Lately, it feels like all we hear is bad news about the Sacramento Kings. To be fair, this offseason hasn't exactly instilled great confidence in the team or the front office's insistence on chasing shiny objects that might not help them.
But it would be nice to hear something reassuring about this team. Thankfully, there is cause for celebration because the Kings have a couple of star players who can produce big numbers in the clutch.
LaVine and DeRozan make fourth-quarter magic together
Writing for Bleacher Report, Greg Swartz talked about which players should take the last shot for their teams. Unsurprisingly, names like LaMelo Ball, Victor Wembanyama, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all made the list.
For the Kings, Swartz chose Zach LaVine but also gave a special shout-out to DeMar DeRozan.
"LaVine's 6.7 points in the final quarter came on a super-efficient 52.3 percent shooting from three, far greater than DeRozan's 32.1 percent mark. While DeRozan is more of a predictable mid-range scorer, LaVine is effective from all three levels," Swartz wrote, while suggesting that these two "share duties down the stretches of games" in the 2025-26 season.
LaVine is scoring 6.7 points in the fourth, while DeRozan is producing 6.5. In short, they have both shown that when the clock is winding down, they don't hide from the pressure; they embrace it.
This is one of the many positive features that should come with acquiring seasoned veterans, and it is undeniably great news. The big problem, of course, is that the games often aren't close enough to make it matter. Why do LaVine's 6.7 points and DeRozan's 6.5 mean anything if the margin of victory is larger than that? The Kings are happy to see these two perform well in the final 12 minutes of the game, but it doesn't have much of an impact if victory is already out of reach.
There are plenty of reasons to be disappointed by the trade for LaVine, but Sacramento should commend him and DeRozan for being such great fourth-quarter performers and then find ways to make games closer so their hard work pays off. This means developing the young players in the lineup and putting special attention into defense so opponents can't run up the scoreboard.
Producing points in the fourth quarter is obviously vital, but having two great clutch players doesn't solve all of the Kings' problems.