On Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings defeated the shorthanded Golden State Warriors 123-117. The game was filled with many interesting twists and tactical wrinkles, but one storyline that is really worth talking about is Kevin Huerter's minutes.
Maybe a better way to frame it is Huerter's lack of minutes. That's because, against the Warriors, Huerter logged just five minutes and 48 seconds. It is also worth noting that Huerter did not see a lick of playing time during the Kings' second half comeback. This is a major fall from grace for a player who started all but five of the 139 games he played for the team in the two seasons prior to this one.
This is part of an ongoing trend in the Doug Christie era with Huerter. In the 12 games since Christie was named the team's interim head coach, Huerter has only been playing 15.2 minutes per game. To make matters worse, he has only played eight minutes per game in the last three contests. Those numbers are a far cry from the 25.3 minutes per game he was playing under Mike Brown (27 games).
Huerter seems to be falling further and further out of the rotation with each passing day. Instead, with Malik Monk now in the starting lineup, Christie has been leaning on guys like Keon Ellis, Devin Carter, and Trey Lyles to play step-up off the bench.
From our point of view, it seems like Christie and the Kings have lost faith that the once-great sharpshooter's lethal jumper will return to him. And given how well the team is playing and Huerter's significant salary (16.8 million dollar cap hit this season), it seems all the more likely that the team will opt to use him as a matching salary in any trade they may be apart (although it likely won't be for Cameron Johnson).
Huerter's name has been involved in trade rumors since the offseason, but optimists were still holding out hope that last year was just a down season and Red Velvet would regain his 2022-23 form in 2024-25. However, now it seems like that ship has sailed and that Huerter will be involved in the next significant trade the Kings make.