An unexpected hero almost saved the day, but the Sacramento Kings ultimatley fell short to the Orlando Magic, suffering a 121-117 loss on Thursday night.
In a fourth quarter where buckets were hard to come by, Daeqwon Plowden revived their offense en route to a career night.
DeMar DeRozan ended his night with 3 points on 12/24 shooting, but it was Plowden’s late-game heroics that almost brought them back to life. The two-way forward managed 23 points (15 in the fourth) and three rebounds on 6/10 from three in his 35 minutes.
The Kings as a whole went 14/33 from deep and 13/16 from the line. While that seemed solid, it was nothing compared to the Magic’s 28/32 free-throw shooting. A large majority of that came between Banchero (30 points, nine rebounds, seven assists), Bane (23 points, six assists), Tristan da Silva, and Wendell Carter Jr.
It was a hard-fought battle for Sacramento before ultimatley coming up short.
Sacramento Kings @ Orlando Magic Game Notes
Facing off against an Orlando team that has lost six straight, which immediately followed a seven-game win streak, the Kings were looking to extend that.
Unfortunately, they were extremely shorthanded once again. Domantas Sabonis (knee), Keegan Murray (ankle), Zach LaVine (finger), De’Andre Hunter (eye), Drew Eubanks (thumb), Russell Westbrook (foot), and Nique Clifford (foot) were all sidelined.
After being granted an NBA Hardship Exception, the Kings added Stockton standout and familiar face DaQuan Jeffries on a 10-day deal. His addition gave Christie 10 players heading into Thursday night’s matchup.
Devin Carter and Malik Monk started in the backcourt alongside DeMar DeRozan, Precious Achiuwa, and Maxime Raynaud. Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley rolled out Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Tristan Da Silva, Paolo Banchero, and Wendell Carter Jr.
They were without Anthony Black (abdominal), Franz Wagner (ankle), and Jonathan Isaac (knee).
Carter got the game started with a catch-and-shoot triple before missing another long-distance attempt on the next possession.
friar pic.twitter.com/LiJf6gA6Ao
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 26, 2026
Orlando responded before Achiuwa hit two shots and Monk picked up two fouls in less than five minutes of action. Trading buckets for most of the first, their first full-bench look really spoke to the state of their current season.
Killain Hayes, Daeqwon Plowden, Jeffries, Doug McDermott, and Dylan Cardwell were all sharing the floor. No disrespect to any of those guys, but that’s not an NBA-caliber unit.
To make matters worse, Hayes seemed to suffer a finger injury and committed an intentional foul in order to check out. The Kings later announced that Hayes would miss the remainder of the action with a left fifth finger injury. There’s just something about those fingers…
Yet with a couple of triples, good ball movement, and a few forced turnovers, they hung around (for the most part) to trail 39-30 at the end of one.
Then, DeRozan took over. Not worried about any of the Magic’s impressive, lengthy defenders, the future Hall of Famer calmly got to his spots and knocked it down.
automatic. pic.twitter.com/2numVTvW9e
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 26, 2026
Continuing to punish them in his typical fashion, DeRozan began to make solid reads as the defense shifted towards him. Sacramento as a whole was moving the ball well and assisting on most of their made shots.
In the exact way that anyone would imagine it, DeRozan scored 17 of Sacramento’s 29 second-quarter points without attempting a triple. He was 6/7 from the field and 5/5 on free throws.
Heading into the half with 16 assists on 23 made field goals was a promising sign. They also outscored their opponents 26-16 in the paint, but still trailed 65-59 as the Magic were 8/16 from three and 17/20 from the free throw line.
Despite the Magic’s losing skid, there was no denying they had a more talented available roster than Sacramento. Coming out of the third quarter, the Kings needed to fight to hang around if they wanted the fourth quarter to feature minutes that mattered.
A few minutes into the third, a triple from Monk was followed by a DeRozan transition finish to cap off a 9-0 run. Running after misses and maintaining pace — in transition and the halfcourt — seemed to be a point of emphasis as they’d recovered to a two-point deficit, 74-72.
Banchero led his side by barrelling through defenders and forcing his way to the charity stripe. Bane made his presence known while the Kings were well-rounded in scoring.
Plowden hit back-to-back triples before Carter added one of his own.
Seven Kings’ players scored in the third quarter, going 5/10 from deep as their long ball started to fall. Meanwhile, Orlando had made their game more interior-centric.
The home team led just 93-90 headed into the final quarter Thursday night in the Kia Center.
As expected for the Magic, it was the Banchero and Bane show as they attempted to slow the game down. With DeRozan on the bench, Sacramento’s offense went freezing cold. They couldn’t buy a bucket for nearly five minutes, watching the Magic lead jump up to 105-95.
As DeRozan returned, the Kings’ offense was revitalized. Yet, he wasn’t the one scoring. Plowden, on a two-way contract, took over the game.
DA3️⃣QWON PLOWD3️⃣N pic.twitter.com/gd0NT7x9UA
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 27, 2026
With five minutes to go down 12, Plowden converted two consecutive triples to halt the scoring drought. On the other end, Banchero continued to battle his way to the line.
Monk managed a breakaway dunk after Achiuwa won the jump ball before Plowden drove and made a tough and-one. One more chaotic possession from the Magic ended with two misses before Plowden added yet another triple.
His sixth triple of the night extended him to a career-high 23 points, but more importantly cut the Kings deficiet to one with 50 seconds to play.
After using most of the clock, stellar ball movement in response to rotations eventually left the ball in Suggs’s hands, who converted a deep three.
Jalen Suggs clutch three late in the 4th quarter! pic.twitter.com/PgEUQCxPVe
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) March 27, 2026
A turnaround fadeaway from DeRozan went down, to bring the game back within two (119-117), but the Kings were left playing the foul game with just seconds remaining. Bane converted from the line and iced the game before Monk attempted a wild shot that wasn’t close.
DeRozan ended his night with 3 points on 12/24 shooting, but it was Plowden’s late game heroics that almost brought them back to life. The two-way forward managed 23 points (15 in the fourth) and three rebounds on 6/10 from three in his 35 minutes.
The Kings as a whole went 14/33 from deep and 13/16 from the line. While that seemed solid, it was nothing compared to the Magic’s 28/32 free-throw shooting. A large majority of that came between Banchero (30 points, nine rebounds, seven assists), Bane (23 points, six assists), Tristan da Silva, and Wendell Carter Jr.
It was a hard-fought battle for Sacramento before ultimatley coming up short.
They’ll head to Atlanta to face off against the Hawks on Sunday night.
More Sacramento Kings content from Sactown Sports
When is the next Sacramento Kings game?
The Sacramento Kings will continue their final road trip of the season on Saturday afternoon when they face the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
Sacramento dropped a 133-100 blowout loss to the Hawks on November 12th, as Jalen Johnson poured in 24 points, grabbed 10 boards, and handed out 8 assists in the win.
Be sure to catch all of the Sacramento Kings vs. Atlanta Hawks action right here on Sactown Sports 1140 AM, with pregame coverage beginning at 3:00 PM PT on Game Night before a 4:30 pm PT tip-off from downtown Atlanta.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings schedule for the 2025-26 season
Saturday, March 28th – @ Atlanta Hawks – 4:30 PM PT
Sunday, March 29th @ Brooklyn Nets – 3:00 PM PT
Wednesday, April 1st @ Toronto Raptors – 5:00 PM PT
Friday, April 3rd vs. New Orleans Pelicans – 7:00 PM PT
Sunday, April 5th vs. Los Angeles Clippers – 6:00 PM PT
Thank you for readingSactownSports.com. Follow us onTwitterandGoogle News, and subscribe to ourYouTubechannel.