Kings' Glaring Problem Shows in Season Opener vs. Suns

Allowing offensive rebounds isn’t just about grabbing the boards yourself, either. Cardwell was only awarded one rebound on the stat sheet, but the Suns also did not have a single offensive rebound in the fourth quarter despite having 18 for the game. Cardwell’s presence and physicality completely changed the game and almost prevented a really bad loss by Sacramento. 

Cardwell is far from perfect, but that’s to be expected with an undrafted player who isn’t even on a full NBA contract. The issue is that there likely won’t be even one other team in the league relying on a two-way center to play 10+ minutes a game, even with their normal starter hurt. 

In contrast, Phoenix had three bigs that had all played solid NBA minutes previously, holding down the paint, and their lottery pick, Khaman Maluach, didn’t even play. There really isn’t any excuse for the Kings to be this ill-equipped to handle Sabonis missing time. 

How the Kings Can Stay Above Water Without Sabonis

There hasn’t been much word on how long Sabonis will be out, but it seems unlikely that he will play on Friday against the Utah Jazz, although he has been upgraded to questionable. With Walker Kessler coming off a massive game and Jusuf Nurkic still being a massive human being, the Kings will need to figure something out, or their fate may be the same as Utah’s last opponent. 

There’s hope that Eubanks can have a better game, and Isaac Jones has a chance to come back from an illness that held him out on Wednesday night, both of which would help mitigate the issues against the Suns. 

Eubanks provided a spark as a shot blocker, but overall, he was a net negative in my opinion. He allowed his guards to get cross-matched in transition way too often, was ineffective as a roller, and was outrebounded by three guys under 6-foot-7. In 22 minutes, Eubanks had just four rebounds while 6-foot-4 Russell Westbrook had six in just 19 minutes. Eubanks needs to be much better tomorrow night or the Kings will lose again, plain and simple. And if he isn’t, the Kings will need to turn to their two rookies. 

We’ve already talked a bit about Dylan Cardwell and how he was able to be a difference maker, but we haven’t talked about the center the Kings actually drafted, Maxime Raynaud. The expectations for both guys should be low with how hard it is to get up to speed as a big man in the NBA. 

Raynaud looked the part of a rookie in his 11 minutes of game time. He was often lost on defense, wasn’t quite sure how to be a target for the guards, and wasn’t a factor as a rim protector. He showed some flashes of the player he could be with two assists, but he has a long way to go before he’s ready to contribute. 

Even when Sabonis returns, the Kings need a real backup because we’ve seen how much the team struggles without him since he arrived in 2022. That doesn’t even include all of the other things that Sabonis does so well and can’t be replicated by anyone else on the roster. With former lottery pick Devin Carter not seeing a minute of action, the answer may be moving him for a big man who can help the team stay afloat when Sabonis is unavailable.