The Sacramento Kings are continuing to fall on hard times. After a magical 2022-23 season, where they ended a 17-year playoff drought and showcased a very promising first-round performance against the then-defending champion Golden State Warriors, they have steadily declined. In 2023-24, they underwhelmed in the regular season and missed the playoffs after getting upset by the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in game. This 2024-25, they appear to take another step backwards despite all the new hype.

The team stands at a terrible 13-17 record through 30 games, ranked 12th in the Western Conference. Gone are the excitement from their previous campaigns as there are no significant improvements from any key areas – the “Light the Beam” battlecry is also getting stale. The top-ranked offense in ‘22-23 is now 10th, which would’ve been fine if they converted it to better defense, but they didn’t. Their jump from 25th to 17th in points allowed isn’t moving the needle as they even moved from 14th to 16th in defensive rating from a season ago, which was when they played lukewarm instead of scorching hot.

Note that this is on top of the group being led by arguably one of the most intriguing trios in the league: De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and prized off-season acquisition DeMar DeRozan. Sabonis is an all-around big man that stuffs the statsheet as he can find the open man and flex his rebounding prowess in the paint; Fox and DeRozan, meanwhile, are scoring machines that have proven to have a special knack in clutch situations – the former even won the inaugural NBA Clutch Player of the Year in 2023.

Nevertheless, here’s how they’ve looked lately:

While it’s worth considering that it’s on the second night of a back-to-back, Friday’s ugly defeat has mirrored what the Kings are: complacent and uninspired. It appears that the coaching staff and the team are still living off the ‘22-23 run, and have grown to be too trusting that their offensive weapons can come through at any point in the game, which is probably why their opponents are either running past them in a blowout, or edging them out in clutch situations. The guys are always just waiting for Fox, Sabonis, DeRozan, or perhaps Monk to save the day, instead of grinding it out early so the latter parts can be more simple.

The 103-99 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers this past Saturday, prior to the Indy rout, added an “L” to the Kings’ list of close game shortcomings:

As per usual, with such struggles, rumors of guys being shopped or asking for trades are in the air. Because he’s there the longest and has endured all the front office’s mistakes, reports say that it’s Fox who might go.

The 27-year-old is in his eighth year in Sacramento, and has stood as its leading scorer, playmaker, and ballhawk over the last six seasons.

Some say that if someone should go, it has to be newbie King DeRozan. The 35-year-old is on quite a cold spell, and is averaging 8.0 points per game on a combined 5-for-30 shooting over his last three games. He’ll be right on track soon, but there’s belief that ultimately, he and Fox aren’t a good fit, particularly due to the lack of defense from both sides.

Anyhow, the Kings play the Detroit Pistons next this coming Saturday, December 28th (Manila time). It’ll be a good opportunity to get back on the win column.