The Sacramento Kings chalked up another preseason loss against the Portland Trailblazers. When you look at the starting lineup, it's obvious victory wasn't top of mind for the Kings. It was more about running players through their paces to make final roster decisions before the regular season.
Going into this game, Sactown fans knew Maxime Raynaud would be on the bench. His knee injury will keep him out of action for an indeterminate amount of time. What fans didn't know was how much company Raynaud would have as the inactive list for Sacramento was incredibly long.
Darius Acuff, Dylan Cardwell, De'Andre Hunter, Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, Domantas Sabonis, and Ben Simmons were all listed as, "Inactive - Coach's Decision." On top of that, Adam Flagler just didn't play at all. The only starters who did play were Precious Achiuwa and Keegan Murray.
The Blazers, on the other hand, had much different ideas. Their starters were Damian Lillard, Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan, and Scoot Henderson. Plus, Ja Morant and Jrue Holiday both got significant minutes. It's honestly surprising the Kings only lost by 12.
There's a method in the madness of the Kings' coaching staff
Sacramento's final preseason game is on Friday, October 16 with their first regular season game following that on Wednesday, October 21. That time is going to fly by, and the Kings still have a number of roster decisions to make between now and then to be ready for opening day.
At this point, the Kings still need to choose who will fill the final main roster spot. On top of that, they also have a two-way contract left to hand out. Once both of those positions are filled, Sacramento will then have to cut one guy to get down to the maximum number of eligible players for the season.
The Kings are resting the players they already know what they're doing with. There's no point in running Acuff or Sabonis right now, as Sacramento knows those two are starting. Besides, every minute their core players are on the court risks another Raynaud situation popping up.
These final preseason games are the last opportunities to see any bubble players in action before decision time. That's why you have Leaky Black and Elfrid Payton starting instead of Simmons and Acuff. Yes, it was another loss, but it was also a calculated loss that's part of the bigger picture.
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