This season has not gone the way the Sacramento Kings had hoped it would. Their best-case scenario at this point is the ninth seed in the Western Conference, which would mean winning two play-in games (one on the road), and a first round date with the seemingly-unbeatable Oklahoma City Thunder.
Some of this is to blame on the players. Some of it sits on the shoulders of the coaching staff. But a lion's share of the finger-pointing should be in the direction of the front office. After all, they are the ones who constructed this imperfect roster.
We should have known how this would end
Heading into the trade deadline, the Kings had a lot of talent, but it didn't fit together particularly well. With Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan, and De'Aaron Fox, the Kings had three on-ball creators who didn't particularly excel in spacing or defense. This becomes even more problematic when your starting center (Domantas Sabonis) is a limited rim protector and someone who doesn't attempt a ton of threes (12th percentile in threes per 75 possessions, per Dunks & Threes).
They knew they needed a change. Plus, Fox kind of forced their hand by requesting to be traded to the San Antonio Spurs. So, at the deadline, the Kings moved five players (one of which being Fox) in exchange for Zach LaVine, Jonas Valanciunas, and Jake LaRavia.
While those are all good basketball players, they didn't fix the issues that plagued the Kings in the first place. LaVine is a great spacer (43.9% 3-point shooter), but he's got some ball-stopper tendencies that tend to bog down offenses, and he's a clear downgrade over Fox on the defensive end of the floor.
Valanciunas is reliable, powerful, and a great interior scorer. But like Sabonis, he isn't a good rim protector at the center spot, and he doesn't take enough threes (6th percentile in threes per 75) to be deemed a threat on the perimeter by opposing teams. Meanwhile, LaRavia has had a nice season, but he's far from the 3-and-D ace this team desperately needs.
On top of that, the Kings thought pairing DeRozan/LaVine together would yield positive results. Few things in basketball are known with absolute certainty, and as much as we hate to admit it, NBA front offices are a lot smarter than the casual fan.
However, we have three years of data from their time together on the Chicago Bulls (where they won only one playoff game in that time) that told us that this duo was destined to fail. And as to be expected, the Kings are 12-16 with both of them in the lineup since LaVine made his Kings' debut.
Hindsight is 20/20, and I will admit that even I was cautiously optimistic that a different supporting cast and coaching staff could lead to better results for a team featuring LaVine and DeRozan. But that just hasn't been the case, and the Kings front office deserves blame for even attempting this doomed experiment in the first place.