On Monday night, the Sacramento Kings went out and were competitive against the Denver Nuggets on the road. But in the end, they suffered a 130-124 defeat, sending them to 2-5 on the season. Their offseason signings were very productive; Russell Westbrook put up his best game of the season, dropping 26 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists, and Dennis Schroder added 18 points and nine assists of his own.
On an individual level, there is no doubt that this Kings team has some talent. Domantas Sabonis, the team's max contract star, can fill stat sheets like few others. DeMar DeRozan is a crunch-time assassin, while Zach LaVine thrives on shooting off the bounce while being an athletic threat from all three scoring levels on the court.
But the Kings seemingly have had no regard for proper roster construction when they put this team together. They set out to sign Schroder to a three-year, $45 million contract so they would have a floor general in the wake of trading away De'Aaron Fox. But then they added Westbrook to the mix — with Malik Monk still on the roster. They even drafted a guard in 2024 in Devin Carter, and they still have Keon Ellis on the squad.
Those guards are on the same roster with DeRozan, someone who needs the ball, and LaVine, someone who commands touches. Even Sabonis needs the ball, as he excels in running dribble handoffs against guys who can either go downhill, stop on a dime and pull up for midrange shots like Fox did, or someone who can launch threes quickly off the catch.
This lack of a coherent roster-construction plan is dooming the Kings. Things could get better once Keegan Murray is back. But it's time for them to stop the delusion and start the tank, as ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel suggested.
The Kings' starting lineup does not make sense
The Kings' starting lineup, when healthy, should consist of Schroder, LaVine, DeRozan, Murray, and Sabonis. While that isn't anything groundbreaking, this is at least a more functional and cohesive starting lineup than the one they're rolling with at the moment. Westbrook has been a positive for the Kings, no doubt about it, but this kind of lineup construction won't lead to too many wins.
For starters, there are so many among their current starting five who need the ball to thrive. Schroder has improved his three-point shot, but he's at his best when he can go downhill. DeRozan operates firmly in the midrange, and he doesn't provide much value off the ball considering he's both a low volume and low accuracy three-point shooter.
At the time of writing, he's only shooting 27.3 percent from beyond the arc, which is not ideal for someone whom the team isn't counting on to be their primary ballhandler.
And then there's Sabonis, who's finding himself more and more marginalized in the team's offense. His impact is more muted than ever; through his first five games of the season, he's averaging 14.8 points and 3.8 assists per game, numbers that would be his lowest over an entire season since the 2018-19 campaign (when he wasn't a full-time starter yet) if they hold.
Not getting the best out of Sabonis to accommodate for others seems very counterintuitive for the Kings. They chose to build around Sabonis, especially when they gave him that huge contract extension, and he's under contract until the 2027-28 campaign. They traded Tyrese Haliburton away for him. To see him take a backseat just so Schroder, Westbrook, and DeRozan could get theirs is such a gigantic waste, and a mistake in prioritization.
Sacramento's defense sucks
At the time of writing, the Kings defense ranks 27th in terms of defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions). It was always going to be tricky for the Kings to build an average defense around Sabonis, but their lineup choices have made it impossible. Schroder and Westbrook can contain dribble penetration, with Westbrook able to slide up to guard bigger ballhandlers. But LaVine and DeRozan do not provide much resistance on that end of the floor, and Sabonis' lateral and vertical limitations cap his ceiling on defense.
The Kings' defense ranked 24th during their magical 2022-23 campaign. But their offense ranked first. This year, their offense ranks 18th, so it's not like they've been very good on that end of the floor to warrant starting together players who don't quite work well together.
Ellis and Carter could be better low-usage, defensively-oriented players to put around Sabonis. Murray provides defensive versatility. Maybe Nique Clifford could give something on defense. But the lack of rim protection and soft wing defense will inevitably lead to disaster for the Kings.
Clogged backcourt — time to use the plunger
Again, the Kings have Schroder, Westbrook, Monk, Ellis, and Carter fighting for minutes in the backcourt. No team needs these many viable rotation players in the backcourt. Meanwhile, they have so many question marks on the wings, while their center depth is downright atrocious.
It makes sense why the Kings wanted to move on from Monk and Carter as they looked to bring in Jonathan Kuminga over the offseason. They even wanted to move Monk in the sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons for Schroder.
Sacramento should revisit the trade market to start unclogging the logjam they have in the backcourt.
Stop the denial and start tanking
Unlike other more pitiful teams (such as the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns), these Kings own all their future first-round picks. This should at least give them the freedom to tank. But under this ownership group, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to some of the moves they make. This is a shame considering how it seemed as though they were figuring it out in 2022 and 2023, only for everything to come undone at the seams.
All the Kings have to worry about is a pick swap with the San Antonio Spurs (Why in the world do the Spurs own swap rights even though they were the team to acquire Fox? How does that make sense?) in 2031.
Alas, just how much interest will there be in the Kings' best players? Sabonis' limitations as a star are very clear. DeRozan can be a welcome acquisition for a team in need of a scoring boost, but his lack of floor-spacing utility requires teams to construct a specific team to accommodate him without sacrificing quality NBA basketball.
LaVine's contract scared so many teams off that the Chicago Bulls must be relieved to have him off their books. Schroder recently signed a new deal. Westbrook is not a very hot commodity in the NBA even though he's still productive, if his prolonged stay in free agency is any indication. The Kings failed to trade Monk over the offseason even though he was very much available.
Sure, the Kings must blow it up and tank. But is there even a realistic pathway for them to do so? Suffice to say, Sacramento is stuck in mediocrity, for better or for worse — which, sadly, seems like where this front office wants this team to be.
