Behind closed doors: Kings hold players-only meeting after blowout loss to Toronto Raptors
The Kings held a players-only meeting as frustrations mounted Monday night after a winless three-game road trip ended with a 124-101 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
Interim coach Alvin Gentry, point guard De’Aaron Fox and forward Harrison Barnes sounded off in response to some pointed questions in their postgame news conferences. Players wouldn’t discuss the tone or tenor of their closed-door meeting after the game, but Barnes hinted at something specific when asked how the team’s vibe has changed over the past week.
“Right now, we’re not playing together,” Barnes said. “That’s really what it boils down to and, as a group, we’ve discussed it, and that’s really all I’m going to say on that at this point.”
The Kings trailed by as many as 31 points in what Gentry called an “embarrassing” loss to the Raptors. The Kings went 5-3 in their first eight games under Gentry after former coach Luke Walton was fired Nov. 21, but now they’ve lost three in a row.
Gentry has used three different starting lineups over the past three games with center Richaun Holmes sidelined due to an eye injury. Gentry said he will continue to search for the right combination of players “to get a group of guys who are going to compete,” but he admitted he didn’t have any immediate answers.
“I’m not real sure what the answer is right now,” Gentry said. “I’ve got a long flight that I can really think about it and look at it and try to figure out what we can do, because obviously what’s going on right now is not the answer, so we’ve got to find a way to right the ship.”
The Kings (11-17) will open a three-game homestand against the Washington Wizards (15-13) on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center. They will play nine of their next 10 games and 15 of their next 19 at home.
Sacramento is only a half-game behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference, but the Kings have bigger problems after giving up 10 30-point quarters in their last four games.
Fox was asked if the team’s inability to play “together,” as Barnes put it, was a product of roster construction or personalities.
“I don’t think it’s one thing,” Fox said. “I think everybody on the team likes each other. Everybody gets along. We talk off the court, but when we get on the court, we need to hear voices. We need to hear each other’s voices when we’re out there, and not just when we’re on the bench or anything like that.”
Fox went on to explain why communication is so important.
“When we’re picking up, as a guard, you want to hear that you’re not by yourself,” Fox said. “Or if a screen is coming, you want to hear that. When somebody gets cracked, everybody’s mad because the point guard might have heard nothing or somebody didn’t say anything. You just want to hear a voice behind you.
“Whether you’re on the ball, if you’re in help defense and somebody’s behind you, you just want to know somebody’s there. And I think that gives you the confidence to be more aggressive or whatever it may be, knowing if you get beat, somebody’s there to help you and they’re going to help you because they know someone’s behind them to help them. We just have to be more cohesive when we’re on the court because I think everybody enjoys being around each other.”
Four losing season have clearly taken a toll on Fox, who is in the first year of a five-year, $163 million max contract extension. The team’s ongoing struggles have led to questions about his leadership, demeanor and fitness as a franchise player, but Fox made it clear he still wants to win and lead the Kings back to the playoffs.
“I haven’t lost until I got here, so for the first 18 years of life, 19 years of life, every step that I played basketball, I was winning something,” Fox said. “So, I don’t know how you do that, make it to the NBA and now you just don’t care about winning. Everybody talks about, ‘If you get paid, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ Nobody likes to lose regardless of what level you’re on. Whether you’re getting paid or you’re playing for free, nobody likes to lose. … Everybody wants to win.”
Gentry was asked how much losing seems to bother his players. He said they wouldn’t have called a players-only meeting if they didn’t want to win.
“I think it bothers them,” Gentry said. “I think they closed the door and talked about it, so obviously if you care, those are the kinds of things you do. If you don’t care, you would never have done that in the first place, so we’ve just got to see what’s going to come out of it.”
Gentry said the players have to find the will to win within themselves, but he took responsibility for the team’s poor performance against the Raptors, saying “I’m supposed to have them prepared.”
“I think as a coach, and I’ve been in this league a long time, I think the worst thing you can possibly do is say I’ve done all I can and then blame it on the players,” Gentry said. “I have not done all I can. I’ve got to reach in somewhere and find something that can be changed that’s going to change this team. I’m not a quitter and I don’t think we have guys in there who are quitters.
“We’ve just got to figure out something that’s going to work for us, and I’ll try anything that I think is going to possibly work for us. It’s a terrible situation to be in. It’s very difficult to deal with. ... You lose sleep over things like this because I don’t think we’re that kind of basketball team, but the results speak for themselves, I guess. We’ve got to figure out a way to change all that. I won’t give up and I hope they won’t give up in that locker room either.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
