Outside of Russell Westbrook’s impressive performances over the past week, the Sacramento Kings have been hard to watch during the early stages of the 2025-26 regular season.
48 hours removed from Friday night’s 31-point loss to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, Sunday’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves was more of the same for Sacramento.
The Kings (3-7) fell behind early and never recovered, looking flat on both ends of the floor during a 144-117 loss that secured Sacramento’s worst ten-game start to a season since 2017-18, a year that ended with a final record of 27-55.
It’s early, but the Kings appear to be a team on the fast track to the bottom tier of the Western Conference standings.
Keegan Murray’s return will help Sacramento’s defense, but won’t solve all of their issues–especially on the offensive end, where spacing and cohesiveness are glaring issues for a roster that is top-heavy at the guard spots.
Until the Kings make some moves or drastically alter their rotations, it doesn’t appear that things will improve anytime soon.
nah he’s going off rn… 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/ANdQbK81hk
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 10, 2025
Kings vs. Timberwolves recap & takeaways
Sacramento’s poor paint defense cost them big during Friday night’s loss to Oklahoma City (60-34), and things didn’t get much better in the early going against a Minnesota lineup that rosters plenty of size.
One game removed from yielding a career-high performance from Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (33 points), the Kings had no answer for Timberwolves forward Julius Randle–who has usually given Sacramento fits over the years–and center Rudy Gobert as the frontcourt duo combined to score 25 points on a combined 10-of-14 (71%) shooting in the paint during the first half.
Along with the T-Wolves’ dominant frontcourt, superstar Anthony Edwards brushed off an 0-for-five start from the field during the first quarter by racking up 16 points during the second period to push Sacramento into a double-digit deficit.
Minnesota outscored the Kings 26-16 in the paint during the first half, but Sacramento made things hard on itself by allowing 18 points off 10 first-half turnovers. The Timberwolves took advantage of the mishaps by also winning the fast-break points battle 19-7 over the first two periods.
The Kings’ clunky offense looked stagnant early, finishing the first half with more turnovers (10) than assists (nine) as Minnesota took a commanding 71-54 lead into the third quarter, as fans in attendance at Golden 1 Center let some boos rain down as the halftime buzzer sounded.
got UP for that one. pic.twitter.com/mtyfaQ6HvC
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 10, 2025
While there was already little hope for a potential Sacramento comeback, the Timberwolves ensured the Kings’ demise in the third quarter.
Minnesota outscored Sacramento 40-30 in the third, pushing its lead to 28 points as fans in attendance shifted their attention to guard Keon Ellis, who–for the second-straight game–didn’t log a second of playing time through the first three quarters of play.
Chants of “we want Keon” echoed throughout Golden 1 Center multiple times during the third quarter as the Kings’ deficit grew larger, but the defensive specialist didn’t enter the game until Sacramento was well out of reach.
As was the case on Friday, Ellis checked in to begin the fourth quarter, and Kings fans sounded off with a large ovation to welcome the fan-favorite into the contest.
The response to Ellis’ playing time reflects the current mindset of a significant portion of the Sacramento fan base.
The Kings haven’t looked good, and if this team is going to struggle, plenty of fans would rather see young talent like Ellis, rookie wing Nique Clifford, Keegan Murray, and center Maxime Raynaud on the floor for development purposes rather than players nearing the end or past their NBA primes.
“We want Keon” chants for Keon Ellis at Golden 1 Center. pic.twitter.com/95gFTkRwB5
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) November 10, 2025
Clifford looked solid during the blowout loss, scoring 10 points on four-of-seven shooting while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists over 22 minutes.
The 24th overall pick from June’s NBA Draft was one of the Kings’ lone bright spots on a night that saw Sacramento lose by 27 points for the second straight night.
Minnesota hammered the Sacramento Kings’ paint defense, outscoring Sacramento 64-46 on Sunday night. The Timberwolves also finished the game with a whopping 37 points off 18 Kings turnovers.
Zach LaVine led all Sacramento scorers with 26 points on six-of-nine shooting from three-point range, while DeMar DeRozan added 22 points–his eighth-straight game with 18+ points.
Starting guard Dennis Schroder followed up a poor showing against the Thunder (two points on 0/10 FG) with another rough night on the offensive end, scoring three points on one-of-six shooting from the field.
The veteran guard is now shooting 39 percent from the field and 28 percent from three-point range to begin the regular season.
Sabonis Returns
Domantas Sabonis returned from a two-game absence that was due to a rib contusion, but the All-NBA center was visibly battling pain from the opening tip, constantly grabbing at his side following each dead ball.
Even while dealing with lingering discomfort, Sabonis posted another double-double, scoring 20 points (5/17 FG) and pulling down 13 boards over 30 minutes.
“I don’t use it as an excuse. If I’m going to play, I’m going to go out there and fight,” Sabonis said of his injury postgame.
Sacramento Kings Injury Report
Keegan Murray (left thumb, UCL injury recovery) is due to be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks.
When is the next Sacramento Kings game?
The Sacramento Kings’ next game will take place against the Denver Nuggets at 8:00 PM PT on Tuesday night at Golden 1 Center, with the matchup set to air in front of a national audience on NBC and Peacock.
Sacramento dropped a 130-124 contest to the Nuggets in Denver on November 3rd, with Nikola Jokic scoring 34 points and dishing out 14 assists during the win.
Be sure to catch all of the Sacramento Kings vs. Denver Nuggets action right here on Sactown Sports 1140 AM, with pregame coverage beginning at 2:00 PM PT on The Drive Guys before an 8:00 pm PT tip-off from downtown Sacramento.
YouTube video
Upcoming Sacramento Kings schedule for the 2025-26 season
Tuesday, November 11th – vs. Denver Nuggets – 8:00 PM PT
Wednesday, November 12th – vs. Atlanta Hawks – 7:00 PM PT
Friday, November 14th – @ Minnesota Timberwolves – 1:00 PM PT
Sunday, November 16th – @ San Antonio Spurs – 1:00 PM PT
Wednesday, November 19th – @ Oklahoma City – 5:00 PM PT
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