Ep. 13 of The Kings Beat Podcast and bonus coverage from Friday's Kings practice

Welcome to another episode of The Kings Beat Podcast. A friendly reminder: this is a free preview of soon-to-be premium content. If you want to support original podcasts, features and columns, just like this, make sure to get a premium subscription to The Kings Beat. 

ABC 10's Sean Cunningham and The Kings Beat's James Ham continue the coverage of the erratic Sacramento Kings.

Podcast topics include the team's triple overtime win over the Lakers, the blowout loss to the Grizzlies, whether Marvin Bagley has turned a corner and some thoughts on DeMarcus Cousins' return to the NBA.

In addition to the podcast, I've added some video clips and notes from Friday's practice session as bonus content. There are some interesting tidbits from Richaun Holmes, Tyrese Haliburton and some injury updates from head coach Alvin Gentry.

Thanks for joining us on this new adventure! Big shoutout to Paul Jinkerson for creating a new intro and outro for the podcast.

0:00 - Welcome in to The Kings Beat Podcast

1:00 - Kings go Jekyll and Hyde in their loss to Lakers and win over Clippers

4:30 - Here We Rise, Here We Stay and covering bad Kings teams

9:00 - Coverage in the time of covid

13:55 - Buddy Hield and one of the worst shots in Kings history

26:25 - 3-3 in the Gentry era

30:45 - Fox and a discussion on body language

33:40 - Hield joking with Anthony Davis after loss and issue or no? 

49:30 - What if this is who they are?

57:00 - Terence Davis finds his game

62:00 - Davion Mitchell gets aggressive on offense

68:15: The Business of Basketball: Lockout talk

88:30: Thank you and goodbye

Where to listen to The Kings Beat Podcast 

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn

Feel free to subscribe and leave a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Kings get a practice in

For the first time in a few weeks, the Kings had the opportunity to hit the practice floor on Friday afternoon. You could hear the spirited competition from the waiting area, but when media was allowed in the building, the players were already paired off into small shooting groups.

On the near court, Fox, Haliburton and Mitchell were launching away from the perimeter. All three hitting, which isn't always the case.

On one of the far courts, two-way big man Neemias Queta was with the team and taking turns shooting with Alex Len and Damian Jones. Queta was active for the Kings' battle with the Clippers on Wednesday night, but has yet to make his debut.

When the media session began, Richaun Holmes, Alvin Gentry and Tyrese Haliburton all fielded questions. Holmes' right eye is still red and healing after he took a shot against the 76ers back on Nov. 22. He's gone through post-game media sessions, but this is the first time media has been allowed close enough to see the injury. 

Holmes talked about getting some practice in, the big fall he took against the Clippers and where the team can improve. 

Following Holmes' session, Gentry gave updates on a group of players that have missed time over the last week or so. Harrison Barnes and Marvin Bagley practiced, but neither is a sure thing to play on Saturday in the rematch against the Clippers.

Barnes has a right foot sprain and the team won't force him back early if he's not ready. He spent Thursday practicing with the Stockton Kings and he will go through warm-ups on Saturday before being reassessed, but with the Kings having Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off from games, the best course of action may be to hold him out until Wednesday against the Magic.

Bagley is recovering from a non covid-related illness. He made it through practice, but is still under the weather, making his status for Saturday uncertain.

Lastly, Moe Harkless will miss his fourth straight game with knee soreness. The team is hopeful he'll be able to play on Wednesday.

Haliburton was last to go in the media session and he held court for over seven minutes. The second-year guard was very thoughtful in his responses and fielded questions on a variety of topics.

Haliburton on the culture of the Kings:

Haliburton on the team meeting following the loss to the Lakers:

Haliburton on being more aggressive:

Lastly, I want to thank all of you who made it out to the first Kings Beat Happy Hour. We may have to come up with a more clever name for these events like, "Off the Record with The Kings Beat," but it was a really good time filled with crazy stories and great questions.

If you would like to participate in the next happy hour, jump on as a premium subscriber to The Kings Beat.