SACRAMENTO -- The Kings’ 1-10 start has worn on Darius Acuff Jr. to the point where the usually composed rookie sounded spent after Tuesday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic.
Acuff, who had already waited seven games to celebrate his first NBA win when Sacramento beat the Dallas Mavericks over a week ago, watched the Kings come home for a seven-game homestand and immediately stumble. They dropped four straight at Golden 1 Center, falling to the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Magic to open the stretch 0-4.
The Lakers and Spurs were expected to be tough nights, but the Heat and Magic losses stung more. Sacramento had chances to come away with at least one of those games, and maybe even split the homestand to this point. Instead, the Kings are one of three teams in the NBA already sitting on 10 losses.
“1-10 just don’t sound right,” Acuff said postgame.
His frustration was obvious. The 19-year-old, normally known for his calm demeanor, struggled to put into words how the losses have piled up.
“When the clock says zero and we lost,” he said. “I don’t understand.
I don’t know. I don’t know what to do, man.
I feel like we’re trying. Everybody as a whole.
We’re just not coming out with the win. It’s just, I don’t know, man.”
For Acuff, this is unfamiliar ground. Losing is not something that fits his makeup, and it has started to take a toll.
“A lot,” he said when asked how much the 1-10 start is affecting him. “I’m not a loser, so it’s not fun. But like I said, it’s an 82-game season, so hopefully something will shake.”
Acuff still produced Tuesday, finishing with 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting, plus four rebounds, six assists, four turnovers and two steals in 40 minutes. Through 11 games, he’s averaging 26.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists while logging a league-high 37-plus minutes per game.
Even with those numbers, the same message about patience has started to wear thin.
“I mean, yeah, we’ve been saying that for five games now, so it’s kind of hard to keep saying that without actually doing it,” Acuff said. “We just got to go out there and actually do it.
We’re on the court playing. There’s nobody playing but ourselves.
Like I said, we just got to get better as a team. And to answer your question, it’s just kind of the second half, it’s kind of frustrating.
It’s like the first half we come out with energy, and then in the third quarter sometimes we don’t, and then we do. And then the fourth quarter, the last five minutes of a game, we just can’t put it together as a team.
“I think we’re trying. We’re talking as a staff, as a team. But like I said, when the clock hits zero, we just lose, and that’s the most frustrating part.”
Zach LaVine had his own issues Tuesday, including five turnovers, and said he’s “been in the league too damn long” to make those kinds of mistakes. Still, the veteran guard tried to keep the bigger picture in view.
“I mean, there’s going to be outside people saying things. There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing,” LaVine said.
“I think, for us, we got to try to stay together from the front office down. We all have the same record right now, and it’s us versus everybody else.
So that’s how we have to look at it. We have to try to figure out as a unit how are we going to, you know, start putting together more games where we can give ourselves a chance to win.
We’re trending in the right area.
“It feels a lot better out there. We’ve done a lot of better things, but we just got to clean up the small mistakes, myself included, to where we put together a full 48.
I think then we get that satisfaction to where we win a game, and maybe we can start getting a couple more and more. The situation is what it is, but this is our job, and we have to figure out, at least as a vet myself, to keep guys uplifted, bring it each and every day, bring it in practice, regardless how you’re feeling, I think that’s just part of it.
So I’m going to.”
The mood around the room matched the record. Most of the locker room had cleared out before media entered, but De’Andre Hunter did address the loss, and his answers were blunt.
“Very high,” he said when asked about the frustration level.
Asked what needs to be cleaned up, he didn’t hesitate.
“Everything,” he said. “Just not good enough.”
The Kings’ start may not have been expected to be smooth, but 1-10 is still a rougher opening than anyone likely imagined. Right now, frustration is the loudest thing around the team.
Hunter said the only thing left to lean on is motivation.
“That’s all we have is motivation,” Hunter said. “With losing, you can’t really build any chemistry.
No team camaraderie. But we just got motivation about the next game.”
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After the loss to Orlando, Zach LaVine made it clear the Kings are already adjusting around the rise of rookie Darius Acuff Jr. LaVine said his role is shifting to support the young guard, who has quickly emerged as Sacramentos primary scorer, and he acknowledged his own turnovers as part of what went wrong in the game. For a team still searching for the right offensive balance, the message was less about one rough night and more about where the Kings are headed.
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Plumlee is entering his 14th NBA season, and the structure of the deal gives the Kings some flexibility while they sort through their frontcourt plans. The contract is prorated and carries a guarantee date of January 10, with Sacramento needing to waive him by January 7 to avoid the full salary becoming guaranteed, which keeps the focus on how long the team intends to keep him around. [Read more 🡒]