Sure, the Sacramento Kings have had a terrible season, starting with their first game of the 2025-2026 campaign. The team and their fans as accustomed to losing. But last night felt different as the Kings had nine active players and eight out injured, and it all happened after winning two games.
As it stands right now, the Kings are no longer the worst team in the league. Picking up two victories in a row bumped them up a spot in the league's standings, putting the Pacers dead last. Don't worry; Sacramento remains the team with the absolute worst record in the Western Conference.
Some fans and pundits are concerned a slightly improved record will impact the Kings' chances of getting a top draft lottery pick. As long as they stay in the bottom three of the league, they are good. The three teams with the worst records all have 14% chance of getting the number one pick.
It only starts to become a problem if the Kings keep winning and the other basement dwelling teams keep losing. In that scenario, it wouldn't take much for the Kings to suddenly find themselves the fourth worst team in the league and knocked out of the coveted top three lottery spots.
Are the Kings tanking, or just really bad?
That's why what happened in last night's game is so suspicious, at least from a tanking perspective. Sacramento went into their match against the Hornets with eight players out. Sure, that includes several players with long-term injuries who have missed a lot of games. That's not the problem.
After putting in some solid efforts in recent games, Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, and Devin Carter all sat out. This was especially difficult for Carter who was coming off a career game against the Pacers the night before. It seemed odd that all three of them would be out at the same time.
The Kings gave some nebulous injury reasons relating to "general soreness." Both Monk and Westbrook have been dealing with nagging injuries, and Carter did appear to injure himself late in the Pacers game. Still, benching them all after winning two in a row is more than a little suspect.
There's no real evidence to support the idea that the Kings intentionally lost against the Hornets, other than coincidental timing. Plus, the Kings don't need to try to lose. With a record of 16 and 51 so far this season, it seems like they're more than capable of losing naturally.