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Welcome in to your morning cup of Kings. Game coverage took a back seat Thursday night, following the Kings’ 133-123 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

18-year NBA veteran Russell Westbrook came to the press conference room with his own agenda. What started as a typical Q&A session quickly morphed into something different as the future Hall of Fame player made the decision to take local Sacramento media members to task over the coverage of the team.

For context, the entire six minute clip is worth a listen.

Westbrook never spoke of specifics, just global grievances of how a 14-50 team is currently being covered. There were plenty of awkward moments as Westbrook went at specific members of the media.

He even turned to me personally at one point, which is fine. I’ve survived a few of these moments in the past and I’m more than willing to defend my record as a writer, podcaster and radio personality.

This also isn’t the first time Westbrook has had run-ins with media during his long and illustrious career. It’s actually a normal occurrence for Westbrook during his stops around the league. He also isn’t the only Kings player who has taken exception to coverage of the team, be it this season or over the last 16 years I have covered the Kings.

Plenty has been said about the 2025-26 Sacramento Kings, most of it negative as the team went from a feel good story three seasons ago to the worst team in the league in what seems like the blink of an eye.

It is hard to avoid going to dark places with coverage as the franchise ventures from one loss to the next. Telling the story of a squad that currently sits 36 games under .500 isn’t easy. Finding positives while being intellectually honest is not simple and also not always appropriate.

As media, this shouldn’t get personal, but it is human nature to let frustrations out now and then, especially when most games feel like a broken record skipping back to a similar part of a bad tune.

From a personal standpoint, I make it a requirement to go into the locker room each and every night during pregame. It is part of being accountable as a journalist to ensure that if a player has a problem with what I say on one of the many platforms that I produce content on, they can have a conversation, on the record or off the record, to clear the air.

During the course of my career, I have had plenty of players and coaches use this time to have a conversation. They are usually extremely productive moments as we gain a better understanding of each others’ positions.

Once or twice these discussions have turned heated, but that is to be expected, and again, those circumstances are rare.

With 18 games remaining on the schedule and the Kings sitting at the bottom of the NBA standings, this might be the last of the drama, at least for this year. The losing takes a toll on everyone involved. Remaining objective and honest is crucial. Sometimes that means saying things that players, coaches, general managers and owners don’t like.

Following the game, I discussed the topic from the arena on the latest episode of the Locked On Kings podcast:

Someone had to win. In a game that featured All-Star game level defense for long stretches, the Kings and Pelicans at least gave the fans an entertaining night out. In the end, it was the Pelicans who came out on top, beating the Kings 133-123. Here are six quick thoughts:

🏀 1.  On a roll. Precious Achiuwa is turning into a monster down the stretch of the season, auditioning for all 30 NBA teams. The 26-year-old scored 29 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, blocked 2 shots and added a steal. He's playing extremely well.

🏀 2. Not ready to hand it off. Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan took every shot for the Kings for the first five minutes of the game. They settled in eventually with Westbrook posting 17 points to go with 10 assists, and DeRozan dropping in 15 points and 2 rebounds. 

🏀 3. Rookie battle. Maxime Raynaud and Derik Queen are the top two centers so far from the 2025 NBA Draft and they had a nice battle. Raynaud scored 10 points and grabbed 5 boards. Queen went for 12 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Solid performance from both young bigs.

🏀 4. Standard night. Malik Monk continues to do his thing every time he steps on the court. He might not know half of the teammates he's on the court with, but that hasn't stopped him from scoring in bunches. He finished with 18 points in 30 minutes and added 4 assists.

🏀 5. A little of everything. Nique Clifford didn't have a big scoring night, but he managed to stuff the stat sheet for 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 21 minutes. This was the fewest minutes he's played in a while, which is probably a good thing. 

🏀 6. Interesting. Drew Eubanks has played sparingly this season, but he had a nice night off the Kings' bench. The veteran center dunked the ball five or six times on his way to 15 points and 11 rebounds. He played under control and patrolled from the paint from the dunker spot.  

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