After getting thoroughly outplayed by the Charlotte Hornets, it’s abundantly clear the Sacramento Kings need the All-Star Break — and fast.
The Sacramento Kings have struggled in 2019. Since the start of the new year, the Sacramento Kings are 5-4, but have dropped two games to sub-.500 teams and opened the year on an 0-3 skid. Statistically, they’ve taken a dip as well.
Against the Hornets 16th ranked team defense, the Sacramento Kings were held to 44.3 percent from the field, an offensive rating of 97.6 and their pace slowed significantly, dropping from their season average of 107.1 — to just 97.3 on Thursday night. Over the month of January, those numbers aren’t much better.
Offensively, pace, a hallmark of this Kings team, has fallen off tremendously. After opening the year at a blistering (and league-leading) pace of 107.06, their pace of play has fallen every month since, but never more than the 3.34 drop the Kings are dealing with in January.
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Not only that, but turnovers are up and efficiency is down as well. Nearly every offensive category has fallen from the previous month — one positive, however, is rebounding and defensive rating has improved. Still, the Kings have struggled. Their one saving grace, however, is their back-court duo of De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, but as of late, only one has performed to expectations.
De’Aaron Fox has played a season-low in minutes over the last nine games, while posting season-low amounts in: points, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, assists, blocks and pace while posting a net rating of -1.2 in the month so far. Fox may need the All-Star Break more than any King, however, as he suffered a shoulder injury in late-December, but never missed time to recover and it seems to have affected his play.
Since the injury occurred on Dec. 21, Fox has shot 45.3 percent from the field while averaging 16.6 points, both drops from his pre-injury averages. While this isn’t to say that he’s still hampered by the injury, Fox would be well-served by a break to give his body time to recover.
Buddy Hield, however, has played well in the new year, but has stopped getting to line almost entirely — averaging under one free-throw attempt per game. In addition to that, his offensive rating has taken a drop, even though his overall scoring and efficiency has gone up. While both Hield and Fox have been effective on the court overall, too often they have struggled for entire halves, or longer, during games.
Make no mistake, Fox and Hield are both having incredible, breakout seasons, but when a team plays as fast as the Sacramento Kings have for 40+ games, it’s bound to burn out the players. Even if the effects of their pace of play have been moderate on players, their margin of victory is already incredibly small, so any drop could have major consequences. On the season, the Sacramento Kings are ranked 23 in the NBA in average margin of victory in wins.
It’s also hard to discount the effect of back-to-backs and travel has on a young, fast team. For the year, the Kings have played 21 road games and will play six more before the All-Star Break rolls around — a big deal for a team slated to fly the ninth most miles in the NBA this year. There’s also the nine back-to-backs the Kings have already played, with seven more slated for the rest of the 2018-19 season, for an NBA-leading total of 16.
The good news is, however, that the Kings are still playing well-enough to maintain an above-.500 record and will have the All-Star Break (2/13-2/21) here in less than a month. Furthermore, from Feb. 1-March 23, the Sacramento Kings will play 13/21 at home, with three home stands of at least four games over the seasons last three months.