The Kings Are Who We Thought They Were

It is one week into this NBA season, and it took a lot of self-control not to title this article “2025-26 Sacramento Kings Season Recap”.

Yes, yes, it’s been 5 games. Yes, I know Keegan Murray isn’t healthy, so we don’t know what a healthy Kings team looks like this year.

But what I can tell you is that even if Keegan plays like the best possible version of himself, that does not in any way move the needle for this team.

What the Kings need to take away from this first week is very simple: this is a very bad, poorly constructed team.

Individual players will play well —Zach LaVine has been showing us that —but as a group, this team is the least scary in the NBA right now. LaVine and DeRozan might each put up 25 plus, and Sabonis will put up a double-double. You can pencil that in for many of the games; it’s a very familiar, simple game plan. But the glaring holes in defense and inconsistency cannot be ignored.

LaVine is putting up great scoring numbers, yes, but they’re basically empty calories right now. The team as a whole is not cohesive enough to put together a game in which they put up great offensive numbers while also playing competent defense to keep them in the game. Has Austin Reaves started the season looking like an All-Star? Yes. Should we exist in a universe where he drops 51 and finishes an assist away from a triple-double? Oh, god, no.

No, under no circumstances should that happen, oh my god, how did that happen?

The awful thing we fans will have to sit through this year is that this team isn’t completely bad. Watching a Kings game this year isn’t watching the 7-59 Bobcats. They’re not devoid of talent or substance. The problem is they just, for lack of a better term, play how they’re expected. This team talked in the offseason about proving doubters wrong and playing above expectations to show that they’re a talented group. Still, from the get-go, this team looks completely complacent in being exactly who they were tabbed to be.

No push to be better, no substantial adjustments to change the game’s dynamic, just a lot of… meh. Oops, gave up a bucket, oh well! We’ll get them next time! Let’s keep doing what we’re doing, and eventually we’ll be okay!

And you know what? Maybe that’s all a good thing. The Kings right now are in mile 1 of a 10-mile-long tunnel.

The light from past success in the 2020s is much brighter than the future’s, and honestly, we can’t even see the future’s light.

The recurring problem in the 2010s for the Kings was ownership’s complete lack of desire to tear it all down and rebuild the team. During that time, we’ve seen countless teams nuke their rosters, spend some time in the lottery, and all of a sudden, they’re contenders again. The Kings have never subscribed to this blueprint, and heading into this season, there was no sign that anything would be different.

In the preseason, rumors flew that many NBA scouts were watching the Kings’ games closely, anticipating a fire sale at the deadline. LaVine is putting up 30 more often than he’s not. Sabonis looks like Sabonis. There are pieces here that would add value to Sacramento. Is that what the front office has in mind? I doubt it, but this disaster of a start could be what this team finally needed to push themselves into reality. This is not a salvageable team that can make a run for the play-in. This is a team that can help other teams make the playoffs, either through trades or through losing.

The best case scenario right now is by February, this roster is all youth trying to develop, the Kings are at the front of lottery contention in what is looking to be a very deep draft class, and Russell Westbrook is still doing his thing (that’s a bit of personal bias, there, I would LOVE to see Russ take a leadership role and work with this team’s future more).

Will any of that happen? Probably not. If history has taught us anything, ownership will step in and make some sort of completely mind-boggling decision to hamper the possible rebuild.

But right now, this team is who we thought they were, and ownership is letting them off the hook.