Mar 15, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings Dylan Cardwell (32), Daeqwon Plowden (29), Maxine Raynaud (42), and Nique Clifford (5) pump up the crowd before lighting the beam after defeating the Utah Jazz at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images
The Kings have won four of their last five games, which would normally be a good thing. Except this is the Sacramento Kings, so it’s not.
**Terrible Timing**
The Kings couldn’t have picked a worse time to start stringing some wins together. Despite a commanding lead in the tank race just a little while ago, the Kings have now won 6 of 11 games and 4 of their last 5. One of those wins came on the back of a 22 point Devin Carter 4th quarter against a fellow tanking team in the Pacers, another was a shocking road win against the Clippers, and then DeMar DeRozan dropped 41 points on the Jazz the next night.
I knew the schedule was going to ease up for the Kings here but at this point in the season these wins are more annoying than anything else. It sucks that the league is structured in such a way that I can’t be happy when my team is winning, but I am finding very little joy in these recent victories, because in my mind, they’re just costing themselves opportunities for a higher draft pick. Yes, nothing is a guarantee, and yes no matter what the Kings will likely have an excellent shot at landing a top 4 pick. But winning makes those chances go down and the number one rule of being a Kings fan is basically to embrace the worst case possibility happening, which as of now would mean the Kings fall to the 8th pick.
It would be much better for the Kings to suck extremely hard for a short while than just be kinda bad for a long time like we just experienced during that recent playoff drought. I don’t blame the players for trying their hardest, and some guys are really balling out right now (shout out Precious Achiuwa). But I just can’t find myself enjoying these wins (although I do crack a small smile at the young guys putting on sun glasses and styling themselves as the Beam Boys). Hopefully the ping pong balls bless us and we can turn this around sooner rather than later so we don’t have to go through this for too long.
**Killian Hayes signed**
I wasn’t sure if the Kings would keep Killian Hayes on after his first 10 day contract, but they brought him back for another and now have signed him for the rest of the season and for next season as well (I’m guessing on a non-guaranteed deal of sorts). Hayes offense has started to pick up of late and he’s shot 55% from the field and 50% from three over the last three games. His passing has been excellent throughout his entire time here, as he’s totaled 41 assists to just 10 turnovers in that time, which is impressive given how little prep time he got with the team. I don’t mind low risk flyers like this, and it’s exactly the type of move that Scott Perry should have considered instead of signing someone like Dennis Schröder or Russell Westbrook, but hey, maybe they’re learning.
**Daeqwon “Anti-Tank Rifle” Plowden**
Daeqwon Plowden is shooting just 28.7% from three for the season but I swear he is shooting 90% from three when it’s clutch time. I have no statistics to back it up and no energy to look it up, but it feels like if the game is in danger of slipping away and Plowden gets the ball from distance, that thing is going in. If only we could have had you in Game 4 against the Warriors a couple years ago Daeqwon.
**Dylan’s back!**
There have been few enough reasons for me to get excited about watching the Kings this season, but Dylan Cardwell has been one of them, and I’m glad he’s back in action after missing the last month due to an ankle injury. With Drew Eubanks now out for the rest of the season, both Dylan and Max will basically get all of the center minutes going forward, which is just fine with me.
**March Madness**
This week will also be the start of March Madness so there’s a lot of prospects to keep an eye on. There’s always someone who makes a big name for themselves throughout the tourney and eventually shoots up draft boards. If you are just now tuning into college basketball, here’s a list of some of the higher tier guys and their schools to potentially keep an eye on throughout the tourney:
* Cameron Boozer (#1 Duke)
* Darryn Peterson (#4 Kansas)
* AJ Dybantsa (#6 BYU)
* Kingston Flemings (#2 Houston)
* Darius Acuff (#4 Arkansas)
* Keaton Wagler (#3 Illinois)
* Mikel Brown Jr. (#6 Louisville)
* Nate Ament (#6 Tennessee)
* Braylon Mullins (#2 UConn)
* Labaron Philon (#4 Alabama)
* Yaxel Lendeborg (#1 Michigan)
There’s some other players further down most tier lists that I’d also pay attention to, as the Kings have two second round picks. Here’s a few of those guys that I’m interested in seeing in action:
* Flory Bidunga (#4 Kansas)
* Braden Smith (#2 Purdue)
* Richie Saunders (#6 BYU)
* JoJo Tugler (#2 Houston)
* Andrej Stojakovic (#3 Illinois) – I’m already calling that this is one of our two-way guys next season for obvious reasons.
Regardless, it should be a fun tourney and it will be nice to watch some basketball with actual stakes for once.
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**Upcoming Schedule**
* Tuesday, March 17th vs. San Antonio Spurs
* Thursday, March 19th vs. Philadelphia 76ers
* Sunday, March 22nd vs. Brooklyn Nets