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Never too high, never too low.

After six games, the Sacramento Kings sit at 3-3 on the season. Their three losses are by a combined nine points, including a tough three point loss in Toronto on Saturday night. Their three wins are by a combined 38 points.

We won’t truly know who this team is for a while, but there are some major positives and a few concerns that require a deeper look. Following games, I post six quick thoughts on social media to recap games, so it’s fitting to post six maybe not so quick thoughts on where the Kings stand after six games.

Over the last two seasons, the Kings’ offense had a very specific flow to it. The ball ran through Domantas Sabonis on almost every possession and he orchestrated the action with incredible efficiency. 

The problem with continuing the same offense with the same group of players for multiple seasons is that it gets predictable. Teams game planned for the dribble hand off. They blitzed Sabonis or threw multiple small players his way.

When Kings general manager Monte McNair acquired DeRozan in a sign-and-trade, there were plenty of talking heads that didn’t understand the move. DeRozan isn’t a flow player. He likes to put the ball on the floor and play isolation basketball. 

It’s early, but through six games, you can see how this can work. The Kings needed something different to break up the constant flow offense. You can’t throw a fastball every pitch and the Kings now have a changeup to mix in.

DeRozan is currently riding a six game 20+ point streak. He’s averaging 25.3 points per game on 16.8 field goal attempts per game. DeRozan is also getting to the free throw line an incredible eight times per game and he’s helped propel the Kings from the worst free throw shooting team last season to the NBA’s best so far this year. 

The transition hasn’t been seamless. There have been some forced shots, especially in the first two games of the season, as well as in the loss to the Raptors on Saturday. But the outline of an incredible offense is starting to come into focus with DeRozan as a key member of the rotation. In addition to his scoring, DeRozan is averaging 2.3 steals per game and 3.3 deflections per game. 

When Kevin Huerter was named the Kings’ opening night shooting guard, there was a massive reaction by fans on social media. What did this mean for Keon Ellis? Why the change? What are fans missing here?

All of these questions were compounded when Huerter scored just two points in the opener against Minnesota. When Ellis drew a DNP-CD in Sacramento’s Game 2 loss to the Lakers, fans were sharpening pitchforks and prepping torches. 

After five games, Huerter is posting 11.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 26 minutes per game. He’s shooting a solid 48.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three on 6.4 attempts. He missed Saturday’s game in Toronto due to illness, prompting Brown to start Doug McDermott at shooting guard. 

For Ellis, he’s found a home with the second unit, which is why Brown likely kept him out of the starting lineup with Huerter sitting. Since the DNP, Ellis is averaging seven points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.8 blocks in 19.4 minutes per game. He’s shot 55.6 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three on 2.8 attempts per game over the four game stretch.

Ellis has brought energy and chaos on the defensive end, which is why he earned minutes last season in Sacramento. The combination of Huerter’s offensive draw and Ellis’ defensive activity has given the Kings a nice one-two punch. 

When Huerter and Lyles were cleared to play in the days leading up to the start of the regular season, there was an understanding that it might take a bit for the duo to return to form. After seven months of no contact, Huerter, who had been cleared to shoot and workout months earlier, looked ready from the jump. Lyles, who strained a groin just days before the start of camp, didn’t have the same buildup and it’s showing.

Through six games, the 28-year-old (29 on Monday) big man can’t seem to get it going. Lyles is averaging 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game while shooting 25 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from three. 

Brown is giving Lyles every opportunity to climb out of his shooting slump. He’s even shifted Lyles to center behind Domantas Sabonis, sitting Alex Len over the last two games and limiting him to just 27 total minutes on the season.

There is no doubt that the Kings need Lyles to find his game. He’s in the tight eight man rotation that Brown is relying on early in the season and his combination of size, strength and shooting ability is desperately needed, especially with the Kings’ lack of overall size on the front line.

It is clear that Lyles is frustrated with his early season play. He’s been an extremely reliable player off the Kings’ bench since arriving during the 2021-22 season in a trade with Detroit. Lyles is also in the final year of a two-year, $16 million extension he signed with the Kings in 2023, so he has a lot riding on this season.  

We have seen over the last few seasons how a missed free throw or two often develops into a full blown epidemic in Sacramento. Excellent free throw shooters sign with the Kings and then miss crucial shots. It got so bad last season that the Kings finished last in the NBA at 74.5 percent from the line and they lost multiple games due to their inability to hit from the stripe.

Six games is a super small sample size, but the Kings are currently leading the NBA in free throw percentage at 83.3 percent. Not only are they hitting their freebies, but their 26.8 attempts per game ranks seventh overall and their 22.3 makes ranks fourth.

DeRozan’s eight attempts per game are a big reason for the boost in free throw attempts and he’s shooting a stellar 85.4 percent, but he’s not the only reason for the spike. 

After shooting just 73.8 percent from the line last season, De’Aaron Fox is hitting 87.5 percent his year on 5.3 attempts per game. Sabonis struggled from the line last season as well, hitting just 70.4 percent of his 5.1 attempts per game. Through six games, Sabonis is hitting 81.6 percent on 6.3 attempts, which has led to an additional 1.6 points per game on his scoring total. 

Six of the Kings’ eight main rotation players are shooting 81 percent or better from the line, with only Malik Monk (78.6 percent) and Huerter (hasn’t attempted a free throw yet) below the mark. 

When the Kings acquired DeRozan, there were some concerns about spacing on the floor, but the general consensus was that the Kings had enough shooters to make it work. So far, the Kings are seventh in the NBA in offensive rating, but that’s with their 3-point shooting sitting at No. 27 overall. 

Again, the sample size isn’t huge, so when Fox went 0-for-11 from behind the arc Saturday in Toronto, it dropped the Kings’ overall percentage from 34.3 percent to 32.5 percent. Fox came into Saturday shooting 36.7 percent from three and after the tough shooting night, he’s down to 26.8 percent on 6.8 attempts per game. 

Fox isn’t the only player on the Kings struggling from deep and he has an injured pinky finger on his shooting hand he’s dealing with. Keegan Murray is hitting just 30.8 percent on 6.5 attempts per game and Malik Monk is currently knocking down 34.4 percent on 5.3 attempts per game.

On the positive side, Sabonis is currently shooting 50 percent from deep on two attempts per game. Huerter is hitting 37.5 percent on 6.4 attempts per game and Ellis is at 36.4 percent on 2.2 attempts a night.

Sacramento’s offense is still running at a high level, despite the shooting woes, but it would be nice to see the numbers start to climb. The Kings finished last season 16th in the NBA in 3-point percentage at 36.6 percent and there is plenty of room for improvement.

The Kings finished last season with the league’s 14th best defensive rating at 114.4, which was a huge improvement over the previous season’s mark of 116 (25th overall). So far this year, they rank 11th overall with a 110.3 defensive rating and their net rating (offensive rating - defensive rating) is sixth best in the league at +4.8.

It is tough to get a great gauge on who the Kings are defensively due to the quality of opponent played so far this season, but there are definitely some positive stats we can point to. 

Luke Loucks has taken over as the team’s defensive coordinator after Jordi Fernandez took the head coaching job in Brooklyn. Loucks has made some structural tweaks, but the biggest change is how the team approaches help defense. 

You can see players lean into driving and passing lanes, attempting to swat at the ball and it’s leading to an increase in steals and deflections. The Kings currently rank third in the league in steals at 10.2 per game, up from the 7.6 (12th in the NBA) from last season. They also rank third in deflections at 18.3 per game, compared to just 14.8 last season.

There is still plenty of room for improvement on this end of the court. Opposing teams are shooting 36.5 percent from long on the Kings’ defense, which ranks 18th in the league. Sacramento is solid on the defensive glass, but there is potential for improvement.