The Sacramento Kings were supposed to have one of the league’s deeper benches. Six games into the season, that idea has completely flipped.
What was expected to be a strength has turned into a major problem in a 0-6 start, with Sacramento’s second unit producing almost nothing and looking, at times, like the worst bench group in the NBA.
Injuries have obviously played a role. Ben Simmons is out for the season, while Keegan Murray, Maxime Raynaud, and Dylan Cardwell are all sidelined for extended stretches. That kind of absences list would strain any rotation.
But even with those names missing, the Kings still have pieces that should count for something. Malik Monk is a former Sixth Man of the Year runner-up.
Nique Clifford was supposed to take on a bigger role in his second year. Emanuel Sharp was brought in for shooting and defense.
Alex Karaban arrived as another late first-round pick. Jonathan Mogbo and Daeqwon Plowden were expected to handle the gritty work and patch the gaps.
Instead, the group has offered very little.
Monk is the only player on the bench who profiles as a real scorer and creator, and even he hasn’t been able to lift the unit. The numbers are brutal: Sacramento’s bench ranks last in the league with 19.5 points per game, and that’s only the start of the damage. The Kings are also last in field-goal percentage at 36.0%, last in three-point percentage at 21.4%, and last in rebounds at 7.5 per game.
That’s a rough place to be when there isn’t much help coming. Even when Murray, Raynaud, and Cardwell return, none of them are high-volume scorers.
Murray can get hot, but he’s spent most of his career in more of a secondary scoring role. Raynaud had some big nights last year and averaged 12.5 points, but that came as a starter, not as a reserve.
The bigger issue may be how Sacramento built this roster. Injuries explain part of the mess, but the Kings seem to have leaned too hard into defense and not enough into offensive juice.
Clifford’s early-season slide only makes things worse. He was supposed to be one of the team’s biggest swing factors, but instead he’s been out of the rotation at times and has averaged just 1.6 points on 28.6% shooting. He hasn’t made a three, he’s pulling down only 0.4 rebounds, and his assists have fallen from 2.4 to 1.2.
Monk hasn’t been able to steady things either. He’s averaging 3.8 points and 2.8 assists while shooting 22.2% from the field and 10% from three.
Put it all together, and the bench production explains a lot about where the Kings are right now. It may not change the outlook of a season that already feels lost, but it does leave Sacramento with a lot to fix. Darius Acuff Jr. is already looking like the next franchise star, and the Kings still have 74 games left to start building something around him.
In Other News...
Jerry Reynolds Sees A Kings Problem That Goes Beyond The Starters
Jerry Reynolds has been around the Kings long enough to know when a hot start is masking a bigger issue, and his latest read on the roster went well beyond the usual talk about the starting five. The former Sacramento coach focused on rookie Darius Acuff Jr. as part of the larger picture, stressing that the young guards growth should be about balanced scoring and playmaking rather than simply piling up shots. For Reynolds, the early-season conversation in Sacramento is not just about who is producing up top, but how the team is building something that can last.
He also pointed to the workload on the starters as a warning sign, noting that the minutes have been heavy early and that the bench has to become more than an afterthought. Nique Clifford, in particular, is part of that evaluation, with Reynolds making it clear that Sacramento needs to find out what it has behind the main rotation before the season gets any deeper. He even weighed in on a proposed trade involving Anthony Black and Jalen Suggs, saying he would lean toward Blacks upside and would be wary of taking on Suggs contract. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Winless Start Is Making One Breakout Feel Complicated
The Kings 136-105 loss to the Grizzlies only deepened an ugly start to the season, but it also added a strange layer to an otherwise bleak night. Sacramento fell to 0-6 while dealing with a depleted lineup and another rough defensive showing, especially in a third quarter that got away from them when Memphis poured in 40 points.
Amid all of that, rookie Darius Acuff gave the Kings something to hold onto, setting a new Sacramento rookie scoring record with 38 points and knocking down 9 of 14 from three. It was the kind of breakout that can matter over the long haul, even if it came in a game where the bigger question remains how Sacramento turns individual flashes into something more stable. [Read more 🡒]
Kings May Be Giving Up On A Young Guard Too Soon
Nique Cliffords second season in Sacramento has taken an uneasy turn, with his playing time dropping enough to spark real questions about where he fits in the Kings long-term plans. The roster has been crowded by younger players ahead of him in the rotation, and that has put the organizations handling of its developmental pieces under a brighter spotlight than it probably wanted.
Now there is at least some outside interest to consider, with reports linking the Oklahoma City Thunder to Clifford as they navigate injuries. For the Kings, it adds another layer to an already familiar dilemma: whether to keep waiting on a young guard who has shown enough to remain intriguing, or move on before he gets a longer runway in Sacramento. [Read more 🡒]