The Sacramento Kings went into the All-Star break on a rocky stretch, winning just four of their last nine games but two of the victories over the defending champion Denver Nuggets. The ups and downs of Sacramento's 2023-24 season thus far have kept fans on their toes, but with just 28 games remaining, the Kings need consistency.
The Kings have been led tremendously by star duo De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, both putting up career-best seasons. After the tandem were rewarded with All-Star appearances and All-NBA Third Team honors a season ago, Sacramento had no players head to Indianapolis for the All-Star Game this season, which could fuel Fox and Sabonis to prove the voters wrong.
As part of their first media appearances since leaving for a short All-Star vacation, Sacramento's star point guard spoke to reporters about what he can improve on to finish the season (via @SacramentoKings | X):
"For me, it's just trying to continue, trying to be efficient in what I'm doing, and I want to do that to try to help my team win games. Continue to be better on the defensive side of the ball for me personally, and as a team, I think we're like 18th in the league in defensive rating. Teams are shooting 40% from three against us, and I think they said if we were league average, which is around 36%, we jump all the way up to eight. We're doing some things right defensively, but we know our Achilles heel at this point in the season has been, not giving up a lot of threes, but obviously, you still can't let teams shoot 40%. ...If we could just be league average in giving up three-point percentage, then we could be a top-ten defensive team in the league."
Despite being a top-three team in the Western Conference with 48 wins in the 2022-23 season, the Kings finished as the 3rd worst defensive team in the league. While Sacramento's defensive rating has not improved much since last season, they have moved from 28th to 18th in the league, largely due to significant defensive improvements from Fox and standout sophomore Keegan Murray.
Sacramento's current squad is not, and will likely never be, known as a defensive team, as last season, they became one of the top teams in the league by achieving the best offensive rating in NBA history.
Sacramento's problem this season has not just been their holes on defense, but they have slid down to the 14th-best offensive team in the league despite putting up historic numbers last season. The Kings are middle of the pack on both sides of the ball, and no team can consistently win games being average.
The Kings will either need to find their rhythm on offense or miraculously improve on the defensive end if they want to make a serious run to close the season.
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