After a rough preseason, the Kings finished off with a close victory over the Los Angeles Lakers that was down to the wire. That win was definitely due in part to a unique starting five that featured Dennis Schroder, Zach LaVine, Drew Eubanks, Isaac Jones, and Nique Clifford.
Going back to 2024-2025, it had been a minute since the Kings had a preseason victory. The 2025-2026 season wasn't looking much better after losses to the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Clippers. It was a tough preseason, to say the least.
The Kings finally found a win over the Los Angeles Lakers with a score of 117 to 116. It was a close one, but a win is a win is a win. It was hard to expect a victory with the sheer number of injuries the Kings had going into the game, and the fact that they were facing Luka Doncic.
Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan were all out with injuries of varying degrees of severity. Malik Monk missed another game due to an undisclosed illness. And Russell Westbrook rode the bench for his first outing as a King. As such, the coaches got creative with their starters.
The Kings take a swing
Both Zach LaVine and Dennis Schroder were healthy, so they made up the backcourt. Rookie Nique Clifford stepped in as the small forward while Isaac Jones took on the role of power forward. Drew Eubanks stepped up and stood on business at the five.
It turned out to be a solid lineup with all five players scoring in double digits, as well as contributing relatively heavily on defense. There's still a long way to go, but there were signs of Doug Christie's defense-first style of play for the first time in any substantial way.
A major part of the victory was taking a swing on a different starting five. Yes, the Kings were forced into it by all of the injuries they're dealing with, but it's hard to deny success. Excluding LaVine, the usual starters have been largely inconsistent. The Kings needed to try something different.
The win over the Lakers proved that the Kings must dig deep into their roster to find any kind of success this season. Their usual starters are fine, but the coaches will need to mix in some young players. The team will need that energy from the start of each game to be competitive.