important, versatile role with Sabonis continuing to play well though not being a rim protector.
I am not sure we will do it, but we might be best off with one of those 5 even coming off the bench (a la Manu with the old Spurs) in order to keep our offense going while Ellis joins the starting lineup and closing varies based on matchup / performance.
One of the ways to describe the roster is Top Heavy – look at the minutes distribution.
The Kings need more talent, for sure, but depth is the weakness that is most glaring, and that’s in the frontcourt. Adding a strong front court player – of the 96 minutes for Domas and Keegan, who are averaging around 71.4.
Lower their usage to the 64-68 range, and that’s a good 26-28 for another regular/core player.
But to your point, those are minutes for a frontcourt player.
I’m not especially bullish on playing Ellis, Monk, or Lavine at SF except very situationally.
We of course need more SF / PF / C depth. But that doesn’t change that we need more Ellis in with our offensive stars.
Was expecting a dispirited performance but the guys came through.
Same. It was great to see them all put in a very solid team performance.
4-0 this season without ex-#5. Excited to see LaVine on Wednesday.
the team lives on!
The last few days have helped me realise a number of things, including that it shouldn’t be a surprise certain relatively small market teams always ‘win’ trades or draft well – the difference is that they’re run well. Wonder what that’s like.
It’s also made me realise I should enjoy the players we have more, so I want to shout-out Sabonis. May have struggled with fouls and was very inefficient (for his standards), but his fingerprints were all over this game. His screens on some of the best on-ball defenders in the game allowed DeRozan and Monk to cook, really fun to watch.
And my favourite Sabonism: cheering for extra possessions during close games:
That call he made when Ant was guarding him to tell DeRozan to take the three was just smart basketball. Edwards is strong enough to make the entry pass to Sabonis pretty difficult, but he was pretty sure that he could rebound the ball if DDR’s shot missed.
Objectively, the man is putting together a Hall of Fame career, and has managed to improve almost every year. It’s a bit early for that kind of talk, especially since he can’t even make a god damned all-star team.
Quality win. I loved the free throw shooting down the stretch. If they play like this, add Zach Levine’s offensive machine and light the beam more often.
My two favorite sports teams are the Kings and the Kansas City Chiefs (I used to live in the KC area–I saw the KC Kings play). The Chiefs were terrible, then they were not good enough to win the Super Bowl, then they were terrible, then they were not good enough to win the Super Bowl. Now they’re good enough to win the Super Bowl for the third time in a row. Maybe the Kings will develop their own Michael Jordan some day. Until then, I’m happy to see them above 500 and competing for the playoffs.
They beat a team that just lost to the Wizards!
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Who cares? They are 27-23 and healthy and are currently the #7 seed.
It’s a big win! Let’s enjoy.
If we’re not blowing it up then a win is a win is a win
Ha! Just thought I’d get ahead of the commenter(s) who always find reasons to denigrate any Kings win.
Fair enough. This is why they say satire is dead. In today’s world, you can’t tell the difference 🙂
Actually
25-24 in a logjam with the Suns and Dubs for 8-10.
Not sure where you got 27-23. Wrong team