Where does Sacramento Kings’ offense rank after De’Aaron Fox-Zach LaVine trade? It’s bad
The Kings haven’t been the same offensively since trading De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs in the deal that brought two-time All-Star Zach LaVine to Sacramento.
The sample size is small. LaVine has only played two games since being thrown into the lineup after missing time with the Chicago Bulls due to the birth of a child, but the offense has clearly struggled, ranking 25th in scoring and 30th in assists.
The Kings (25-26) will try to find some chemistry when they play host to the New Orleans Pelicans (12-39) on Saturday at Golden 1 Center. They have fallen to 10th after losing four of their last five games, so time is of the essence with 31 games remaining.
LaVine had not played since Jan. 27 before being thrown into Sacramento’s starting lineup. He is having one of the best years of his career, but he is still trying to find a rhythm with the Kings.
LaVine averaged 24.0 points while shooting career highs of 51.1% from the field and 44.6% from 3-point range in 42 games with the Bulls. In his first two games with the Kings, he averaged 17.5 points on 37.5% from the field and 23.1% from beyond the arc.
Interim Kings coach Doug Christie said it will take time to integrate LaVine into the lineup with Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis.
“That’s part of what’s going to happen,” Christie said Wednesday after suffering a 130-111 loss to the Orlando Magic in LaVine’s debut. “We have to find our way as a unit. They have to feel Zach out. Zach has to feel them out, but I’m not using any of that as an excuse. There’s a level of energy that we have to make sure we play with even through that process. There is going to be a process, but at the same time there’s a level of intensity we have to have, especially on the defensive end of the floor.”
The Kings were better defensively in Thursday’s loss to the Blazers, but they shot 42% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range.
Sacramento is also adjusting to Monk taking over the point guard position with this departure of Fox, his childhood friend and former Kentucky teammate. Monk is averaging career highs of 18.1 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 44.6% overall and 33% from long distance with 2.1 turnovers per game. In three games as the starting point guard, he has averaged 19.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.3 turnovers while shooting 40.7% from the field and 31.3% from 3-point range.
Here’s where the Kings rank offensively on the season and over the past two games.
Scoring: No. 9 (116.1) | No. 25 (106.5)
Offensive rating: No. 8 (115.1) | No. 25 (109.8)
Field-goal attempts: No. 7 (91.0) | No. 17 (.458)
Field-goal percentage: No. 11 (.473) | No. 17 (.458)
3-point attempts: No. 21 (35.6) | No. 29 (28.5)
3-point percentage: No. 25 (.346) | No. 19 (.351)
Assists: No. 12 (26.7) | No. 30 (22.0)
Turnovers: No. 5 (11.8) | No. 21 (22.0)
Assist-turnover ratio: No. 7 (2.04) | No. 28 (1.47)
Assist percentage: No. 20 (.619) | No. 28 (.571)
Pace: No. 14 (99.90) | No. 24 (96.75)
