The Kings must address this significant weakness if they are to make a deep run in the playoffs this year.
One of the few teams that made the decision to rebuild around their present core and forget about last year’s mistakes is the Sacramento Kings. While some people thought the Kings were lucky to finish third in the Western Conference because their squad was healthy for the most of the season, others thought that the 2022–23 season was only the beginning of a long run of success for the talented group.
With just over 20 games left in the season, the Kings have dropped to seventh place in the West as the All-Star break approaches. Malik Monk will at minimum be a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award, and De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis have both had outstanding seasons. Although they don’t exactly intimidate teams that are currently ahead of them in the standings, their other important rotational components have been reliable.
Even though the Kings defeated the Denver Nuggets in their last game before the All-Star break, their lack of consistency is still a major worry as the postseason draws near. Keeping that in mind, let’s examine Sacramento’s fatal defect in more detail and discover why it can cause them so much trouble in the coming games.
Kings fatal flaw: Inconsistent play from their ancillary pieces
For 80–90% of Sacramento’s games, the Fox and Sabonis combination will be dependable, especially because they find methods to contribute in other areas of the game even when their shots aren’t falling.
However, this becomes an issue when you play against teams like the Nuggets, who will have Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr., or the Los Angeles Clippers, who have Paul George, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard. Sacramento likes to play a run-and-gun brand of basketball in seven-game series, but if their supporting cast isn’t making baskets, they won’t be able to compete for 48 minutes.
As the third star for the Kings this season, Keegan Murray was supposed to make a huge leap, but he hasn’t yet lived up to the hype. Murray is a fantastic three-and-d player, but considering that the Toronto Raptors wanted Murray in the deal when they were rejecting trade bids for Pascal Siakam, they need more from him. Murray will have an opportunity to make amends if the Kings return to the postseason this year, but it was clear that he crumbled under pressure during their playoff series against the Golden State Warriors the previous year.
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“That was huge,” De’Aaron Fox remarked next to Nikola Jokic.
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Murray and Monk will bear the brunt of the secondary scoring opportunities. Although Monk has had spurts of brilliant performances this season, he will need to continue doing so in the most crucial postseason games. Monk has obvious talent and technique, but what will set him apart from the other spitfire scorers off the bench is turning it up a notch when the chips are down.
The Kings’ roster and strategy suggest that offense is their specialty, which is why it is critical that players like Murray and Monk keep developing into complete offensive players. Although both Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter, two starters, have displayed moments of brilliance, the same problem exists with them in that they are not reliable threats.
Though they still have a long way to go before surprising the Nuggets or Clippers in a seven-game playoff series, the Kings might become a club that postseason opponents dread to play against if they can obtain reliable contributions from their backup scorers.
