Sunday Musings: Has the window closed for Kings to save season?

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Snow falling. Defensive genius. A blocked punt. A field goal as time expired. A distraction. 

The San Francisco 49ers put on a show Saturday evening when they defeated Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers to advance to the NFC Championship game. 

For the second week in a row, the 49ers’ greatness on a huge stage provided the necessary cover for another Kings loss. 

The 133-127 defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks wasn’t embarrassing like the previous blunders against the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons, but it still goes in the wrong column. 

Three straight losses have the Kings reeling once again. At 18-30, Sacramento is now a season-worst 12 games under .500 and they are in the midst of a tough five game Eastern road trip. 

Now two and a half games out of the 10th seed in the Western Conference standings and just three and a half games out of last place, the Kings are facing a brutal reality. They are one of the worst teams in the NBA. 

The front office has been working the phones non-stop trying to remake the roster, but it might be too late. After months of inactivity, the most prudent approach at this point might be to become sellers and not buyers between now and the Feb. 10 NBA trade deadline.

Forget the 10th seed and the play-in tournament. At one point that seemed like chasing windmills. Now it feels more like chasing rainbows. 

How did we get to this point? That’s anyone’s guess. The most disappointing reality to this entire situation is that the Kings’ roster is improved over the one they walked into last season with, but after 48 games, the 2020-21 group sat at 22-26. 

Last season’s group didn’t have the talent or depth to compete. The core is the same this year, but this version of the Kings has 10-12 NBA players on the roster. The fact that they are four games behind last year’s pace is an indictment on everyone involved, especially the players.

We now know that the core of De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Richaun Holmes and Harrison Barnes is not good enough. You could make the argument that it was never good enough, but more than halfway through the season, this team has shown us who they are. 

They are the team that supported Luke Walton in press conferences and laid down on the court until he was fired. They are the team that lost to a Philadelphia 76ers team without five starters and an Atlanta Hawks team missing all but two or three of their rotation.

Back-to-back home losses to the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons is as bad as it gets. There are no more excuses. It is time to reevaluate everything moving forward and stop chasing some pipe dream of snapping the team’s 15-year playoff drought.

The plan is to build around Fox and Haliburton, but even that comes with a certain amount of trepidation. If the team is to move forward with this pair, then the remaining games should be 100 percent focused on building chemistry between the two and finding young pieces to support their development.

What can general manager Monte McNair get for the rest of the roster? That’s a huge question, but there is a different approach when you become a seller and not a buyer. 

You hate to see another hard reset in Sacramento, but that is what this group has earned. Instead of chasing the likes of Ben Simmons or Domantas Sabonis, McNair should be considering trades that bring in young talent and draft picks. He certainly shouldn’t be shopping his own draft picks without heavy protections.

Is there a playoff team out there that is willing to give up quality for Barnes and his $18 million contract for next season? Can Holmes land you a quality first round selection? Can McNair move off of Hield’s remaining two years?

All of these players are available, but it might be time to completely change what the Kings are looking for in return. When you adjust to being a seller, then you might open up more options and invite additional teams into the equation. 

This isn’t where the Kings were two weeks ago. Maybe it wasn’t where they were before last Sunday’s loss to Houston and the disaster against Detroit. But there is a difference between eight and twelve games under .500. 

Coming back from the current position in the standings is daunting. A look ahead at the schedule says this could get much worse in a hurry.

It’s probably too late to save this season, even if saving this season means chasing down the Blazers and sneaking into a play-in game. That’s a reality that shouldn’t be hard to put on a spreadsheet to show ownership.

The window to change the course of this season is all but closed. We know who this group is. They aren’t good enough. There is no quick fix. The sooner the franchise accepts this and moves toward a new path, the better.