The Sacramento Kings are off to a rough 0-4 start, but Darius Acuff Jr. has already flashed enough to make it easy to see why the franchise is leaning into him early. The rookie has jumped right into a featured role, and the shot volume alone tells the story.
Acuff ranks second in the NBA in field goals attempted with 93, trailing only Anthony Edwards, who has taken 104. At 23.3 attempts per game, the 19-year-old is being given the kind of offensive freedom most rookies never see. The problem is what has happened when those shots go up.
Through four games, Acuff is averaging 8.0 made field goals per night, which works out to roughly 34.4% shooting from the field. From three-point range, he’s taking 8.5 attempts per game and hitting just 20.6%. The raw numbers are hard to ignore, even with the heavy workload.
His first game was a struggle, with 12 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 5-24 shooting and 0-7 from deep. He answered with his best outing so far against the Blazers, pouring in a career-high 33 points, two rebounds, and four assists while going 10-26 from the field and 2-11 from three.
By his third game, there was already a little more rhythm. Acuff put up 22 points, three rebounds, and seven assists on 9-23 shooting and 2-9 from beyond the arc. In Tuesday night’s loss to the Spurs, he finished with 19 points, three rebounds, and five assists on 8-20 shooting, including 3-7 from deep.
Even with the efficiency concerns, the broader production has been encouraging. Acuff is averaging 21.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game, and he ranks second among rookies in scoring.
The volume also places him in rare company across the league. His 23.3 field goal attempts per game rank behind only Edwards at 26.0, while putting him ahead of Brandon Miller at 23.0, Luka Doncic at 22.8, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at 22.5.
That kind of freedom suggests Sacramento sees something real in him. And while Doncic is leading the league in scoring at 34.3 points per game and Gilgeous-Alexander ranks third in field goals made at 10.8 per game, the Kings can only hope Acuff eventually matches that kind of production and efficiency.
For now, Sacramento is still searching for its first win. After a 130-103 loss to the Spurs, the Kings head to New Orleans to face the Pelicans on Thursday, Oct. 29.
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The lineup data points to a team still searching for the right mix, with Sacramento yet to put together a positive net rating group that has played more than five minutes together this season. One encouraging wrinkle is that Acuff has looked better away from Zach LaVine, while rookie Emanuel Sharp has given the Kings some of the spacing and defensive presence that can help cover for the young guards rough edges. The puzzle is less about whether Acuff can help and more about which combinations actually make his development and the teams structure work at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Rookie Darius Acuff Is Forcing A Bigger Sacramento Question
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Acuffs start only sharpens the bigger question around Sacramento: how quickly does this become more than a promising rookie stretch and into a real part of the teams identity? He already owns the franchise mark for the highest single-game scoring output by a teenager in a home game, but the bigger impression has been his insistence that winning comes first. For a Kings team looking for answers, that kind of production paired with that mindset makes it hard to ignore what comes next. [Read more 🡒]