The Sacramento Kings have plenty to clean up after a 22-win season, but the most obvious fixes aren’t the only ones worth watching. Yes, their three-point shooting was a mess - they finished last in the league at 10.3 made threes per game - and getting that number back toward league average is an easy place to start. Scott Perry has also put together a roster that should help, with Darius Acuff Jr. leading the charge from deep.
Still, there’s another issue buried in the numbers that could matter just as much: the Kings barely got to the rim.
That matters because the simplest formula for a good offense is still the one everybody knows - threes and layups. Sacramento had the threes problem last season, but it also had a serious problem generating shots at the basket.
And when the Kings did get there, they were efficient. They shot 69.5% in the restricted area, which ranked sixth in the league.
The issue was volume.
The Kings averaged only 20.1 attempts inside the circle per game, second-fewest in the NBA. That translated to just 14.0 made field goals in the restricted area per contest, tied with the Phoenix Suns for second-worst in the league and only ahead of the Boston Celtics.
The Suns and Celtics could live with that because they were firing away from three - 40.8 and 42.1 attempts per game, respectively. Sacramento didn’t have that kind of cushion.
A lot of that drop-off came from Domantas Sabonis, who led the team with 6.6 restricted-area attempts per game. Precious Achiuwa was next at 3.8.
Sabonis ranked fifth in the league in that category, while Achiuwa was 84th. Sabonis missing most of the season explains a lot of it, but the Kings can’t bank on him carrying the entire interior attack if a trade is on the table at some point this season.
That puts pressure on the young bigs too. Rookie Maxime Raynaud averaged 2.5 attempts per game in the restricted area, while Dylan Cardwell was at 2.1.
For both players, creating more physical presence around the rim will be part of the job. Cardwell didn’t take many shots overall, but Raynaud did find plenty of work in the floater zone, where he averaged 4.9 attempts per game just outside the restricted area.
He shot 54.7% there, but that still trails the 74.6% he posted in the restricted area.
Acuff’s arrival should help the whole operation. He can attack the rim himself, and he should also help create chances for others through the pick-and-roll and on cuts to the basket.
The Kings don’t need to turn into a contender overnight. But this is the stage of the rebuild where progress has to show up somewhere. More shots at the rim, more threes, and a better overall offensive profile would be a solid place to begin.
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The outlook for the coming year reflects how much work remains, with projections landing in the same frustrating range and suggesting another season near the bottom of the West. For fans trying to find a reason to stay engaged, the intrigue is less about the record chase and more about which of the new faces can start to matter in a rebuild that is expected to stretch across the next few seasons. [Read more 🡒]