The Kings continue to be one of the most frustrating teams in the league this season 

Kings fans have been through a lot. They suffered through years and years of losing and draft busts. Last season was heaven for Sacramento fans. The Kings exceeded expectations, secured the third seed in the West, and battled in the playoffs.

Everything seemed set for a bright future, but this season has been anything but smooth. Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox, and Malik Monk have all made significant strides, and they beat some of the best teams in the league. 

At the same time, the Kings keep losing to bad teams, however, taking fans on an emotional roller coaster. Several of their wins against the Thunder, the Timberwolves, and the Nuggets, for example, have been incredibly encouraging only for the Kings to fall apart the next game. 

It is incredibly frustrating and makes it difficult to trust that this team will find postseason success now. Pistons, Spurs, Wizards, and Trail Blazers fans, among others, don’t have it easy either, but at least their teams are consistently bad and will get lottery picks out of it. The Kings should be playing much better than this. 

The Kings fall back into old patterns

To cap off February, the Kings had a chance to sweep the Nuggets in the season series. Without De’Aaron Fox, they fell apart, losing 117-96. As a response, Trey Lyles initiated a players-only meeting and the team battled to get a tough win in Minnesota without their All-Star guard and Domantas Sabonis sitting on the bench in overtime with six fouls. 

The momentum seemed to have shifted. This could have been the tipping point, the game to send the Kings on a much-needed win streak to secure a playoff spot. It wasn’t. The Kings came home to Sacramento and lost to the short-handed Chicago Bulls by giving up a sizable lead twice. Again. 

This team just doesn’t seem to be able to play well against short-handed teams or hold on to a lead and take home the win. Once up, it seems they let go off the gas offensively and stop being locked in defensively. It has cost them several games already this season and needs to change. Losses to teams like Detroit, Charlotte, Houston, Chicago, and Portland could very well be the difference between securing a playoff spot and having to battle in the play-in. 

The end of the season is coming closer and closer, and the Kings need to take care of the games they are supposed to win and not give up any lead once they have it. Otherwise, we might all carry this frustration into the offseason. Hopefully, this game was a wake-up call, and the Kings will play up to their potential for the rest of the regular season.