Kings need to prove themselves quickly with big wins to shut down critics

Sacramento is going into a tough season. After the 2024-2025 debacle, a painful preseason, and a long series of questionable front office decisions, the outlook isn't good. But DeMar DeRozan wants to use that to fuel the team, and change people's minds as quickly as possible.

The events of the 2024-2025 Kings' season have become somewhat legendary. They got off to a slow start, leading to the firing of then head coach Mike Brown. That directly led to long-time point guard De'Aaron Fox requesting a trade mid season that brought Zach LaVine in.

Following that, the carnage continued in the front office with a lot of changes, including general manager Monte McNair being fired. There have been a few updates and moves on the court, though not the major ones fans thought they would see in the offseason. They expected big trades.

With a new head coach, a new front office, and a team balance that remains heavily skewed towards shoot-first guards, it's not hard to understand why many pundits are having trouble seeing Sacramento as contenders. DeMar DeRozan isn't having any of that and wants them to know.

DeMar DeRozan sets the stage for the Kings

One of the DeRozan's best attributes is the fact that he doesn't hold back. He lets you know where he's at and how he's feeling. In a recent post-practice media scrum, DeMar did not hold back on what he felt about media rankings and their outlook for the Kings in 2025-2026.

It's not hard to understand his perspective. For the past few weeks, rankings of teams and individual players have consistently undervalued the Kings. That includes DeMar DeRozan. He's right to use this kind of commentary as fuel, because it comes from a very real place and he knows that.

When you step back and look at the Kings' roster, they have a team of legendary veterans, high octane players in their prime, and incredible young talent. They should be contenders but they remain a offense heavy team that is still lacking on defense needs work. It holds them back.

This is a roster structure that shouldn't work on paper and hasn't worked in practice for the Kings for the past few years. Sacramento needs to hit the ground running to change people's minds, and show everyone they have what it takes to make something out of what seems like a mess from the outside.