React away. Full recap to follow. Maybe.

Feb 1, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) reacts after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Kings Herald Newsletter
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Only Way Out
Ring! Ring!
Mr. Myers…Vivek Randive on Line 1
I cannot remember the last time trade rumors so quickly and monumentally destroyed a team’s heart.
I expected a loss since even the Cavs got blasted by them recently, but that was just pathetic. I hope Doug is ripping everyone.
Doug ripping? Lol! For an interim coach on the shortest leash in the nba. Not happening.
Let me have one tiny, positive daydream in this steaming pile of elephant shit night.
I think it’s pretty clear Vivek will hire him. He wouldn’t have put him in the position over much more experienced guys, if he was going to give him a short leash.
5 coaches in 8 years. I don’t know what do you call that? Hmmm
I wouldn’t call it a short leash. Vivek simply has a knack for hiring terrible coaches, and many of those served in their position entirely too long, with a couple being flat-out hiring mistakes
Well I would hold off on Christie being the next Erik Spoelstra.
Heat Culture and Sacramento? 2 organizations that couldn’t be more opposite.
Huh? I’m not even claiming he’ll be the next Eric Mussleman, let alone Spolstra. Though this team might make me drink like Mussleman.
I think his being named interim was a mistake. His coaching resume consists of being a defensive assistant for a team that has been a poor defensive team for almost his entire time on staff.
However, he was part of the 2000s team that our dismissive little chap of an owner seems to be obsessed with. Which is why I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he’s named the HC, barring something like an 8-26 finish to the season.
I don’t think Vivek has any sentimentality to the 2000s Kings other than knowing casual fans still hold them up on a pedestal and waving those players around like car keys in front of a baby is a path of least resistance way to take people’s money.
Yep, which is why I think he takes off Doug’s interim tag.
He’s clearly not committed to doing anything other than making money. If that happens while the team also wins more games than it loses, it’s an added bonus.
No one in this world can make this team a defensive team lol
And the good ones he (others) hired- he fired.
He’s a fucking ego moron.
Nothing appears to be salvageable this season. Sigh.
Nothing appears to be salvageable this entire Vivek tenure.
Can we somehow shorten/end it?
Fighting for the 10th seed. Fun.
What an embarrassment.
Tonight made the snub talk look a little empty.
As quickly as the switch went on with DC, it had now been switched off. It’s not a matter of skill, cause we have the guys and they have showed their potential and abilities.
Stop with that talk of blowing it all up and trading the entire starting 5. That leaves this team with the bench who has been horrible. And our drafting abilities have been the root cause of the crap we have dealt with for the past couple decades.
Bagley, Jimmer, T Rob, Stauskis, McLemore, to name just a couple.
Sabonis, Murray, Ellis, Monk, Fox are all great players. Dumping them all for draft picks is worst decision anyone could make.
For what it’s worth, those draft picks weren’t made by this (or hopefully the next, coming this May) front office.
I love most of the players on the team, like I’m sure most of us do. Best team we’ve had in over a decade easily, but I think it’s a very poorly constructed roster. It would hurt to lose these players but at the same time I wouldn’t hate to blow it up. Fox and Domas would be an insane haul, monk and ddr would be more to it.
Idk what’s going to happen but this team is way too jekyll and hyde as is
True, figure out pieces that can stay and find pieces that will work, throwing away people like Sabonis, Murray, Monk for hopeful draft picks is not an option. You just can’t replace an entire roster in one season and expect to get anything anywhere close to the talent we already have.
Moving Sabonis now is about as ideal as it gets. New contract. Playing at a ridiculous level. His trade value will be no higher than it is now. Especially as a big man.
This current iteration is going nowhere.
Lets put it in perspective:
oKC was without 3 starters and the Kings got bombed from the word go.
Kings were 100 healthy.
This team is nowhere in no planet near close to contending.
If play in is the chip. Have at it.
Too many fans used to settling. Having the losers mentality, mediocrity and poverty are the norms
This has to change top down
Isn’t that the point of blowing things up? If you’re talking about this season, yeah, but we aren’t competing for a championship – we’re competing for the freaking play in. You content with a borderline play in team or do you blow it up with good draft picks in return, for a chance of being like how OKC is now? That’s what getting good picks does. Having unicorn talent is what brings players to even small market teams. This is why Fox views San Antonio as an attractive destination.
I would argue we don’t have that unicorn talent in spite of having Sabonis . He would be a good #2 option on a good team. Fox? I would rate him as a #3 option on a good team, tbh. His usage rate is high on this team and not that great in efficiency. He is a one way player. What he brings is driving to the basket, enough to crash teams to the paint and the ability to kick it out if overwhelmed. That’s all. A great ability to have, but it’s literally being good at one thing. He isn’t a shooter. He isn’t a great defender, but gets the occasional highlight steal on gambles. None of what we have is on the Giannis, Wemby, LeBron (what he used to be), Curry or any of these other greats level – you get all of that through the draft. They aren’t coming to Sacramento and the only way to get them is through the draft. That is where the next Kings dynasty will be born – not here, not with this middling team on the struggle bus to the play in.
I totally get that we haven’t had a team as good as this in the past 19 years or whatever, but is this low bar the height of what makes fans happy? Really? We need to aim higher than this.
Lol
Yup Fox came in and gave 70% effort(I’m being generous here). The trade talk has completely killed the locker room. Just a complete disaster this has been.
In Fox’ mind he’s probably already in SA and planning his life there.
The next five days are huge for this franchise.
Hopefully the Spurs fork over a boatload of picks and some players and get this done.
It’s a start. Don’t think who ever they get will improve the team drastically this year.
Stockpiling 1sts makes too much sense. A new front office like Bob Myers need to be hired. Clean house.
I don’t blame Fox- or any player for that matter. (For the most part) This is the owners’ doing.
complete unprofessional clown show you’re playing for. Completely demotivating. What’s the point when the owner does nothing but make for a shaky/unpleasant/hopeless work place.
The owner is the issue. End of story.
Why is Fox still playing on this team?
he should’ve been benched games ago and me not having to watch him in a kings uniform again before I popped open the champagne that he was finally gone
You know it’s getting real when Greg finally says blow it up.
Many of us have been saying this for quite sometime that this core is going nowhere and needs to be torpedoed. Good to see blow it up naysayers finally coming around.
They should started a full rebuild when the team was sold. It’s absolutely insane that they didn’t. So much fan goodwill was banked at that point, people would have cheered a Process era.
Yeah, if there was anytime to blow it up and reset the roster without worrying about whether fans would show up to games, that was the time.
They legit did! The kings hand a fun exiting team with Dave. Dave had Marvin Bagley playing well we all know he sucks. They also had the number two pick. The kings had a chance. The owner just sucks.
Ironically, despite Vivek adamantly not wanting to blow it up, the whole thing might blow up on its own.
NBA 3.0, baby!
The problem is- it doesn’t matter if they blow it up. The foundation is rotten. With Vivek as owner (unless he relinquishes power) they will never climb out of this hole
How could they possibly build from the ground up when they can’t even build upon a playoff team over to your period.
I hate him
Keep keon, murray, carter, sabonis, flip everyone else for guys that can either play defense, shot the 3 or best do both
Can probably keep monk too but needs to be 6th man role
And why does Monk need to be in a 6th man role. Because you read it some where and they tight cast him there. No you put your best players on the court as much as possible so you start him and play him 35-40 minutes a game. Don’t try to over think this stuff.
Sabonis need to go as well. Ya over hype that dude up like crazy can’t create his own shot in the half court and all that passing do not work when your wings and guards suck at shooting.
everyone can go. Like why is Murray doing floaters when he can dunk it or go into someone chest. The only reason you should keep his is because we suck at getting forwards
That’s why i said surround him with shooters.
we should easily be able to have a starting group of something like:
vassell/keon/cam johnson/murray/sabonis
that is four 3nD players around sabonis, that offense with a quality coach can cook.
If the rumor is true. Teams are contacting Kings about Boner availability.
If they move Sabonis and Fox,
Demar will be right behind them.
That would be considered blown up
Yeah it’s blown up if Sabonis goes
The only guys I would keep Carter and Ellis. Murray is really not a starter and should be moved with everyone else.
Kings would get no less that a dozen firsts for Monk, Sabonis, Fox and Murray.
With the right Gm and coach. This team will be set up to be formidable within 2-3 years.
Gotta keep Murray for excellent defense and ability to shoot
I’d personally keep Keegan, but I’m with you 100% on everything else. Realistically we’ll probably amount to nothing in the end but going full okc should be the plan. Have as many darts and see if anything can hit
Times like this make me wish I didn’t care about sports…
Good to see Isaac Jones on the court to lead the bench in scoring. Hope they can work him into the rotation and this team can start looking at its future. Huerter and Lyles have been so bad I don’t think they would be getting any minutes on a playoff caliber team. Maybe the Kings turn it around in Minny and start a 4 game winning streak against mostly marginal teams. One can hope anyway.
And those two ARE our bench rotation. The people behind them are completely worthless (other than Isaac Jones who balls out every moment he gets to be on the floor).
I have to appreciate the game from OKC tonight.
Hustle, energy, effort on full display.
And Chet and JWill and Caruso on the sidelines.
82 first half points. Wow!
Doug Christie’s post game presser:
This was SUCH a Mike Brown presser. That is in no way a slam on Mike Brown. But Doug is ALREADY where Mike Brown was three weeks ago. There are going to be a lot more like that, especially if Fox doesn’t get moved in the next few days.
Interesting. More of the same rhetoric. Toughness Physicality. Sure very important. But his pressers getting a little repetitive at this point. Generalizations keep him in the safe zone. After Minny. Team has a pretty soft 10 game stretch. Team may recover
a bit.
Then March hits: 14
of 17
against playoff teams.
Luka to Lakers??? WTF is happening???
Wow, it’s actually true. I thought it’s just some fake news BS when I first saw this.
Now, if anything, what could this mean about Fox’s value? Seriously my gosh.
Welcome to Sacramento, Zach LaVine?
I did NOT see that one coming. Loaded two different sites because I thought it must be fake.
This is, quite simply, the most ridiculous, unbelievable, massive trade I’ve seen in the NBA in my 30-ish years on this earth. Seriously, can anyone think of a more shocking, bigger trade than this?
Maybe this is two teams trading damaged superstars for each other. Maybe Dallas was sick of Luka’s awful conditioning and the Lakers tired of Davis’ injury history.
What the hell do the Lakers have on the rest of the league?
I am not understanding how AD on the Mavs is a win-now move
The year-round summer weather of SoCal? Disneyland? I dunno.
In-n-Out Burger tweeted:
“Welcome to California Luka Doncic. In-N-Out is better than Whataburger.
This is, to be fair, completely true.
This is legit insane. I can’t even see how it makes sense for either team. Mavs are going to have an aging core of brittle dudes and the Fuckers are going to have an elderly star paired with a guy in his prime
I think the idea is that Luka is going to be around for a decade. LeBron will be gone in the next few years. It’s not going to help them this season, and I’d be surprised if LeBron wants to play with Luka next year.
Confirmed, fox for lebron
Deuce and Mo just joked on their livestream Fox for Giannis, fuck it, make it happen Monte!
Are you kidding. Luca is awesome and just got to a title game, did he not?
Great move for the Lakers. For the future and for now.
and all this hatred of the in their front office, but there a hell of a lot better than the kings. That stinks
I’m not saying Luka isn’t a good player, but he’s completely redundant with LeBron. There’s only one basketball and they both need it to be effective. They’re going to be less than the sum of their parts with those two playing together.
For this season, it seems both teams got worse.
The Lakers need to reincarnate prime Bill Russell to protect the paint behind Bron, Luka, & Reaves.
LeBron has always had a pass-first mentality. I think they will be just fine if Luka can stay on the court and play hard.
Is the this new landscape of the new CBA? Trade players before you are forced to give them a SUPER-Max?
It seems to be that way, doesn’t it?
On the other hand, I believe that this is the same GM that let Brunson go for nothing…
Absolutely speechless…no one saw this coming
WUT. Luka for AD? I was just about to go to bed.
Me too, but guess I’m reading Bluesky and Reddit comments tonight!
Bad short term for lakers imo, a post lebron era move
Kind of disagree. Tons of players want to play there every single year.
They will retool around Luka and continue to torture the Kings for the next 5-6 years.
Lebron will probably retire after this year or take a massive pay cut to sign another short term deal
The Lakers always find a way. It’s the Lakers we’re talking about now.
Players want to play with Luka and players would love to play for a storied franchise. That will never change. Like it or hate it. It’s reality.
Short term i meant this year, an do players really want to play with luka?
Luca is awesome. Was he not just in the finals?
this narrative about people not wanting to play with him I think it’s bullshit. Luka is one of the best three players in the league. Certainly one of the top three most impactful.
I don’t see how anyone would think the Lakers made a bad move for now or the future
It’s obviously a much worse fit for this season, unquestionably.
I am at a loss for words.
This doesn’t seem to make sense either way.
Mavs:
AD
Gafford
PJ
Kyrie
Max Christie
LAL:
Lebron
Luka
Rui
AR-15
?
Stein says Luka did not request trade.
Is there a worse injury to Donçic than believed? Is AD healthier than he’s ever been?
I am confused. One FRP and AD at 31 yrs old, worn for 25 year old future MVP?
Luka can’t SuperMax and Cali taxes on his extension.
Dallas apparently did not want to pay him the SuperMax.
There has to be more upcoming. Who’s in their middle? Nurkic to Lakers?
Luka was slated to sign the largest supermax in NBA history. That’s now gone. I bet he is pissed about that and it could be a factor as to why Dallas moved him.
Really, I wonder if this was facilitated by the league high brass itself to keep the L*kers relevant after LeButt starts to decline.
I posted that later on, but that makes more sense than anything else. Dallas is sad about why they traded Luka.
Didn’t think I’d be happy that OKC seems to be ridiculously solid for the next several years. I don’t think the L*kers, even with Lufa, will be able to stand up to the Thunder. The league will have to do even more for the L*kers.
Interesting…
Short of trading Fox to Mongolia for Cousins back, I don’t think there’s anything the Kings can do this deadline that will be worse than this.
Bradley Beal, Kyle Kuzma, Jimmy Butler, Tre Young, Zach LaVine.
We’ll see how that turns out…
I also believe defense wins championships. The Kings have two defensive players Eiiis and Murray. Maybe Carter but he hasn’t shown that so far. If Kings want to trade with the Spurs you better include Castle. If you trade with the Rockets you better get Thompson. We won ‘t win anything unless we have some more defensive players.
Next we need players who can shoot the 3 on a consistent basis. The Kings right now are the worst team in the league in shooting threes. Look at the stats. They will tell you everything.
Next we need at least one player that is physical can rebound and protect the weakside rim. Sabonis is a good rebounder but really isn’t a good defensive player. There we go again no defense under the basket.
If we can get 2 out of 3 now and get the third from the draft IMO we can get back to winning again. NO old players just young ones.
I read this, but it doesn’t make sense. They just went to the finals with him even though he was “out of shape”. I mean can’t they even lean on him a little bit about that it doesn’t even matter?
Just feels like something else is going on here. Maybe a personality thing with Luca and other people I don’t know? But it doesn’t make sense.
Maybe LeBron really does run the league. 🙂
Nico to Luka: “NO SUP(ERMAX) FOR YOU!”
&ct=g
Basketball is just not a fun sport to follow right now
I disagree
Today is fun- this trade is crazy
Lol..well we could be Mavs fans right now. That’s a plus!!
There are a whole lot of people in Dallas who went to sleep hours ago whose phones are buzzing them awake just after midnight.
I think every fan who is not a Laker fan is pissed at the mavericks right now. And why Anthony Davis? Could have certainly got a better deal than that. Hell I would have offered Fox and Sabonis for him.
Doncic is even level garbage it’s well documented.
It’s ridiculous but the idea that LeBron and the NBA orchestrated this is as believable as anything else….as to why the F would the Mavs do this.
Makes no sense
Never underestimate human stupidity.
Nico Harrison is the former Nike exec who ruined their pitch meeting with Curry by refusing to pronounce his name correctly.
Oh. I did not know that. Because GM stupidity makes the most sense.
Remember Christie also went along with the trade. Good up and coming player.
They traded Donçic’s SuperMax for Christie’s Max?
Maybe the reports have had it all wrong and Fox wants to go to Dallas? Fox and AD?
Their fan site is ready to break out the pitchforks to their owner and GM.
Interesting question. Would you trade Fox for AD and a first? AD seems like he could be a decent fit.
The fact that Dallas brought Kyrie and Klay in to get rid of Doncic is good management.
They got to NBA finals last season, that plan worked, so we will see how this one does ?
You obviously have something personal against Luka beyong on court play.
Fox probably added the Lakers as a preferred destination by now?
WTF. Now I have to hate Luka!
Luka is just a young basketball player that will be old in 2 years because of his physiology
Is this Vlade’s burner account?
Fox would never want to play with Luka. He’d take the ball out of Fox’s hands!
It kind of makes me find a way to hate Vlade that much more, especially with his laker ties. Him picking bagley not only cost us Luka, but now he’ll be a laker for the next however long
Vlade playing the long game with the Lakers. First the assist to Horry in the playoffs, then passing on Luka to now be a Laker.
In all honesty, though. Once Vlade was fired, the team improved dramatically. Vlade came back as “Basketball Ambassador” in November of the 23-24, amd things have been downhill since then. Dude is a stain on the org since he was GM. Get him off payroll and out of the building.
Every single person who said Doncic was a franchise player has some inner workings to juxtapose
Dude, he achieved more in the playoffs (often with less) than the entire Kings roster (sans DDR) combined.
Inexplicably, many Kings fans don’t value playoff success. Hence their love affair with Fox and Ox.
You joking? He’s the epitome of a franchise player. 5 time all nba. 5 time all star. Been to NBA final-WCF.
The list goes on and on.
.
Yeah, well, Marvin Bagley had a better 2nd jump.
Not very informed it appears . Donic a global superstar at 25 led teams to NBAFinals and Western finals in his short career . Also , scored 77 in one game . Love to have that fatty on the Kings .
Lakers fans are probably disappointed that they couldn’t get SGA or Wemby and that they now even had to throw in Christie while settling for Luka…
My only guess is that life with Luka must be exhausting – and Mavs management didn’t see that relationship improving.
Having said that, it seems like malpractice to not shop him around the league. Seems they could have a far bigger haul than what they received.
Why?
All the reports I’ve read say that he’s intense and annoying once a game starts but he’s relaxed and funny outside of games. Have you heard differently?
I’ve heard nothing, just guessing why a franchise would do something this asinine.