On Wednesday evening, the Sacramento Kings dropped to an abysmal record of 5-14 with an uninspiring home loss to the Phoenix Suns. The Kings have been a strange team so far this year, beating the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, but not finding much success against anyone else.

At one point during the game on Wednesday, a verbal altercation between Kings guard Zach LaVine and a fan went viral, with the fan ultimately being thrown out of the game.

After the game, LaVine appeared to be fully checked out in his media availability.

“You guys can say all you want to about effort. We play as hard as we can. We're in here exhausted, so I don't know,” said LaVine, per James Ham of ESPN 1320 Sacramento on X, formerly Twitter.

Overall, it's been a disastrous season for the Kings so far, something that many fans saw coming before the season even started. The Kings have essentially constructed an older, worse version of the 2022 Chicago Bulls, a team that flamed out in the first round of the playoffs in five games, and are now mired in trade rumors as the season wears on.

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It remains to be seen what kind of market exists for aging players like LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, or even big man Domantas Sabonis, whose deficiencies as a rim protector and floor spacer are well-documented by this point in his career.

The Kings aren't exactly brimming with young talent either, as players like Keon Ellis aren't even seeing many minutes in head coach Doug Christie's rotation.

Overall, things have been better in Sacramento, and that's saying something, considering the franchise doesn't have an abundance of glory days to choose from, especially not recently.

The Kings will next take the floor on Friday evening on the road against the Utah Jazz.