Apr 2, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Justin Champagnie (9) shoots the ball as Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) defends in the second half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
The Sacramento Kings fell to the Washington Wizards 116-111 on Wednesday, their third loss in a row and their 7th loss in 8 games. Actually, let me rephrase. The Sacramento Kings didn’t fall, because falling implies you ever stood to begin with, and it hasn’t felt like this team has stood up for weeks. The Kings put forth a token effort, just enough to get their individual stat sheets filled. 6 Kings scored in double digits, lead by DeMar DeRozan’s 29 points, but Sacramento’s turnstile defense gave those points back just as easily, with 6 Wizards doing the same.
The most entertaining part of this game was when Malik Monk’s incessant shit-talking got under Tristan Vukcevic’s skin and resulted in a small scuffle on the floor. But don’t be mistaken, this wasn’t Monk fired up and mad the Kings were losing, this was just Monk being Monk and a young player not being able to handle it. And yes, I promise, Tristan Vukcevic is a real NBA player and not a randomly generated 2k player name. Vukcevic has averaged around 8 points per game this season, so the Kings let him finish with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and a block.
Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, and Keegan Murray all finished with 18 points in this one. Sabonis also added 16 rebounds and 7 assists. Yay? I do find it interesting that the Kings made a clear effort to involve Sabonis early in this game. It seems like whatever social media is harping on about the Kings ends up being a major focus within a game or two. Surely this isn’t driven by Vivek sadly scrolling Twitter and then calling Doug to instruct him what needs to change. That would just be silly. Definitely don’t imagine Vivek sadly looking at his phone and swiping through an endless stream of people hating what the Kings have become and laughing at the A’s conducting pressers in a tool shed. That would be disrespectful. Don’t spend all day taking solace in that very funny mental image.
The Kings visit the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. Can’t wait to see how they embarrass themselves in that one.
Our friend Tom Ziller [wrote about the Kings](https://www.teamziller.com/3-ways-to-fix-the-sacramento-kings-again/). I enjoyed it. I think everyone should read it.