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Winning makes the noise quiet down. The Sacramento Kings improved to 29-28 on Monday night when they hosted a 14-win Charlotte Hornets team at Golden 1 Center. The Hornets were fresh off a 53-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and by all accounts are heading the wrong direction this season.

The Kings hit the Hornets hard to end the third quarter and then jumped all over Charlotte in the opening minutes of the fourth on their way to a 130-88 win. The victory is extremely important for a team sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference standings, but the way the Kings won is even more important. 

Over the last two seasons, the Kings have struggled to bring their best against lower level opponents. Any team like the Hornets that has lost by a combined 95 points over two games is a lower level opponent. 

Sacramento needed a win like this. More specifically, Zach LaVine, the key piece involved in the De’Aaron Fox trade, needed a game like this. Regardless of the opponent, LaVine looked like himself for one of the few times since joining the Kings eight games ago.

From the opening quarter, LaVine looked relaxed and more like the player who has scored in bunches over the last 11 seasons. He moved without the ball, worked off of Domantas Sabonis screens and hit his shots. 

After scoring 22 points in the first half, LaVine went quiet in the third. He finished off the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup for his only points in the period, which seemed to give him a bounce in his step. 

When the Kings came out in the fourth, they looked like a different team. LaVine looked like a different player. 

With 10:09 remaining in the fourth, LaVine hit a driving layup to put the Kings up 95-76. When LaVine pulled up for a 30-footer with 6:41 remaining in the period, his 3-pointer gave Sacramento a 37 point lead. 

LaVine went to the bench to watch the remainder of the game having scored 18 points in the first 5:19 of the fourth. LaVine received a standing ovation from the Golden 1 Center crowd, having scored 42 combined points on the evening on 13-of-16 from the field and 8-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. 

“I was just waiting, it took long enough,” DeMar DeRozan joked after the game.

This was a scoring outburst LaVine and the Kings needed. The 29-year-old guard came into the night having scored 40 or more points 21 times in his career, but this was a first for him in a Kings uniform. The reception from the crowd was filled with emotion as LaVine had his welcome to Sacramento moment.

“It felt good, especially being able to do it here for the first time with the home crowd,” LaVine said following the win. “I’ve played here a bunch of times, obviously, and felt the energy. But we needed a win like this, not just me, but as a whole team, especially after coming out of the break like we did.”

It’s not easy to move halfway across the country in the middle of an NBA season and replace the face of a franchise. There is a lot of pressure that comes with a trade like this and LaVine has done his best to learn on the fly. 

Four days of practice may have been just what the doctor ordered for LaVine to finally settle in. Playing a highly questionable defensive team like the Hornets helped as well. In the end, 42 points is 42 points and very few players in the league have the ability to put the ball in the basket like LaVine does.

With the big night, LaVine is now averaging 23 points, 4.4 assists and 3.3 rebounds in his first eight games in a Kings uniform. He’s shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from 3-point range in 36 minutes per game.

He’ll need time to integrate into the Kings’ system, but it’s clear that the coaching staff, led by Christie, is asking LaVine to play his game and the team will adjust accordingly. 

“He and I have had conversations and to his credit, I thought that he’s been trying to fit in,” interim head coach Doug Christie told media members on Monday. “We need him to be himself so that we can figure out how to best support him. That doesn’t mean he’s going to come out and get 42 every night, but stay aggressive, be aggressive.”

With some practice time under their belt and a couple of games against sub-.500 teams, LaVine and the Kings could build some momentum.

There was a strange moment late in the game when the franchise made the decision to include former Kings player De’Aaron Fox as part of the promotion for the upcoming Kings vs. Spurs game on March 7. 

When Fox’s picture flashed on the jumbotron, there were enough boos from the crowd to fill the building.

Fox, who spent the first seven and a half seasons of his career in a Kings uniform was traded to San Antonio on February 3 as part of a three team swap that landed LaVine in Sacramento. 

The 27-year-old holds a handful of Sacramento-era records, including steals and assists. It will be interesting to see how he is received in his return after a somewhat messy divorce from the franchise. 

Time is of the essence for the Kings. A win over Charlotte moved the Kings back over the .500 mark, but with just 25 games remaining on the schedule, it’s a sprint to the finish. 

Sacramento currently has the second most difficult strength of schedule with a win percentage against of .544. After they play the 14-43 Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, the strength of schedule gets even worse. 

The one saving grace is that the Phoenix Suns, who are the closest team behind the Kings in the standings, not only trail Sacramento by 2.5 games, but they have the most difficult schedule in the NBA with a win percentage against of .558. 

Portland and San Antonio are tied at 4.5 games behind the Kings and both have a top 10 strength of schedule against. This is good news for Sacramento fans hoping to make the play-in tournament or better.

On the downside, the Kings owe a top 12 protected lottery pick to the Atlanta Hawks as part of the Kevin Huerter trade and the team currently sits at No. 13 in the lottery standings. That means if the season were to end today and the Kings don’t move into the top four in the NBA lottery, their pick goes to the Hawks to complete the trade.

If the Kings somehow end up in the top 12, they keep their pick this season and the selection owed to Atlanta becomes a top 10 protected pick in 2026. If it does not relay in 2026, the first round pick becomes the Kings’ 2026 and 2027 second round selections instead.