Kings' dismal start to the season is even worse than you think

It hasn't been a pretty start to the season for the Sacramento Kings. They currently have a record of one and four, and the majority of those losses are games the Kings should have won. As bad as the season has appeared to be so far, the stat rankings show things are much, much worse.

As you peruse this list of rankings by stat, really drink in the fact that the Kings are below 20 in every single one of them. There are 30 teams in the NBA, and the Kings are currently in the bottom third of the league in every key stat listed in the above post from Frankie Cartoscelli at Sactown Sports 1140.

In case you're wondering, that's an average placement of 27 out of 30 across in those listed stats. As you've probably already worked out for yourself, that's not good. An average ranking of 27th only five games into the current season is not where a team wants to be after a terrible run last season.

To be fair to the Kings, Frankie has only listed the worst of the worst in his post. As an example, the Kings are currently sitting at 19th in the league in assists per game and 14th in opponent's points per game. Those numbers paint a bit more complete picture, though the outlook still isn't great.

It's no one person's fault. In fact, it's quite literally everyone's fault. The whole franchise is broken and no one seems like they want to do anything substantial about it. After the debacle of 2024-2025, the Kings needed a full rebuild on the court. And it still needs to happen.

Time to gut the Kings' roster

The Kings' offseason was way too quiet. They're biggest roster change was acquiring Russell Westbrook. No offense meant, but that would have been a big deal ten years ago. Sure, he's still a great player. He's also not the MVP-era Russell. No team is going to win a title based solely on him.

Everyone knows the Kings' roster is broken except the Kings. Season after season, they make minor changes to an unbalanced team structure that cannot win and blame the coaches when it doesn't work. If Doug Christie makes it through the entire season, that would be a shock.

Keep Domantas Sabonis, Nique Clifford, Dylan Cardwell, Keon Ellis, Maxime Raynaud, and maybe Zach LaVine. Literally everyone else on the roster is fair game. Go crazy. Tell the front office to put on their big boy pants and make some trades, already. The Kings need playmakers and defenders. Now.

But they won't. Why? Because they haven't. The same problem has existed since the ownership change, meaning the desire to do something different and do it better has to come from the top. What the Kings are doing now is the same as what they've been doing for years.