With playoffs again out of sight, Kings need to show critical signs of growth
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who has watched Sacramento Kings basketball over this past decade, but once again the Kings are staring at a lost season. Barring a miraculous turnaround, Sacramento’s playoff drought is set to reach 14 years, one away from the all-time record set by the L.A. Clippers.
This year was supposed to be different. The Kings were coming off their most successful campaign since 2006, winning 39 games and remaining in the playoff hunt well into March. De’Aaron Fox looked like a future superstar, Buddy Hield was setting 3-point shooting records and the Kings played an exciting, up-tempo brand of basketball. This season’s team was supposed to be even better, with more depth and a new coach in Luke Walton who was supposed to take the team’s fast-paced identity and super charge it.
It didn’t take long for the season to go off the rails. The Kings started 0-5, the franchise’s worst start since 1990. Dewayne Dedmon, the Kings’ most heralded offseason addition, quickly had his spot in the rotation taken by the much more energetic and athletic Richaun Holmes. Marvin Bagley and Fox both suffered early injuries that caused them to miss significant time. Buddy Hield, tasked with more responsibility due to those injuries as well as the weight of expectations from a hefty preseason contract extension, saw his shooting percentages drop drastically and his turnovers increase.
Most baffling, the Kings are playing at a snail’s pace a year after shocking the NBA with their speed. To be fair, some of that has to do with Fox, perhaps the NBA’s fastest player, missing so much time. In the last few games, the Kings have seen their pace increase dramatically, but they’re still the third-slowest team in the NBA. The team seems lost and without an identity.
Injuries are certainly part of the equation, as the Kings have had a healthy team for just one game this season, but that can’t be the only excuse. In fact, the Kings played their best stretch of basketball this season while missing both Fox and Bagley. From Nov. 12 to Dec. 9, the Kings went 8-7. Since then they’ve gone just 5-15, including an eight-game losing streak. Sacramento’s currently on a five-game losing streak following Monday’s loss to Miami, and the next three games are all on the road. The situation could get uglier before it gets better.
Midseason trades can only help so much. The Kings consummated a trade this past weekend with Portland to send Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan to Portland for Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver and two second-round picks. Bazemore is shooting even worse than Ariza this season, but he’s younger and perhaps a change of scenery will help. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Kings make a few other minor moves before the February trade deadline to shake things up, but it seems unlikely the Kings would part with any of their core pieces.
With the playoffs are out of sight, expectations once again shift. The development of De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley continue to be a top priority. Fox has come on strong of late, averaging 21.7 points on 50.9% shooting to go with 8.6 assists and 1.7 steals since coming back from injury 10 games ago. For Bagley, just seeing him on the court for an extended period of time would be nice. He has missed 30 games this season and once again was dealing with a foot injury after Saturday’s game against Utah, although he was back in action Monday against Miami. Another extended absence would be immensely frustrating, for both Bagley and the Kings.
But development is a hard sell for a Sacramento fanbase whose patience is wearing thin. Boos have become a nightly occurrence at Golden 1 Center. At some point the goal posts need to stop moving and those in charge need to be held accountable for the results.
Akis Yerocostas has covered the Sacramento Kings for the past 10 years for Sactown Royalty. He can be found on Twitter @aykis16.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 11:08 AM.