A Royal Pain
Fansided

Sacramento Kings have bigger issues after having NBA Cup dreams gashed

By Mat Issa

Nov 22, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (10) reacts to a call during the second half against the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Nov 22, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (10) reacts to a call during the second half against the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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On Friday, the Sacramento Kings fell to the Los Angeles Clippers 104-88, putting them at 0-2 in NBA Cup Group Play, which is dead last in their cohort.

While we don't know anything for certain, we can basically put a bow in the Kings for the rest of the NBA Cup. Last season, no team with two losses or more moved on from the Group Play stage. So, even if the Kings won their last two Group Play games, they are probably cooked for this in-season competition.

Sacramento Kings don't look great

The Kings have bigger problems on their hands than the NBA Cup, though. Against the Clippers, the team's horrid shooting continued, as the team shot just 20% from downtown (7-for-35).

After beating the Phoenix Suns last week, we thoughtthat the Kings' shooting may be on the up and up. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. For the season, the team is still just 24th in 3-point %.

The Kings don't even take that many threes to begin with. They are just 22nd in 3-point attempts per game. Usually, when you don't shoot a lot of threes, you at least have a higher 3-point percentage (because you are more selective about the types of threes you take).

Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter, Doug McDermott, and Trey Lyles are supposed to be the team's best 3-point shooters, but none of them are shooting over 33.8% from three.

To make matters worse, you can't say that the Kings lost their game to the Clippers because of shooting variance. The Clippers only shot 23.8% from three (10-for-42), so that means they just outplayed the Kings (despite Sacramento being the healthier team).

As it stands, the Kings are now 8-8 and 12th in the loaded Western Conference. Yes, they've had some injury problems to start the year, but the new-look Kings are looking very mid right now. In the Eastern Conference, that wouldn't be too big of a deal. But in the West, that could spell another season without the postseason.

The Kings need to get hot soon, or else their dreams of making their first deep playoff run in two decades will never be fully realized.

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