Light the bling: New Defensive Player of the Game chain adds to Kings’ culture and vibes
As one of the Sacramento Kings’ resident veterans, Harrison Barnes is rarely off kilter.
He’s the team’s most steady personality, in part because he’s experienced so much in the NBA. That includes winning a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 and being part of the 73-win team in 2016; getting replaced by Kevin Durant; and getting traded from Dallas to Sacramento, and playing for three coaches over five seasons with the Kings.
Experiencing that gamut has given Barnes perspective, which allows him to embrace the fun times. Which he’s doing with his teammates this year. It’s evident by the way he’s celebrated, being the first-ever Kings player to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Game nods, an unofficial award that entitles the winner to rock a gaudy chain around his neck while posing for locker room photo opportunities.
“I think it’s just a testament to what we’re trying to build in terms of our defensive identity, defensive culture,” Barnes said during shootaround at a Detroit-area high school Friday. “We’re striving to be a team where guys are fighting to be the Defensive Player of the Game.”
Barnes being particularly enthusiastic in an interview isn’t his brand, so his team-friendly answers absolutely track. But when the sparkling plate-sized purple and platinum chain was put around his neck after wins over the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons, Barnes was eager to gather grinning teammates for photos.
“It’s just fun,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “Something that continues to connect the group. And you can see when it’s handed out how excited the guys are. HB’s a pretty stoic man. He does have fun and all that stuff, but when he got it, he looked like a kid again, and this is a kid’s game.”
First it was The Beam. Then it was Malik Monk’s band-aid he wore during the team’s seven-game winning streak earlier in the season. Now, there’s the DPOG chain, the latest novelty the Kings are embracing to add some fun to the promising start to their campaign. The Kings on Friday improved to 16-12, currently No. 5 in the West, as they look to end their historic 16-year playoff drought.
With the chain comes a mini postgame party. The lights get turned off, purple beam-like laser pointers get turned on, and locker rooms, like the ones in Toronto and Detroit, look like the club for a few seconds of celebration. Then the team gathers around the winner of the award for a photo for Kings fans to enjoy on social media. It might be a new tradition if the team keeps winning like it has.
The brainchild of the DPOG chain is associate head coach Jordi Fernandez, who saw the Denver Nuggets do something similar when he was an assistant there under head coach Mike Malone. Fernandez is Brown’s lead defensive assistant, and Fernandez is the one who awards the necklace after wins only, similar to the beam atop Golden 1 Center, which only lights up after victories.
“After wins, guys really like it,” Fernandez said. “I’ve been part of teams that have done it, and now we do it in our way. Guys like to get the award and then they take their pictures together, so it’s pretty cool.”
The award is decided on by the coaching staff and doesn’t go without controversy. It’s only been around for three games, and Barnes has won it twice.
He earned it for slowing Raptors star Paskal Siakam on Wednesday, when he shot just 7 of 19 from the floor during Sacramento’s 124-123 victory. Barnes was given the chain for similar reasons on Friday when he helped slow Pistons leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic to 6-of-16 shooting, while being minus-17 in his 30 minutes, during the Kings’ 122-113 victory in Detroit.
So what’s the criteria for winning the award?
“It can be a little subjective,” Fernandez said. “After a win, it’s who you felt that really made the difference. Sometimes it’s a tough matchup like there was the other day (in Toronto). Sometimes it’s just, overall, like with Domas (Domantas Sabonis), it was his 20 rebounds . Can be deflections. Sometimes it’s going to be a winning play at the end of the game.
“So it changes a little bit and I think it’s important that everybody feels like they can win it.”
Sabonis was the first recipient after a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 9, when he had 18 rebounds. On Friday, Kevin Huerter mentioned he thought he had a case, but two late fouls against the Pistons hurt his chances. Backup point guard Davion Mitchell likely would have earned it multiple times earlier in the season, but the chain didn’t come on the scene until the team’s recent road trip. Brown mentioned a key steal leading to a fastbreak basket for De’Aaron Fox on Friday that made him a candidate.
“Most of these guys would be going down to the YMCA and hooping if they weren’t playing in the pros or weren’t making the money that they’re making,” Brown said. “And so we want to try to make it as fun as we can. And we want everybody to be a part of it.”
The Kings started the year slowly defensively, but they’ve steadily improved of late. They rank eighth in the NBA with a 110.3 defensive rating for the month of December — the same month in which Fernandez’ chain was introduced.
