The Sacramento Kings already have enough shot-making to keep the offense humming, which is why Darius Acuff Jr.’s passing may end up mattering just as much as his scoring.
Acuff arrives with a scorer’s reputation, and it’s easy to see why. As a freshman at Arkansas, he led the SEC in points with 23.5 per game and poured in a career-high 49 in a double-overtime loss to then-No.
25 Alabama. He has the kind of offensive game that can hurt defenses from multiple levels, and he knows how to get to the spots he wants.
But Sacramento’s roster changes the conversation. With Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis on hand, the Kings already have proven scoring options.
Injuries limited those two to 41 combined games last season, but when they’re healthy, they bring more than 40 points per game together. That makes the case for Acuff as more than just another bucket-getter.
Matt George, host of “The Matt and Kayla Show,” said the Kings are better off leaning into what LaVine and Sabonis already do best rather than turning the offense into a possession-by-possession scoring contest.
“The Kings, I would say, not just want, need Zach LaVine to be back to the efficient shooter he was in Chicago before the Kings traded for him,” George said. “The Kings need to, I think, utilize Domantas Sabonis in the absolute best way they can, which historically has been playing through him.”
That matters even more with the new lottery reform rules in place. Sacramento has to win next season, and its veterans give it the clearest path to doing that and avoiding draft relegation.
None of that means Acuff should fade into the background. He was the SEC’s assists leader too, averaging 6.3 per game, and posted career-high 13-assist games against South Carolina on Jan. 14 and Texas on March 4. He’s a score-first point guard, but the Kings will need him to blend that instinct with the flow of the offense.
George sees that balance as the key to Acuff’s future.
“The undersized scoring guard, as we know, is aging out,” George said. “If you could be a facilitator, in addition to a lights-out shooter and scorer, then I think the Kings have struck gold.”
Acuff’s best playmaking moments should come when he gets into the paint. Once he draws help and bends the defense, the floor opens up - a corner shooter can be left alone, or a back-door cut can appear. If he reads those options quickly, the assists will come in bunches.
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