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Sacramento Kings: Skal Labissiere Seems Happy In Portland

By John Kelly

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 10: Skal Labissiere #17 of the Portland Trail Blazers and Willie Cauley-Stein #00 of the Sacramento Kings fights for position to grab the rebound on April 10, 2019 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 10: Skal Labissiere #17 of the Portland Trail Blazers and Willie Cauley-Stein #00 of the Sacramento Kings fights for position to grab the rebound on April 10, 2019 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Former Sacramento Kings’ first-round pick Skal Labissiere is enjoying the experience of being part of an NBA playoff team.

The chance is over for the Portland Trail Blazers to make the NBA Finals, as they now got swept by the Golden State Warriors. But former Sacramento King Skal Labissiere is just happy to be in the postseason for the first time in his career.

This season did not go according to plan for Labissiere. The plan had to be for him to play a part of the Sacramento Kings’ rebuild back to relevancy, but instead, the former Kentucky Wildcat got traded to Portland just as the trade deadline expired in exchange for Caleb Swanigan.

For the last two-and-a-half years, the Kings have been working on Labissiere’s development. He might have thought he was safe from being traded after adding a surprising amount of muscle last summer. Skal’s physique was the main weakness to his game, but even entering this year stronger, he still struggled to find court time with the Kings.

Skal Had The Potential, It Just Was Not Reached

Even though the Skal Labissiere era is over in Sacramento, he still has a chance to become an asset in the NBA. During his first two NBA seasons, Skal showed incredible promise.

In that 93-game span, he showed enough to convince Kings fans that he could be a stretch-four for their team going forward. But as his career with the Kings went on, inconsistency was an issue which limited the opportunities Dave Joerger gave him when game time came along.

Skal Has A Front-Row Seat

Even though Skal continues to be a deep bench player, he is getting an inside view of what great players and teams must do to make a deep run in the playoffs. The Sacramento Kings have only made the Western Conference Finals once which happened in 2002 against the Los Angeles Lakers. To see a smiling Skal enthusiastically cheering on Damian Lillard, C.J McCollum and company will make him a wiser player.

Labissiere has a total of 11 minutes of court time in the playoffs. That is 11 minutes more than most players on the Kings have experienced ever. Sometimes a trade is a blessing in disguise even when at the time it feels like the end of the world.

Skal is a good teammate who has worked hard to keep a career in the NBA. So he should keep enjoying the rest of the playoffs along with the experience of getting there.

light. Trending. Should the Kings target Nikola Vucevic?

I could not imagine this happening to a better former King who was a positive person on and off the court for the purple and white.

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