The Kings entered Thursday’s contest at Memphis on a seven-game losing streak, but there were reasons to believe the outcome might be different against the slumping Grizzlies, per Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. The Kings had Keegan Murray making his season debut; Memphis was just the second team Sacramento has faced this season that had a losing record; and the Grizzlies were without Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Instead, the Kings were humiliated on Thursday, extending their skid to eight games after being blown out by 41 points. All eight losses has come by double digits.
Veteran wing DeMar DeRozan attempted just three field goals and scored seven points yesterday, Biderman notes. The six-time All-Star is averaging 17.9 points per game, his lowest total in 13 seasons.
“In a s—– place,” DeRozan said when asked about where his team is emotionally. “Don’t nobody want to lose the way we’ve been losing. I think it’s just everything right now for us is just s—–, honestly. Sometimes when you’re in the deep end, it’s hard to hear anything. You’re just trying to swim your way out, one way or another.”
According to Biderman, DeRozan expressed uncertainty about his future with the Kings after their latest defeat. The 36-year-old is earning $24.6MM this season, but his $25.7MM salary for 2026/27 is only partially guaranteed (for $10MM).
“I’m pretty sure everything comes into question when you’re in the situation like we’re in now,” DeRozan said. “That’s another thing that’s frustrating. That’s another thing. Only time will tell. We’ll see.”
As Binderman writes, DeRozan isn’t the only highly-paid scorer on the roster who is unhappy with the team’s performance this season. Zach LaVine had a hot start to the season, averaging 29.5 points over his first five games, but had cooled off lately prior to putting up 26 points on Thursday. The two-time All-Star said the Kings are still trying to discover how to play together, but he knows he has to be aggressive to be successful.
“I’m not my best self when I take eight to 10 shots,” said LaVine, who attempted seven and 10 shots in the two games leading up to Thursday. “I can be as efficient as you want me to be. But if I’m taking eight shots, it’s like, what are we doing? So today I just tried to be a little more aggressive, try to find spots, my teammates (were trying) to find me, which was great.
“But obviously it didn’t result in anything like a win. I’d love to go 4 for 8 and we win. I scored a lot of points in my career. We’re just trying to get a win right now. Gotta go sit on this flight. Got a day tomorrow. Got a game Saturday. Come Saturday, gotta figure it out.
“Only time will tell. It’s hard to say right now. A lot of frustrations from a lot of angles. Still a lot of season left, still a lot that’s in front of us. We gotta fight for something.”
LaVine only played two combined minutes over the previous two fourth quarters heading into Thursday’s game, and both of those losses were within striking distance entering the final period. According to Biderman, the 30-year-old acknowledged he didn’t like being benched, but he recognizes head coach Doug Christie might need to shake things up to get different results.
“I’ll always be a team guy,” LaVine said. “(But) personally, I don’t like it. I’ve never not played in the fourth. But when you’re trying to find a win you do whatever you can, I guess.”
With Sabonis out, you sit your best player for basically the whole of the fourth quarter twice, why?
LaVine has his faults but in terms of scoring he’s him. He’s basically putting up a 50-40-90 so the efficiency isn’t a concern. He can shoot the 3, best his man off the dribble, finish at the rim, offensively as a scorer he’s basically a complete package. Sure he might make some poor decisions, he’s terrible defensively, and he’s not much of a playmaker but he’s great at scoring. You’re not going to win games without Sabonis and sitting LaVine. You can even bring up DeRozan taking away shots if he’s only getting a handful of attempts.
Sacramento needs to do something if not go full rebuild. Paying Murray was stupid after the past 2 years he’d had. Just goes to show how important Harrison Barnes was to this team. I called it at the time trading him will be the end of this light the beam era they’ve had. He was the leader and glue guy and you never replaced him.
Hope Sabonis lands on a good team and LaVine also gets a spot to shine elsewhere.
Bro every post you write a bunch of nonsense. You act like people haven’t watched these same players you keep talking about for year after year. LaVine has been the man on 2 teams and hasn’t done anything with it. DeMar DeRozan is a bench player at this point in his career. So is Russell Westbrook. They are not winning players yet your blaming the team. I’m blaming the team for consistently drafting players and missing on the draft and signing and trading for players to be their top players when they haven’t done anything anywhere else.
You don’t pay a great score like Levine when she’s not even a great score. He’s a decent scorer but he cannot carry your team. A grade scorer would be somebody like Luka.
Team is cooked nobody wants Levine at that price so sabonis is actually a pretty good piece. And we don’t know what Murray is because he is playing with 3 bog hogs and 3 misfit players
What part is nonsense. I said LaVine is a great scorer backed it up with stats and then instead of just overhyping I laid out some of his faults. I’m not saying he’s Luka Doncic. I’m just saying sitting him in winnable games during the 4th quarter makes no sense.
As for DeRozan, sure he could accept a bench role but I still think on the right team he starts. He’s one of the best mid range shooters and has been forever. He can also facilitate the offence but he should be played as a SG not a combo forward.
Then you just fill up with a bunch of waffle before saying Sabonis is a good trade chip and LaVine isn’t because of his contract and sure I actually agree with you there. 50 mil is too much for him and sure he probably knows that too but if your in his position your not turning down that kinda money. I think he likely plays out his deal before deciding where he wants to go in free agency in a year or two.