The 2025-26 NBA season is about to begin, and the Sacramento Kings are once again looking to join the postseason party in the Western Conference. Alas, not too many are bullish on the Kings' chances of making the playoffs once more. Domantas Sabonis will miss the start of the season due to an injury and so will Keegan Murray. Moreover, fans aren't very optimistic about the team's mishmash of talent that was made all the more complicated by the addition of Russell Westbrook.
Nonetheless, veteran star DeMar DeRozan is simply using all that doubt towards the Kings as fuel, with the 36-year-old raring to prove everyone wrong.
“You got to find fuel wherever you can find it. That's definitely one of them. To see those bullsh*t list they put out there, you definitely gotta be fueled off that, without a doubt,” DeRozan said, via Kevin John of NBC 10. “Everybody else got to take that personally too.”
DeMar DeRozan says he’s fueled by everyone sleeping on the Kings
"To see those bullsh*t list they put out there, you definitely gotta be fueled off that, without a doubt."
(🎥 @heykevinjohn )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 20, 2025
It's not quite clear what specific list DeRozan is referring to, but it's clear that the NBA world is not too keen on the Kings' chances of competing, especially in the loaded Western Conference.
Sabonis' injury puts the Kings frontcourt at such a tough position; it looks like one of Drew Eubanks or Dario Saric will start the season as the team's starting center. Suffice to say, that is not a very appealing situation.
Moreover, there is a huge logjam in the Kings backcourt; Westbrook will have to share the ball with the likes of Malik Monk and Dennis Schroder. Zach LaVine will need his touches. DeRozan is at his best when the ball is at his hands as well.
The current Kings roster looks like something a mad scientist decided to cook up, although it looks like DeRozan will be trying his hardest to make this hodgepodge work.
Can the Kings make sense of their current roster?
Head coach Doug Christie is about to have his work cut out for him. He has plenty of players at his disposal that need the basketball, and they don't have much in the way of floor-spacing. LaVine and Monk are good three-point shooters, but Schroder, Westbrook, and DeRozan aren't. This will make for some very odd lineup decisions from Christie, especially with Murray and Sabonis on the mend.
There is a chance that the Kings even finish last in the Pacific Division even amid the Phoenix Suns' soft reset. This roster has the potential to be very dysfunctional, and only time will tell if they're capable of making sense of this odd collection of talent.
