Sacramento’s 0-4 start has put one question right in the middle of the Kings’ season: can Doug Christie keep rolling with the Darius Acuff Jr.-Zach LaVine backcourt, or is it already time to split them up?
Right now, that pairing is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in minutes, but not enough in results. Acuff and LaVine have shared 60% of Sacramento’s minutes, and when they’re out there together, the numbers have been brutal. The Kings are carrying a -23.7 net rating with that duo on the floor, along with a 106.9 offensive rating and a 130.5 defensive rating, according to Databallr.
That’s the problem in a nutshell: the Kings have shot creators, but not enough two-way balance. Acuff and LaVine can both go off for 30 or more on efficient nights.
Acuff has already done it once, putting up 33 against the Portland Trail Blazers, while LaVine has reached 37 against the Memphis Grizzlies. In theory, that kind of scoring gives Sacramento a dependable late-game answer.
In practice, it hasn’t looked that way. Nearly half of the Kings’ made field goals are unassisted, a sign of an offense leaning hard on isolation or one-on-one guard play.
The bigger issue is what happens on the other end. Neither Acuff nor LaVine has been able to handle perimeter matchups the way Sacramento needs.
Acuff is undersized at 6-foot-3, and the 12-year veteran doesn’t have the lateral burst to stay with quicker scorers. That has pushed De'Andre Hunter and Keegan Murray into damage-control mode, often covering for the backcourt by taking on the tougher perimeter work and helping the Kings hide weaker defenders on less dangerous threats like a corner shooter.
But that solution only goes so far. Against teams with multiple scoring options, like Portland, one of Acuff or LaVine can’t duck the toughest assignment.
He has to defend, and that starts eating into the legs early. The cost shows up later, when Sacramento needs a bucket and the same players are expected to bail them out again.
So yes, breaking up the backcourt makes sense on paper. The catch is that Christie’s options are limited.
He’s not sitting the 19-year-old Acuff, who is the franchise’s prized possession, the seventh pick, and the player the organization believes can lead the rebuild. General manager Scott Perry wants to build around Acuff, and he’ll have the assets and financial flexibility to do that next offseason.
That leaves LaVine as the obvious candidate to move, but there’s a catch there too. He’s making $48.9 million this season, and it’s the final year of his deal.
Around the league, that kind of money changes the equation. Teams don’t usually park a player on superstar salary because they still need what he gives them.
For now, Christie may not have much choice but to ride with the Acuff-LaVine combination, flaws and all, until the team steadies itself or the veteran gets dealt elsewhere.
In Other News...
Doug Christie Pressure Is Rising Faster Than Kings Fans Expected
Doug Christie arrived with the kind of goodwill that usually buys a coach some patience, but the early returns have not given Kings fans much reason to relax. After taking over following Mike Browns departure, Christie inherited a team that was already facing pressure to prove it could keep moving forward, and the results since then have only sharpened the scrutiny around the job he is doing in Sacramento.
The Kings stumbled to a 22-60 finish in the 2025-2026 season, then opened the 2026-2027 campaign with four straight losses, a stretch that has only deepened concerns about progress and development. Injuries have been part of the backdrop, but the bigger worry is harder to dismiss: the team has not yet shown enough under Christie to convince anyone that the direction is changing. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Rookie Puzzle Is Changing How Darius Acuff Jr. Looks
Darius Acuff Jr.s early stretch has already become one of the quieter but more revealing storylines for the Kings, because the rookie point guard is forcing the team to rethink how it wants to use him. His shooting has been shaky, and the defensive side has come with its own learning curve, but the bigger question is how those growing pains fit into a rotation that still hasnt found much stability.
The lineup data points to a team still searching for the right mix, with Sacramento yet to put together a positive net rating group that has played more than five minutes together this season. One encouraging wrinkle is that Acuff has looked better away from Zach LaVine, while rookie Emanuel Sharp has given the Kings some of the spacing and defensive presence that can help cover for the young guards rough edges. The puzzle is less about whether Acuff can help and more about which combinations actually make his development and the teams structure work at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Rookie Darius Acuff Is Forcing A Bigger Sacramento Question
Through the first four games of the season, Darius Acuff Jr. has already given the Kings something they did not have to wait long to evaluate. The No. 7 overall pick is averaging 21.5 points and 4.8 assists, and even with some shooting inefficiency, he has shown enough scoring punch and playmaking feel to make Sacramentos early offense look more dynamic than expected. Kings general manager Scott Perry has also liked the competitive edge Acuff has brought with him, which matters when a rookie is being asked to help shape the tone of a young season.
Acuffs start only sharpens the bigger question around Sacramento: how quickly does this become more than a promising rookie stretch and into a real part of the teams identity? He already owns the franchise mark for the highest single-game scoring output by a teenager in a home game, but the bigger impression has been his insistence that winning comes first. For a Kings team looking for answers, that kind of production paired with that mindset makes it hard to ignore what comes next. [Read more 🡒]