The Sacramento Kings are still searching for their first preseason win, and the latest stumble was the roughest one yet. Sacramento fell 110-98 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night, dropping to 0-4 and leaving more questions than answers with the regular season looming.
This one had the feel of two teams living in completely different worlds. Portland leaned into the moment and played its group deep into the second half, while Sacramento showed up severely short-handed. That imbalance showed up almost immediately, and the Kings spent much of the night looking more like a makeshift squad than a team on the verge of opening the season.
Keegan Murray was one of the few names with a chance to carry more of the load, but the results were mixed. His first preseason outing on Saturday barely registered - five points on 2-of-3 shooting, with no assists or rebounds in just under eight minutes - but this game gave him a bigger runway. He still didn’t turn it into anything close to a takeover performance.
Murray finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds while shooting 4-of-11 from the field and 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. He did flash a little of what makes him useful, including a rebound that led to a transition three, but the overall night wasn’t the kind of statement the Kings were hoping for. He’s still working back from injury, and it showed.
The larger issue was the way Sacramento functioned as a whole. The offense often looked disjointed, with possessions bogging down late in the shot clock and players forced into difficult, contested looks.
At times, it had the feel of a pickup game where nobody quite knew the next move. That kind of stagnation only magnified the absence of a true star presence on the floor.
Sacramento’s lineup was loaded with role players and end-of-the-rotation pieces, and while that mix can work in spots, it didn’t tonight. The Kings had Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Ben Simmons and Darius Acuff Jr. in the larger picture, but on this night the team’s collection of hustle players never meshed into anything dangerous.
Against a Portland group that included Damian Lillard, Ja Morant and Deni Avdija, the result was a blowout that felt settled early. Sacramento’s young players did help trim the margin late, at least giving the game a little life.
There still aren’t many answers coming out of the preseason, and that’s a problem. The Kings have been taking a very slow approach with their stars and veterans, and the limited run for key players has left the picture murky.
What has stood out, at least, is Acuff’s ceiling; he’s shown enough to suggest real star potential. Beyond that, the evaluations are thin because the minutes have been so scattered.
Doug Christie addressed the status of Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis by saying: “It’s preseason so what we really want to do is get everybody healthy and ramped up for the regular season… as soon as they are ready we will see them on the floor.”
For now, Sacramento doesn’t look like a team squeezing every last drop out of October. It looks like a team waiting it out. That’s not an ideal place to be when the organization is trying to build something sturdier, and the Kings have one more preseason game left to sort it out before their games start counting against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
In Other News...
Zach LaVine Has One Last Chance To Change His Kings Story
Ben Simmons is back in the NBA with Sacramento after stepping away for a season to focus on his mental and physical health, and his arrival adds another layer to a Kings roster that already has plenty of career-crossroads energy around it. Zach LaVine is in the same kind of prove-it space, still trying to reset the conversation around his game and his place in the league while sharing a locker room with another veteran trying to rebuild a reputation.
For LaVine, the timing matters because his Kings run has not gone the way either side wanted, and every stretch from here carries extra weight for how the rest of his stint is remembered. Sacramento is looking for signs that he can still be part of something meaningful here, but the larger question hanging over the season is whether there is enough time left for him to change the story before the next chapter arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Add Two Wings With A Chance To Earn More Than Stockton
The Kings kept their camp pipeline moving by adding a pair of wings on Exhibit 10 deals, giving Aaron Nkrumah and Damari Monsanto a path to stick in Sacramento while also setting them up for a possible bonus if they head to Stockton. Nkrumah arrives as an undrafted Tennessee State product who has been working his way through the pro ranks, while Monsanto comes in after spending last season in the G League following his time at UTSA.
Monsantos fit in the organization has been building for a while, since Stockton had already secured his returning rights before this signing. For Sacramento, the move is another low-risk look at two perimeter players who can spend training camp around the club, compete for a deeper opportunity and at minimum give the Kings minor league affiliate a couple of useful names to monitor when the season gets going. [Read more 🡒]
Precious Achiuwa Is Giving The Kings A Tough Rotation Decision
Precious Achiuwa has quickly become one of the more useful pieces in Sacramentos early-season picture, the kind of frontcourt option coaches value because he can cover different spots and help on the defensive end. His preseason stretch gave the Kings a real look at what he can do when asked to shoulder more responsibility, and the early returns made it hard to ignore how well he fit when the roster was thin.
Now the challenge is figuring out where he lands once the lineup is healthier again. Achiuwa has done enough to stay in the conversation, and his ability to bounce between positions gives Sacramento more flexibility than it had before, but that versatility also complicates the rotation math. For a team trying to settle its bench group, he has made himself tough to take out of the picture. [Read more 🡒]