Winners and Losers from Sacramento Kings 2022 preseason
Loser from Sacramento Kings preseason: Kent Bazemore and Quinn Cook
This is in no way a knock on either of these two NBA veterans, both being NBA Champions and valuable assets to an NBA locker room. That locker room could still exist, it just isn’t in Sacramento.
The Kings released both Bazemore and Cook to get their roster down to 15 players. It should be expected both will be on NBA rosters again at some point soon, but as of right now, they are losers from the Kings preseason.
Cook and Bazemore played in two preseason games each. Neither had much court time. Younger players naturally get more run during the exhibition games, but the releases of both veterans show they didn’t do enough for the coaching staff to keep them around entering the regular season. Hopefully, they’ll both be on NBA rosters sooner than later.
light. Related Story. Players the Kings need to step up
Winner from Sacramento Kings preseason: Trey Lyles
Trey Lyles has shown flashes of being a capable shooter in the NBA. His big issue has been doing it with any level of consistency. Before being traded from the Detroit Pistons to the Kings last season, Lyles was shooting 30.1 percent from behind the arc. In 24 games with the Kings, the Kentucky product was able to knock down 36.5 percent of his outside shots.
With a role in the rotation possible but needing to be earned, Lyles stepped up in the Kings preseason games. He hit 7-15 (46.7 percent) of his outside shots across the four games, including a 4-6 performance in the Kings preseason finale.
This Kings team still lacks the floor stretching a modern team desires. Despite adding shooting in the offseason, it’s one of the biggest question marks for this group entering the 2022-23 season. Lyles took advantage of the preseason opportunity and likely earned himself another chance for a significant role in the Kings rotation.