Sacramento Kings
The 2021-22 Sacramento Kings can be defined by missing the playoffs for an NBA record 16th consecutive season AND trading away their beloved point guard of the future.
What did we learn?
The Kings did the unthinkable.
They traded away Tyrese Haliburton, who just two weeks before said that he was wholly committed to turning around this moribund team. It was an incorrigible look for an incorrigible franchise.
The move puts all stock into De’Aaron Fox being the point guard of the future and now, and banking on the inside-outside pairing with former Pacer All-Star Domantas Sabonis, whom the Kings acquired in the deal for Haliburton.
Fox had a drearily awful start to the season. He could not hit a shot. But he improved every month, eventually looking like the Fox of old, with an extra pep in his step and a softer touch on his jumper. After the All-Star Break, Fox averaged nearly 30 points per game (29.3).
Sabonis had a torrid start in the Sac, although he cooled way down. For as repulsive as The Fox and the Ox moniker was the first time that we heard it, it has started to grow grow on us. (Sorry, Zach.) Sabonis is a force inside and perhaps does accelerate the timeline of the team more so than Haliburton. But that doesn’t make the trade any easier to stomach for all of those who loved Haliburton so, with his glowing smile and good-natured fun personality and splendid all-around game.
Credit is, however, due to the Kings for finally — at LONG LAST — canning Luke Walton. A fan throwing up courtside in his final game is one of those fantastic NBA moments that you really couldn’t make up. And so, Puke Walton is no more.
Unfortunately, Alvin Gentry was not much better. There was hope that the offense would improve, but that didn’t happen.
Davion Mitchell kept improving his game, though. Mitchell’s Off Night prowess on defense was legit and his energy is contagious. He still needs to work on this 3-point shot but with his worth ethic, we know that he will. And how about his power dunk on the Rockets!? That thang was NOICE.
Harrison Barnes had a smoking-hot start to the season, looking like he was making the leap in Year 10. Barnes averaged over 20 points per game and shot well above 40 percent from 3 for quite some time, but his numbers eventually all came back down to earth.
Friend of the blog Richaun Holmes had a forgettable season, but he deserves a shout-out nevertheless because he’s a friend of the blog. Also shout-out to Chimezie Metu who had the best season of his career by far, including leading the team in total dunks and hitting that buzzer-beating 3 against the Mavs on a random Wednesday night in late December.
The Kings gave up on the forever injured Marvin Bagley. It’s probably for the best. Bags needed out of the Sac. And Trey Lyles played some decent ball!
The Kings finally got their man in DiVincenzo, and they didn’t have to give up much to get him. However, we will never get over the fact that DiVincenzo wears Haliburton’s #0. Jesse from Breaking Bad voice: “Shit ain’t right, yo!”
This Kings season will always be remembered for setting the No Playoffs Record and the Haliburton trade.
Trading away the fan favorite when you haven’t made the playoffs since 2006 is borderline unforgivable.
The Kings should thank their lucky stars that true fandom is so unconditional and borderline insanity.
#KANGZ
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Additional Notes
It should be at least mentioned that Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb were also picked up in the Haliburton-Sabonis deal. And that Buddy Hield was included in the trade as well… Buddy also deserved better!
To the surprise of nobody, the Kings defense was once again putrid which led to numerous losing streaks. Sacramento had four 3-game losing streaks, four 4-game losing streaks, a 5-game losing streak and a 7-game losing streak. And none of those overlapped. They were all separate.
If only Alvin Gentry could have somehow convinced Terence Davis that they were playing the Clippers every night. T-Davis followed up a 23 points and five 3s performance against the Clippers by torching the Clips just three nights later for 28 points and six 3s. Davis also had a game against the Pistons where he made seven 3s en route to a career-high 35 points. (Two games later, Davis played his last minutes of the season, injuring his wrist that required season-ending surgery to repair a tendon.)
A wild plus-minus stat: In the 28 games this season that Fox posted a negative plus-minus, the Kings went 0-28.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
The three-headed monster guard lineup of Fox-Haliburton-Mitchell is too enticing. Over 36.5 wins.
Kings 2021-22 record: (30-52)
Nope. Not only did it not hit, but the three-headed monster guard lineup of Fox-Haliburton-Mitchell we were so enticed by is no more.
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What’s Next?
The Kings did luck into the #4 pick in the draft, but in classic Kings fashion, this is regarded as a 3-player draft. However, the Jaden Ivey hype train has sure been picking up steam.
The new Kings head coach is one Mike Brown. Mike Brown is the seventh Kings coach since 2014.
Try to have a better free agency class than Alex Len and Tristan Thompson.
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Favorite Kings Highlights of the 2021-22 Season:
“OHH! He took some SOULS! OH! He took some bodies!!”
Say what you will about the Sacramento Kings (and we have said a lot), but at least they do game-winning buzzer beaters better than anybody!
