NThe Sacramento Kings start to the 2023-24 NBA season is not what Kings fans expected, especially their team's Cinderella run last year. Sacramento is just 3-4 to begin the campaign and currently sits at 9th in the Western Conference standings.

Nonetheless, the Kings' sluggish start could be attributed to injuries. De'Aaron Fox, who has averaged 31.3 points per game, has only appeared in three games so far. He suffered a sprained right ankle during their game against the Los Angeles Lakers a couple of weeks ago and has been sidelined since.

Apart from Fox's injury, the Kings have also seen a massive drop-off offensively. Sacramento put together the best offense ever recorded in the history of the NBA last season. Now, they are down to 19th in the league in offensive rating. Fox's absence may have something to do with that. But many of the Kings' other players are also struggling with their shot out of the gates. That includes Malik Monk, whose shooting percentage is down to 39.0 percent after he shot nearly 45 percent a season ago.

Despite Monk's shooting woes, he still remains one of the pleasant early-season surprises for the Kings this season. And that is due to his improved playmaking.

Kings most pleasant surprise this season: Malik Monk's playmaking

Sacramento Kings fans are probably not shocked with this development. Monk averaged nearly four assists per game last season as the lead playmaker of the Kings' second unit. Nonetheless, his improvement in that department this season is still pretty remarkable, considering he fills a hole Sacramento needs, especially off the bench.

The Kings don't really have a true point guard to back up De'Aaron Fox. Davion Mitchell isn't necessarily in the mold of a playmaking type of guard. Monk isn't particularly one, either, as he is more known for his scoring prowess and athleticism. Still, the 25-year-old has proven since last season that he is capable of creating plays, not just for himself, but for his teammates as well.

On the season, Monk is averaging 5.3 assists per game, which is well above his career mark of 2.6. His assist percentage is also up to 36.6 percent from 25.0 percent last season.

Part of his uptick in dimes could be due to Fox's absence. Part of it is also his increase in usage rate, which is up from 25.8 percent a season ago to 28.5 percent this year. In fact, Monk has the highest usage among all Kings not on the injured list (Fox is still No. 1). Yes, he has a higher usage than Domantas Sabonis.

Still, it's great to see him step up and embrace the added responsibilities as a playmaker, which makes him a more dynamic offensive player.

Monk's assists have gone most to JaVale McGee. He is averaging 1.3 dimes per game to the veteran big man. The second-most goes to Sasha Vezenkov, the reigning EuroLeague MVP who signed with Sacramento during the summer. These indicate that most of Monk's playmaking impact still happens in the second unit.

This should bode well for the Kings for the rest of the season as this suggests that Monk is developing great rapport with his running mates off the bench.

The Sacramento Kings may be struggling to begin the 2023-24 NBA season. But Malik Monk's playmaking is trending in the positive direction, which could make them an even deadlier offense when De'Aaron Fox comes back.