The Sacramento Kings lost yet again, this time to the Denver Nuggets by six points. While the starters played well, the Kings left a lot of people on the bench. That includes most of their rookies who need consistent minutes to develop, particularly Dylan Cardwell and Maxime Raynaud.
So far, the 2025-2026 season has been the story of the Kings trying the same thing over and over, then wondering why it's not working. Sacramento currently has a record of two and five, putting them in the basement of both the Western Conference and the league.
What's interesting is that the starters and regular benchers all played well. Seven of the nine players who hit the court were in double digits. Both Domantas Sabonis and Russell Westbrook finished the game with double-doubles. On the other hand, Devin Carter finished with zeroes in every stat.
The Kings had the offense to win
Keeping in mind that Zach LaVine had his quietest scoring night of the regular season, the Kings were still shooting well. The problem was the other end of the court. Collectively, the whole team had one block and five steals. The Nuggets had five blocks and nine steals.
It's hard to win a game with such a huge discrepancy in those areas. The Nuggets would have destroyed the Kings in rebounding, too, if it wasn't for Sabonis and Westbrook who combined for 29 of the Kings 47 rebounds. Additionally, 24 of those 29 rebounds were on defense.
The Kings play roughly the same group of guys every game and get a close loss the majority of the time. In their previous game, they actually managed to beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in part due to putting some of their normally benched players on the court. It made a difference.
Sacramento needs to mix it up more
Nique Clifford, who recently got back from an injury, has been a standout rookie for the Kings. Last night, he dropped eight points, one rebound, three assists, and the Kings' only block of the evening, all in slightly over 11 minutes. That's solid for a recently injured rookie.
Both Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell also played well in the preseason, but have seen inconsistent usage in the regular season. This is slowing down their development, not to mention making the Kings predictable. If you're the Kings' opponent, you know exactly who you're facing.
It's crazy that the Kings can find almost three and a half minutes to let Carter do nothing on the court while Cardwell and Raynaud ride the bench with Isaac Jones and Daeqwon Plowden. The team has options. They just have to start using them with some consistency.