The NBA is taking a closer look at the Kings for a play that took place during the fourth quarter of the team’s loss to Golden State on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater.
Leading by one point with 3:15 left in the game, head coach Doug Christie instructed his team to intentionally foul sharpshooter Seth Curry off the ball, despite the fact that Sacramento was already in the bonus. The play gave Curry, an 86.4% career free throw shooter, two attempts at the line.
Warriors forward Draymond Green suggested in his post-game remarks that it was the behavior of a blatantly tanking team, but Kings sources insist to Slater that it was a strategic mistake by Christie, who didn’t realize his team was already in the penalty. According to those sources, Christie wanted the chance to call a timeout that he would have automatically lost once the clock ticked below the three-minute mark.
For what it’s worth, Curry made just one of his two foul shots and the Kings retook the lead on a Doug McDermott three-pointer on the ensuing possession, so the play wasn’t the reason why Sacramento lost. Additionally, Christie has spoken out against tanking and had backed up those words by leading the Kings to seven wins in their past 15 games entering Tuesday’s contest in Golden State.
We have more on the Kings:
- Sacramento’s recent near-.500 stretch has had lottery ramifications. The Kings had the NBA’s worst record a month ago but are now tied with Utah for the fourth-worst mark in the league, notes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. While Sacramento’s odds at a top-four pick won’t be substantially lower if that’s how the season ends, the club would be at risk of falling as far as No. 8 or No. 9 in the draft in an unfavorable lottery outcome, whereas the NBA’s worst team won’t pick lower than fifth.
- Before sitting out Tuesday’s game due to hamstring soreness, DeMar DeRozan surpassed another NBA legend on the league’s all-time scoring list on Sunday. The veteran wing scored the 26,711th point of his 17-year career, moving past Oscar Robertson for 16th place in NBA history, notes James Ham of The Kings Beat (Twitter link). Next up for DeRozan? Hakeem Olajuwon at 26,946 career points, though catching the former Rockets star will have to wait for next season.
- Keith Smith of Spotrac previews the Kings’ upcoming offseason, suggesting that reducing payroll and committing to a full-fledged rebuild should be atop the club’s to-do list. DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk, and De’Andre Hunter should all be trade candidates, Smith suggests. Zach LaVine is also on that list but will be difficult to move, assuming he exercises his $49MM player option, which seems like a pretty safe bet.
It was wild that they fouled Seth Curry lol … like, Draymond would’ve been the better target.
They didn’t realize they were in the Penalty. It wouldn’t matter who they fouled in that case.
This is an example of Christie being the worst coach in the league, rather than intentionally trying to throw the game. Christie is so bad they’d probably win more games if they tried that.
How does he and the coaching staff he relies upon not know they’re in the penalty?
Seem strange to me, but I guess those things happen once in a while.
Because these are likely his final games as a head coach. He’s been checked out since the deadline.
Not at all true. The rookies were just talking about how much his coaching helped them develop. He seems to have actually kept the team fairly positive in spite of how bad they have been. I think he is actually a decent coach for a young team. Probably not the guy you want to coach a bunch of older vets that all play the same position and have similar skill sets. I think he is more of a motivator than someone that can scheme a flawed roster to success at this point.
Christie and Brian Keefe are far and away the worst two coaches in the NBA. The bar for an NBA coach is so much higher than “motivator”.
Also the rookies on the Kings all suck and have barely developed. Devin Carter & Nique Clifford have given them nothing. It’s just lip service that they’d say about whomever their coach was.
Raynaud & Cardwell have been okay but also were defaulted a bunch of minutes due to Sabonis/Murray missing most of the year.
They don’t have an identity on either end of the court. They were TRYING to win games this year with a veteran roster and are 29th in Net Rating. DeRozan has played 77 games and 31 MPG. They have not been tanking. They are just that bad.
Keon Ellis is thriving right now for a playoff team while he couldn’t even get into Christie’s 21-win rotation.
They didn’t even start playing Devin Carter until four months into the season because Christie handed the team over to Westbrook from the moment he got signed.
Popovich in his prime wouldn’t have won 30 games with this roster. Carter should have probably played earlier in the year but he was bad and the Kings entire team was 2 guards that can’t shoot 3s. Nique and Raynaud weren’t early picks and they were never going to lead a team in their first year but they are playing better and look like NBA players. Playing Cardwell was probably out of desperation but he looks like a rotational player that I don’t think another coach would have given a chance.
This is all on Scott Perry. He didn’t want Keon but didn’t trade him. Traded Valunciunas for a small amount of cap space when he could have kept him or gotten something of value. He then used all of the cap space he opened up to sign Dennis Schroeder of all people and followed that up less than a week later with Weatbrook. Then after the season was cooked cut his losses by taking on even more salary when he took on the Deandre Hunter contract.
What is any coach that is basically on a one year “prove it” deal supposed to do?
“Popovich in his prime wouldn’t have won 30 games with this roster.”
Popovich outside of his prime took DeRozan and flotsam vets to 32-33 wins.
“What is any coach that is basically on a one year “prove it” deal supposed to do?”
Show more. Jordi Fernandez did it. Will Hardy did it. Jordan Ott’s done it. Christie is tactically the worst coach in the NBA and it’s not particularly close. He has a lot more talent on his team than Brian Keefe does in WAS.
This team won 40 games last year and they came out of the gate 3-13 BEFORE all the injuries struck. Sabonis had his worst season in years because they stopped running offense through him… predominantly because Christie couldn’t be bothered to rein anyone in and was content to just let a bunch of guards chuck away.
DeRozan was in his prime. He is hall of famer. There was also more talent on that team and a roster that made more sense than this.
Will Hardy won 17 games last year and 21 this year and he is the shining example of the coach you want. Also, he has been coaching for 4 years.
Christie was the coach for the majority of those 40 games that they won last year and had a better record than Brown.
Sabonis wasnt good under Brown or Christie last year and played like 20 games this season all together. He could have had a better plan day 1 but it would have blown up in his face anyway because Sabonis hasn’t played all year.
Will Hardy is far ahead of Christie as a coach. Wins don’t define a coach, its what they do with the roster they have.
Christie hasn’t gotten the best out of anyone on the roster since becoming head coach. No game plan on either end, no development plan. Just rah rah platitudes that don’t work on 30-year olds.
It’s not really a great sign that he was 27-24 picking up for Brown and then 21-59 with the same roster after running his own camp. It’s not about the record, its about how they’re getting there.
And a big reason he got the job in the first place is because he’s a company man and Vivek loves that stuff. But as terrible of an owner as he is, he does actually want to win and Christie won’t help you win nor help the young players develop enough. He’s not the main problem, but it’s time for another fall guy to fall.
Plus, even if you wanted to stick with his mold of coach, you might as well throw a big contract Thibs way (though I doubt he’d take the job in the first place).
More or less the same as forgetting you’re out of timeouts. Erik Spoelstra had a major gaffe earlier this year, I forget if that was it.
EDIT: Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made a significant mental error on November 12, 2024, by calling a timeout with 1.1 seconds left in overtime against the Detroit Pistons when the team had none remaining. This resulted in a technical foul, allowing the Pistons to win 123-121 on an opening night NBA Cup game
If the best coach in the NBA can make a blunder, the worst coach certainly can as well.
Kangs keep on Kangin’!
A commitment to sucking.
Congratulations DeM DeR 👏.
The Big O is a top 10 all time player. A GOAT.
14 yrs — 26 pts, 7.5 rebounds, 9.5 ast …. For career
My top 10 all-time
1. Steph
2. Wilt
3. MJ
4. Kareem
5. Shaq
6. Joker
7. Duncan
8. Kobe
9. Lebron
10. Magic
1. Wilt
2. Russel
3. Bird
4. Jordan
5. Kareem
6. Magic
7. LeBron
8. Kobe
9. Curry
10. Shaq or Robertson
11. Duncan
Jokic shouldn’t be in any top 10
@Luke
Wrong
link to basketball-reference.com
Jokic is playing in the stat pad, zero defense and zero dribbling era. It’s easy to pile on stats.
That link means absolutely nothing. Fake crap
Imagine Jokic with more talent, 100 percent givrn, more desire, smarts and more championships. That’s Bird
Jordan never beat Bird
What has jokic done other than triple doubles?
Anyone who has Wilt top 10 is uninformed on every level
You must be trolling. You have to be. If you are serious then you lose all credibility
He’s a hater. Doesn’t care about the NBA.
Lmaoooo you’ve adopted the vernacular of Davey’s funky bunch. Do I not know ball either big guy?
You’d leave babe Ruth off a top 10, right? No Gretzky, no Jim Brown. Correct?
I can be convinced that someone can view him as maybe 8-10 but anything higher is ridiculous. I don’t buy into judging these things by generational time stamps. The exact same reason why it would be completely insane to put Babe Ruth that high on an all time list.
Give me four oe eight players better than Wilt… I’ll wait. Wilt could do everything while being the best athlete the nba has ever seen
That’s the equivalent of saying Babe Ruth isn’t in baseball’s top 10.
Top ten is tough man. Too many bigs lol.
Magic, Kareem, Bron, Dr J, MJ, Big O, West, Bird, Wilt, KD.
Al you said “too many bigs” then left out Curry? Cmon man.
A team isn’t three centers or two centers to me. I believe a top should make a top NBA team. S I pick my players based on that . And Curry is not top 10. West is a better player. He played both ways. And didn’t have the 3 pt shot. Not sure about Curry yet. He is top 15 or 20 for me.
12. West
Luke, you think Larry Bird is #3 all-time but Curry has more WAR, rings, all-NBA teams and scoring titles than him? Curious!
Look above
It is baffling to me that Sacramento can’t even be a terrible team the correct way. Save their best ball just to get OUT of the top draft odds.
Trying to win games so hard that it looks like you’re throwing them is next level dumbassery and I would expect nothing less from my favorite team.
Yeah but they were playing the end of bench against Warriors. Almost got it.
They are tied for 4th right now. With three games to go. I feel strong hunch Silver will give Pacers 5th pick.
If you look at worst teams. I see Wash, Bklyn, Sac getting top pick this yr. Just a hunch. What you want is top 3 pick. Trust me top 5 is an excellent pick. AJ, Peterson, Boozer, Caleb, Acuff. Imo all 5 have star potential. Just the positional fit for your team. I think Wiz will take Boozer.
Almost had the Warriors which is the funniest part of Draymonds little tirade. Warriors are 4-11 over their last 15 games. The Kings are 7-8. You tell me which team is tanking LMAO
That’s funny lol. It was still crazy to foul a Curry man. Wow man Kings shouldn’t be winning. Didn’t know that.
The only reason why the Kings were even in the game to begin with was Kerr playing 4 undersized guards at the same time for a very long time, with the worst player on the team given 41 minutes to put up a -5 in a win, aka “he stunk and they won in spite of him”.
Both teams are trying to lose
Yeah but Kings shouldn’t even be trying to win.
KINGS ROSTER HEADING INTO OFFSEASON
ALL-STAR (85-89)
85/C Domantas Sabonis (46.8M + 49.9M)
85/SF DeMar DeRozan (25.7M / 10M Guaranteed)
Outside of CHI (Giddey) the Kings have the worst top-end in the NBA. Sabonis is paid like an All-NBA guy and was nowhere close to that level this season. DeRozan will either be waived or traded due to his contract structure.
STARTER (80-84)
83/SG Zach LaVine (49.0M Player Option Exercised)
82/PG Russell Westbrook (UFA)
80/SG Malik Monk (20.2M + 21.6M Player Option Likely Exercised)
The Kings have 70M owed to their SG position, which is partly why they have to target lower end guys like Schroder & Westbrook for the PG position. Maybe they can balance the roster by flipping LaVine’s expiring into someone like Ja Morant, who’s contract runs one year longer..
QUALITY ROLE (78-79) – Above VM
79/PF Keegan Murray (24.1M + 26.1M + 28.0M + 29.9M + 31.2M)
79/C Maxime Raynaud (2.2M + 2.5M)
79/PF Precious Achiuwa (UFA)
79/SF De’Andre Hunter (24.9M)
SAC has 50M committed to two wings really aren’t really PFs. Keegan is bad money if he doesn’t recapture his form, but he probably looks better on a playoff team. SAC is one of the few teams that should probably be pursuing Paul George (54M+58M) if they can get picks out of PHI.
Achiuwa is likely worth a Yabusele level contract (after not getting one last offseason) and is a reasonable handcuff to a Sabonis/Raynaud center group.
Transitioning Sabonis back to PF and finding a real rim protector at C is also an option.
ROLE PLAYER (75-77) – Vet Min Range
76/PG Devin Carter (5.2M + 7.4M Fourth Year Option Likely Declined)
75/SG Nique Clifford (3.5M + 3.7M + 4.1M)
75/C Dylan Cardwell (2.2M + 2.5M + 2.7M)
Low ceiling youth filling out the roster.
RESERVE (70-74)
74/C Drew Eubanks (UFA)
73/SF Daeqwon Plowden (RFA-2W)
73/PG Killian Hayes (3.0M Team Option / Non-Guaranteed)
72/PF Doug McDermott (UFA)
72/PF Patrick Baldwin Jr (RFW-2W)
71/PG Isaiah Stevens (RFA-2W)
Plowden is probably the only one who’ll be back (on a Standard / Non-Guarantee). Everyone else probably out of the league.
Hayes’ Team Option is mainly so he can be tradable salary at the draft.
OFFSEASON DEPTH CHART (9)
PG: Devin Carter
SG: Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, Nique Clifford
SF: De’Andre Hunter
PF: Keegan Murray
C: Domantas Sabonis, Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell
DRAFT PICKS (3)
FRP: 5th (Projected)
SRP: 35th, 44th (CHA)
UFA: Russell Westbrook, Precious Achiuwa, Doug McDermott, Drew Eubanks
NGC: DeMar DeRozan, Killian Hayes
RFA: Daeqwon Plowden (2W), Patrick Baldwin Jr, Isaiah Stevens (2W)
11 Roster Spots (9 Standard + #5 and #35)
FA replacement for Westbrook
FA replacement for DeRozan
FA replacement for Achiuwa (or re-sign)
That gets it up to 14
EXCELLENT !!!!! Thank you.
Didn’t mention the cap figures:
SAC is on the books for an estimated 216.2M next season. They are EXPENSIVE. They have 206.7M in Player salaries, and then an estimated 9.5M to their lottery pick. They are well above the salary cap, estimated at 165M.
They can shave 16M by waiving DeRozan. That would bring them down to 200M, albeit with multiple roster spots needing to be filled.
The tax is projected to be 201M, and the First Apron projects to be 209M. They will need to dump a contract in order to duck those.
All told the Kings have the worst future out of all 30 NBA teams (plus the two incoming expansion teams). They will need another 1-2 years to actually dig themselves out of this roster.
The LaVine deal haunts my dreams every night. I imagine they try to sell low on Sabonis/Monk/Murray just to get them off the books. Gonna have to just eat the LaVine money unless he convinces some poor FO to give him a shot. I would actually be a big fan of just cutting LaVine and eating the dead money this year so that his blackhole style of offense doesn’t disrupt or derail the potential of whoever they draft.
Christie also has to go. I don’t think people realize just how much of a Vivek puppet he is. Every Kings employee is a Vivek puppet on some level but Christie will say things in pressers that he immediately goes against in the following game, then come and say the exact opposite of what he had said 3 days prior. When the whole tanking thing started getting loud around the league, Christie felt the need to come out and say that he and the Kings are absolutely against tanking. Why? Why say anything? Nobody thinks they are tanking. They all know the Kings just suck. But gotta say something to the media that makes it look like the Kings and Vivek have too much honor to be bad on purpose. More than fine with being terrible on accident though.
This next draft might make or break me. The NBA needs fans in Las Vegas and I need to enjoy watching basketball. Please do not force my hand Vivek.
If Demar scores 236 points, (2 games left), he surpasses Olajuwon this season.
Could it be? (DeMar is a great scorer)
Could DeMar concert his energy in a due moment, the last game of the season, and focus integrally his mind, soul and body?
Could he meditate (in a resemblance to Phil Jackson’s zen meditations with the Lakers in the first moments with the Lakers’ first championship season, to elevate his abilities?
Could he ascend to a new state of inspiration that will put him in history while breaking Chamberlain’s record of points in a game?
He has to average 118.0 ppg in the remaining games to surpass Olajuwon.
Julian, are you drinking that mushroom coffee again? Just kidding bro giving you a hard time.
Hahahahha it’s somewhat late here in Arg and I’m awake, my head started short-circuiting 😂😂 thanks for the good vibes Gary!
Always bud 💪🏻💪🏻
The skeptics say it’s impossible because it’s never been done before. The realists say it’s only a matter of time.
Challenge me
Doubt me
Disrespect me
Tell me I’m older
Tell me I’m slower
Tell me I can no longer fly
I want you to
(DeMar DeRozan – #10 Kings)
Original quote is an actual MJ commercial. Beyond the fun/jokes, there a lot of MJs commercials and quotes, that are really inspiring and have great motivating messages.
Yup and Kobe too. Love it.
Unironically very close to the statement he made in the preseason when being asked about the disbelief around the league that the Kings could be competitive this season
For my Wagoneers who just love to hate on JK.
Against Cavs 30 mins, 24 pts, 6 rebounds, 3 ast.
Yeah but what about the previous game vs your Knicks?
22 mins, 5 pts, 5 rebounds, 2 ast, -2
They lost both games too.
He’s still banged up. Hasn’t played consistently since the trade. But when he’s gotten mins. Mostly plays well. I don’t think Hawks will bring him back. They have two great picks coming. Either trade him or not resign him. Could be a FA.
GSW is better off with KP than JK.
I agree if you can guarantee 65 gms. . Hasn’t happened in over 5 yrs I believe.
4/8/26 — with 3 gms to go in season ..
Wizards — 17 – 62
Pacers — 18 – 61
Nets — 20 – 59
Jazz — 21 – 59
Kings — 21 – 59
Just my opinion. I think Nets, Wizards, Kings one of them gets top pick. Those are top three. I hope they are anyway.
Indiana deserves nothing for their horrible effort