Week in review: Kings drop two straight heading into NBA All-Star break

Kings look to regroup during week off

Author

James Ham
February 19, 2022

The Kings Beat Notes

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Kings record: 22-38

Kings record on the week: 1-2

The week started with a media session starring General Manager Monte McNair and it ended with a pair of tough losses. 

McNair stood center stage and fielded questions about the roster decisions he made over a wild 48-hour stretch leading up to the trade deadline. It was a good moment for McNair, who added a two-time All-Star in Domantas Sabonis and five other players to the mix.

Led by another big performance from De'Aaron Fox and a near triple-double night from Sabonis, the Kings knocked off the Washington Wizards Saturday evening for their second straight victory. The Kings shot 56.6 percent from the field and dished out 27 assists on their way to the 123-110 win.

Looking for a third straight victory, the Kings traveled to Brooklyn for a match up against the Nets on Monday. Missing Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving and Joe Harris, Steve Nash's squad looked like a team ripe for the taking.

That was not the case. The Kings couldn't find the basket on their way to a season-worst shooting performance. There was no ball movement and no one seemed concerned about defending sharpshooter Seth Curry. The result was a disappointing 109-85 lopsided defeat for Sacramento. 

Following the loss in Brooklyn, the Kings made their way to Chicago for one last game before the All-Star break. The trio of Fox, Sabonis and Harrison Barnes were solid and newcomer Justin Holiday hit 6-for-11 from long range, but it wasn't enough.

MVP candidate DeMar DeRozan put on a show, notching his seventh straight game with 35 or more points while shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Coby White chipped in 31 points and the Bulls came away with a hard fought 125-118 win over the Kings.

Injuries

Davion Mitchell missed Wednesday's game in Chicago with a sore right hand. The injury is not considered serious, but it kept him out of the Rising Stars game this weekend.

Jeremy Lamb sat out all three games this week with a sore left ankle. The veteran shooting guard has played in one game for the Kings since coming over from Indiana in the Sabonis trade.

Terence Davis is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair tendon damage in his right wrist.

Additional Notes

The Kings waived two-way player Louis King on Thursday. The 22-year-old appeared in 10 games for the Kings this season and another 12 games for the Stockton Kings of the G League.

Former King Tyreke Evans was reinstated by the league this week after sitting out the last two seasons due to a positive drug test. Evans won the NBA's Rookie of the Year trophy as a member of the Kings during the 2009-10 season and he is now an unrestricted free agent. 

Player of the Week: De'Aaron Fox

After missing eight straight games with left ankle soreness, Fox looks refreshed and ready to finish the season strong. Over his last five games, Fox is averaging 28.2 points, five rebounds and five assists while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from 3-point range. He's quickly developing chemistry with Sabonis and is starting to look like the player who posted huge numbers last season.

Previous winner: Domantas Sabonis

Stats of the Week

  • 34.4: Every once in a while, shots stop falling. That was the case on Monday when the Kings shot just 34.4 percent from the field against the Nets. Fox was the only player to shoot well and the game was over early.

  • 16: The Kings' playoff drought is 15 consecutive seasons and they are careening toward a 16th straight campaign without a sniff of the playoffs. The Kings are also in danger of posting a 16th consecutive sub-.500 season. They need to finish 19-3 to reach 41-41. That's not going to happen.

  • 3.5: After hanging around in the race for the 10th seed and a spot in the play-in tournament, the Kings now trail the Blazers by 3.5 games with 22 games remaining.

  • 2-2: Since making the trade for Sabonis, Lamb and Holiday, the Kings have gone 2-2 against three teams with winning records.

Tweets of the Week

Mitchell out, but still dresses the part:

Tyrese Haliburton scribes a goodbye:

Mitchell misses Rising Stars:

Quotes of the Week

"I'm close. I wouldn't say I'm 100% myself right now, but I'm going to get there and I'm going to keep growing. My goal is to just keep getting better every game and every practice and hopefully we push toward the playoffs and I'm myself by then." -Donte DiVincenzo

“Ty is a fantastic player as we all know and certainly a fantastic person as well. And this league is tough. We know we have to give up talent to get talent, and any move can be viewed as a roll of the dice, but our job is to make those decisions that we think put us in the best place to succeed going forward.” -Monte McNair on trading Haliburton

"Having a role that becomes a little bit smaller is definitely hard. But we're all professionals, so he's going about it in a professional way, but I think when he's out there, just having more involved, I think would definitely be great for him and us as a team." -Fox on Richaun Holmes

"The good thing is I have a little bit in experience in being traded, & how this goes down, but at the same time, give myself a lot of grace and allow myself to just go out there and play hard. Shots are going to fall when they fall." -Holiday

Weekly Reading

Weekly Podcasts

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What's next?

Kings vs. Denver Nuggets, Golden 1 Center, Thursday 7PM

Kings vs. Denver Nuggets, Ball Arena, Saturday 6PM

Kings vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, Paycom Center, Monday 5PM

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