Nov 12, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive sits court side during the third quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Welcome to the worst start of the 21st century for the Sacramento Kings. The Kings are currently on pace to win 17ish games, look completely outmatched by whoever they’re playing on both ends of the floor, and there’s still more than 3/4 of the season to go. Fun!
**Embrace the Tank**
It’s almost a blessing in disguise that the Kings have been worse than advertised this season. Coming into the season, I was worried this was simply going to be another year of wasting time watching a middling team chase a Play-In spot and end up with a lower tier lottery pick in a loaded draft. But this has turned out to be an awful team, off to one of the worst starts in franchise history. The Kings are a bottom-five offense and defense, and only the Pelicans, Nets, Pacers and Wizards have a worse record. Sacramento’s only wins have been on a Domantas Sabonis putback against Utah, somehow getting to the line 40 times and beating a Bucks team that shot 59.8% from the field, and barely beating the Warriors while they sat all their stars.
These Kings are absolutely putrid to watch, with no offensive flow or defensive intensity. I feel bad for Doug Christie, who is trying his hardest to find some kind of lineup configuration that works, but there doesn’t seem to be a solution with the pieces available. Will Keegan Murray’s return help? For sure, but at this point I’m not sure I really want it to. This Kings team (the front office and ownership, not the players or coaches of course) needs to embrace the suck. The absolute worst thing that can happen now is for this team to somehow figure something out and start winning a bunch of meaningless games. I don’t want to hear anything about “creating a losing culture” because 90% of these players probably won’t be here in a year or two. This is an opportunity for the Kings to actually hit the ground running on this rebuild. Sell the veterans you can, get whatever assets you can, and try to get as high a pick as possible in this year’s draft. Rebuilds don’t have to take forever, you just need to make the right picks and that tends to be easier at the top of the draft. I know some Kings fans might bemoan another rebuild and say that the draft isn’t a sure thing, but it’s definitely the best option for a small market like Sacramento that doesn’t attract stars in free agency or trades.
The Kings have never really managed to get one of those truly franchise-altering players in the draft before despite so many trips to the lottery in the last decade plus (despite several of those players there for the taking by a competent front office), but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try again. By all accounts, this draft is absolutely loaded, with the top three of Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa all players some scouts would name as consensus #1 picks in other drafts.
Hopefully this terrible start has disillusioned this organization of any playoff hopes for this year or the near future. This team needs an overhaul, and the only way that’s going to happen is with a complete teardown. Yes, it’s going to be a painful ride, but better to rip the Band-Aid off now.
**Doug Christie might not last the season**
I don’t mean that the Kings might fire Doug Christie during the season, but rather that Doug Christie might not be able to handle this much awfulness on both ends of the floor. You can see the pain and frustration in Doug’s face whenever he talks about this team to the media. Doug was always one of the toughest competitors for this team as a player, and I thought he did an admirable job coaching this team to a winning record during last season after such a tumultuous start. Losing isn’t in Doug’s DNA, but unfortunately I think he’s going to see a lot of it as a coach this year, and it might get worse before it gets better. I’m not sure there is a coach that could do anything with this product, but it’s especially painful to see one of my childhood heroes have to deal with it. Stay strong, Doug.
**Dennis Schröder benching was the right call**
It’s not a great sign when your marquee signing of the offseason is getting benched not even 15 games into the season, but in this case it was the right call. Doug Christie made the decision to replace Schröder in the starting lineup with Russell Westbrook, and while it hasn’t translated to wins yet, I do believe it balances the team a little bit better. Schröder is yet another score-first player, a big reason why I and many other fans weren’t huge fans of his signing given that the Kings already have so many score-first guards. Coming off the bench allows Schröder to play a bit more naturally aggressive. The Kings still have a clogged backcourt though, and I’m not sure it matters who is or isn’t starting until they start shipping off some of these guards, but a bench role seems to suit Schröder for now.
**Will the Kings win again in November?**
There’s no doubt that the Kings have had one of the toughest schedules in the league, if not the toughest. After November they’ll have played the Nuggets, Timberwolves and Thunder three times each already. But they’re also losing the games that aren’t supposed to be so hard. They got absolutely blown out at home by an Atlanta Hawks team that didn’t have Trae Young. The Spurs felt good enough about their chances against the Kings that they didn’t bother playing Victor Wembanyama, and rightfully so as they cruised to a victory. The Kings remaining November schedule is another matchup against the Thunder, followed by the second night of a back to back in Memphis. Then it’s back to Denver before finishing the month with a home game against Phoenix, a road game in Utah and then back home for Memphis. On paper the Kings should win a few of those games, but given how they’ve been playing lately, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this losing streak grow and grow (and again, it might be for the best). Keegan Murray will hopefully rejoin the team at some point this month, and I hope that when he does he’s at least given plenty of opportunity instead of merely being regulated to a fourth or fifth option.
**There is something uglier than Kings basketball this season**
And that is [the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA cup court](https://www.si.com/nba/timberwolves-neon-green-nba-cup-court-shocks-basketball-fans). Whichever NBA marketing person allowed that abomination needs to be fired. The court was so bright that the players looked like they were glowing green. The NBA cup has been a neat edition, but the NBA really needs to tone it down with these special courts, or at least set some rules so we don’t get eyesores like that neon green monstrosity.
**Upcoming Kings Schedule:**
* Wednesday, Nov. 19th at Oklahoma City
* Wednesday, Nov. 20th at Memphis
* Saturday, Nov. 22nd at Denver