SportsKings Report

Kings Report – 2/12

The Kings’ record losing streak, rookie development, and hopes beyond this season.

Tessa Jordan

February 12, 2026

It’s official. After an absolutely horrendous loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Sacramento Kings are not only the worst team in the league, but also the worst Sacramento Kings team in history. No Sacramento Kings team has ever lost 13 games in a row. We aren’t yet close to the NBA record of 28 consecutive losses, a distinction currently shared by the Detroit Pistons (2023–24) and the Philadelphia 76ers (2014–15 and 2015-16). But hey, there’s still plenty of season left if we really want to make history. And being reminded just how bad the Detroit Pistons were only two years ago gives me some hope for the future.

The Kings, besides that glorious year where we were third in the Western Conference that we can’t stop talking about, have spent the last few years as the top of the bottom. Not quite horrible, but good enough to sneak into the play-in tournament (not to win it), and definitely not good enough to make the playoffs. This team, however, is just flat-out bad. The funny thing is, though, that even as I write that, I think about how close they come to winning sometimes, and it makes me wonder how thin the line is between bad and okay. We have this loss against the Pelicans, in which the Kings hit 4 of 31 three-pointers and lost by 26 points, but just the game before, the Kings kept up with the 4th place in the East Cleveland Cavaliers. They do say that sometimes things have to get worse in order to get better.

At least now that the trade deadline has passed (and the Kings didn’t make any more moves), we don’t have to keep pretending that leaning on our veterans is the answer, because it looks even more pathetic when we lose. Watching rookie Nique Clifford score 30 points against the Cavaliers and lose is more exciting than watching a veteran do the same thing. Speaking of rookies performing well, Maxime Raynaud posted a whopping 19 rebounds along with 21 points in the game against the Pelicans. If we’re going to lose, I’d rather lose while watching young players learn, grow, and figure it out. And hopefully, in the next couple of years, this can become a cohesive team.

This week, we’ve got the All-Star break, so naturally, the Kings players are getting a break too, because we have exactly zero players competing in any events this weekend. So I’m going to take this opportunity to take a break as well. I’ll be back the following week, hopefully reporting on more Kings rookies making the most of their minutes. Because this season might not be about wins anymore, even if a few of those would still feel nice. Go Kings.

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