Zach LaVine's post-game comment is a little arrogant, but not wholly inaccurate

The Sacramento Kings are coming off their most dominant wins of the season, powered by Zach LaVine's season-best 42-point performance. But the bigger story was his post-game comments, saying the only thing keeping him from doing this every night is getting the ball more. Interesting.

It's easy to forgive LaVine, or any other player for that matter, to feel confident after a performance like the one he had against the Heat. He put in nearly 40 minutes, scored 42 points, and shot eight for 13 from three. It was his best game of 2025-2026 to date.

More than that, the previous game was a tough one for him. He only played 19 minutes against the Rockets and took a total of five shots. LaVine closed that game out with his worst night of the season by only scoring two points on 20% shooting from the field.

When you look at those two drastically different performances back-to-back, it's actually kind of easy to see where LaVine is coming from. He took 24 shots against the Heat but only five against the Rockets. Sacramento's utilization of him seems to vary wildly from game to game.

LaVine has a point, but not the whole story

For the most part, LaVine is a reliable shooter, though there have been variations in his performances this year. Sure, some of it is due to the Kings' not getting him the ball at the right time. Some of it is also due to LaVine not delivering when his number is called.

The team's focus on defense has not sat well with LaVine, as he is a shooter's shooter first and foremost. He's seemed unsettled and unfocused this season, possibly because he knows he doesn't fit the new direction for the Kings and that a trade is coming at some point.

If you look back through his stats for 2025-2026, there are times when his shooting just isn't where it needs to be for someone whose only real contribution is shooting. Everyone has off nights, but if you're going to drop a line as LaVine did, you have to deliver every time, without fail.

It's good to see LaVine play with this level of confidence and with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. The Kings do need him shooting like that every night. Whether he ends up staying with the Kings or getting traded, Sacramento is better off with a Zach LaVine who's on his A game.