The Kings' first preseason game of 2025-2026 is in the books and it went down with a 130-122 loss to the Toronto Raptors. In his post-game presser, head coach Doug Christie was extremely unhappy with his team's performance, citing a lack of consistency from all parties.
Doug Christie says a lot of tonight's Sacramento Kings preseason debut was "unacceptable". pic.twitter.com/Qieaf2T5NA
— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) October 9, 2025
The key word Christie used to described his team's efforts was "unacceptable." He mentioned points in the game when he saw his starters step up and others when it was the bench who took the lead. But in Christie's words, that only totaled about a quarter and a half of the game.
It's hard to disagree with him. The only Kings' starters to walk away with double digits in points were Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine. Keep in mind that the rest of the starters averaged 23:41 minutes of playing time while Lavine only play 14:43. He made the most of his time on the court.
Simply put, the starting five were not as productive as they needed to be to carve out a win. Keegan Murray, DeMar DeRozan, and Dennis Schroder had little impact on the game. Even Sabonis was weak on the glass, only pulling down a total of four defensive rebounds and no offensive rebounds at all.
The Kings' defense was basically non-existent
Throughout training camp, Christie's emphasis was on defensive play, something the Kings have been inconsistent and mediocre at for several seasons. They ultimately let the Raptors score 130 points, which is not a sign of a good defensive effort.
To be fair, the Raptors let the Kings score 122 points, so neither team had their defensive strategy on lock last night. But given Christie's focus on defense, this outcome is worrisome for the franchise. It remains a symptom of a larger problem, specifically the unbalanced roster.
Christie's goals are both laudable and appropriate. At some point, he's going to have to accept that his unbalanced, shoot-first roster is not capable of consistently playing that way. Then, his choice will be to either go in a different direction or make some major trades leading into the deadline.
That is, of course, assuming Christie stays on that long. If the Kings' have a losing record over the first few months of the season, the front office has proven that they're not afraid to fire the coach. That being said, that cycle will just keep repeating itself unless they fix the team's roster imbalance.