Kings Report

The emotional roller coaster has begun! If there is one thing we’ve learned in the first week of the NBA season, it’s that the Sacramento Kings can play at least half of a game of good basketball. And for a team with such low expectations, maybe that’s not so bad. The Kings started off the season with 71 points in the first half of the first game against the Phoenix Suns, only to blow their 20-point lead and lose the game 116-120.

I was at the Kings’ home opener against the Utah Jazz on Friday, October 24th—and I couldn’t have picked a better game to attend. The night started with a surprise: Domantas Sabonis returned from injury a game earlier than expected. With all the guards on Sacramento’s roster, his presence was crucial against a big team like Utah. The game came down to the wire, and Sabonis came up huge—scoring off an offensive rebound with six seconds left to give the Kings a 105–104 win. It was their first home opener victory at Golden 1 Center in front of fans; the only other time they’d won a home opener there was during the COVID season, when the arena was empty. But this arena was far from empty, the crowd was loud and proud and ready to watch our newest addition, Russell Westbrook, light the beam.

Two nights later, the Kings stayed home to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, October 26th. The Lakers were without Luka Dončić and LeBron James, but they were hardly missed—Austin Reaves scored a career-high 51 points to go with 11 rebounds, nine assists, and two steals. He also set a record for the most free throws ever made against the Kings with 21. In fact, Reaves alone shot more free throws than the entire Kings team, who managed just 18 attempts. How does that even happen? With the Lakers missing their stars, it felt like the refs decided Reaves deserved every whistle in California. Maybe someone had a little too much money riding on the Lakers that night... Either way, Sacramento came up short, 127–120.

After the loss to the Lakers, the Kings hit the road to face the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, October 28th. For the first 45 minutes, Sacramento actually played some of its best basketball of the young season. New addition Russell Westbrook got the start in place of the still-absent Keegan Murray, and the Kings kept pace with the defending champs deep into the fourth quarter. But things unraveled late—they managed just four points over the final six minutes as the Thunder pulled away. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was brilliant as usual, and he only took two free throws. It was refreshing to actually see players play basketball instead of just standing at the line all night. The Kings fell 101–107.

We’ve started the season 1–3 — four games, four different starting lineups. We’ve seen some bright spots, but so far, it hasn’t been enough to pull out the wins. Up next: the Kings continue their road trip to play the Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, October 29th, then head to face the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, November 1st, followed by a matchup with the Denver Nuggets on Monday, November 3rd. After that, they’ll return home to host the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, November 5th, for the first game of a five-game homestand. Hopefully, we’ll have lit the beam at least a few times before then. Go Kings!