Beating the reigning champions was a long shot for the Sacramento Kings at best. Still, the team needs to try everything and that includes getting more players on the court. The Kings kept five players on the bench the entire game, including one or two who could have made a difference.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the top team in the NBA, and for good reason. They are the 2024-2025 NBA Champions, led by the NBA MVP, the WCF MVP, the Finals MVP, and the NBA scoring champion, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It was always going to be a tough match for the Kings.
Despite six injuries to key players including Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, OKC won the game 107 to 101. Sacramento went into the game with four injured players like Keegan Murray and Nique Clifford. All things considered, the loss could have been much, much worse.
The Kings missed opportunities
At the same time, the Kings had options they didn't really put out there. OKC had 12 players available and played 11 of them. On the other hand, the Kings had 14 players available but only played nine of them. Five Kings' players did not didn't touch the court due to the coach's decision.
That list is Dario Saric, Isaac Jones, Doug McDermott, Dylan Cardwell, and Maxime Raynaud. No one is suggesting that some combination of these five men being in the game would have saved the win. At the same time, what the Kings were doing wasn't working. Maybe try something else.
Both Drew Eubanks and Devin Carter got relatively significant minutes, but were also quiet on the court. Malik Monk and Dennis Schroder were also less productive than usual. Plus, the starters all played 30 to 35 minutes during the game. There was time to work with.
Dylan Cardwell in particular should have played
Drew Eubanks is usually a solid backup for Sabonis, who picked up another double-double featuring 18 rebounds. Unfortunately, Eubanks had a rough go with zero points, four rebounds, one steal, and one block in almost 13 minutes. His defense was helpful, but not enough for the win.
Dylan Cardwell has had a couple of reasonably good performances so far in the regular season. There was no reason to not give him a few minutes and see if he could rise to the occasion. The same is true of Raynaud, who has been on the bench all season.
The Kings threw their best at OKC and came up short. There may have been an opportunity to put other players on the court and change up the game plan. OKC is an amazing team, but they're not unbeatable. Sending the young guns to take them on might have put them on their heels.