Man, a couple of weeks can make quite the difference. Not too long ago, fans and analysts were already saying that the Sacramento Kings needed to trade their recently acquired All-Star in the offseason.
The reason for their beliefs were simple: you can't win with Zach LaVine. Yes, he's a great shooter and scorer, but the numbers he puts up are of the empty-calorie variety.
These criticisms were never valid (although one can argue that his immense salary makes him difficult to build around), but for a moment, they appeared to be so. LaVine struggled in the early part of his Kings' tenure. In his first seven games in uniform, the team went 3-4, and LaVine averaged a pedestrian 20.3 PPG on 55.4% true shooting.
Zach LaVine wins Western Conference Player of the Week
Since that bumpy start, LaVine has looked more like the player the Kings had hoped he'd be when they decided to move off De'Aaron Fox for him. In his last four games, LaVine has averaged 26.5 PPG on 77.3% true shooting.
Those are great numbers, right? That means the Kings must have lost those games. You know, since LaVine is an empty-calorie scorer. As you can probably tell from the sarcasm in those sentences, that is the exact opposite of what has happened.
The Kings have won their last four games, pushing their record to 32-28 and putting them at eighth in the Western Conference. They are now only one game back from the sixth-seed Golden State Warriors, so they have a realistic chance of getting a top six seed and avoiding the play-in tournament.
We're not the only ones recognizing LaVine's splendid play of late. On Monday, the league as a whole honored Lavine by gifting him with the Western Conference Player of the Week award for the 19th week of the NBA season.
NBA Players of the Week for Week 19.
— NBA (@NBA) March 3, 2025
West: Zach LaVine (@SacramentoKings)
East: Jalen Brunson (@nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/QwILCanT8i
This is the first time in LaVine’s 11-year career that he has taken home a Player of the Week Award. He did not get this award with the Minnesota Timberwolves, nor did he did during his time with the Chicago Bulls. LaVine is only the ninth player since the 1998-99 season to earn this award while sporting a Kings' uniform.
As the graphic above shows, the Eastern Conference Player of the Week was Jalen Brunson. And considering all the love and admiration he gets from fans, that's some pretty good company to be in if you're LaVine.