Sacramento Kings first-half player grades

The Sacramento Kings will come out of the NBA all-star break holding the third-best record in the western conference with 25 games left to play. They have exceeded even the most optimistic predictions for their play and hopefully, they can maintain their level of play to snap their long playoff drought when the season comes to an end.

57 games is no small sample size. That means there is more than enough film and outcomes to get fair and meaningful grades for most players. It’s also a great time to get these grades because everyone has enough time to improve their grade for the season over the final stretch run.

The Kings can still secure a potential target or two on the buyout market if they’d like to pursue that route toward getting better. If not, everything will need to come from within and some of these players’ grades will need to be much better out of the break.

We’re only going to include players that have made at least 10 appearances for the Kings this season. That means you won’t see PJ Dozier or Deonte Burton, who played in a combined six games during their respective ten-day contracts.

That also means Kessler Edwards, who was just acquired by the Kings before the deadline, won’t appear either. It’ll be broken down by roles, from the least significant to the most important group.

Sacramento Kings first-half player grades: End of the bench

Alex Len: F

Not to be too harsh here, but an F is the only real option there is for Len. Whether his own fault or not, Len has simply not worked out this year for the Kings.

There is a fair debate to be had over whether or not this is his fault at all. The fit was never great on paper this year. With that being said, Len has had plenty of opportunities to prove himself worthy of a role and has failed to do so all season long.

That isn’t to say he should have dominated in his lone start on the year. That game isn’t even important. The fact that Len has been unable to get opportunities all season long despite the Kings lack of size behind Domantas Sabonis proves that Len hasn’t shown any juice in practice or at the facility in general.

Matthew Dellavedova: D+

Another player that can’t be easily graded, Dellavedova has appeared in just 24 games this season. Those games have seen him average just 6.1 minutes per contest, though.

Unlike Len, Delly hasn’t had an opportunity arise for more minutes this season. Like when he was signed originally he remains a player that is there for leadership and mentorship more than anything he can or can’t do on the court.

His availability and that mentorship role give him a slight boost. Unfortunately, you can’t get graded much higher when you are barely asked to play when games actually matter.