One Painful Kings Stat Backs Up LaVine's Postgame Comments

LaVine is Right

Unfortunately for the Kings, LaVine couldn't be more right. Outside of him and Darius Acuff Jr., the Kings don't have anyone who can get a good look from deep off the dribble. Keegan Murray, De'Andre Hunter, Emanuel Sharp, Nique Clifford, and Daeqwon Plowden are all catch-and-shoot three-point shooters, and the rest of the roster doesn't take enough threes to warrant defending on the perimeter.

Malik Monk appears to be the Kings only hope to get more good looks from three, as he's another player who can generate his own looks from three. But it's hard to know when the fan-favorite will be back on the court, and for how long.

One Painful Stat

What really backs up LaVine's comments is a deeper look at the stats from last night. NBA.com breaks down three-point attempts by the closest defender, with the best looks being 'Wide-Open 3PAs,' where the defender is six or more feet away.

Last night, the Kings generated just four wide-open three-point attempts, which is...not great. And it doesn't help that they made just one of them. For reference, the Dallas Mavericks were last in the league last season with 12.9 attempts, with the Kings a close second-worst at 13.0. And on the flip side, the Golden State Warriors led the league with 24.7 wide-open 3PAs. So four really isn't going to get it done.

What's Next

The hardest part about the stat and LaVine's comments is how hard it's going to be to change. As mentioned above, Monk could be a missing key to getting more three-point attempts, but he doesn't appear to be part of the Kings' future, so there's no guarantee it would last. The same can really be said for LaVine.

The other hope is that Acuff will start generating more looks for others. Last night, he was in attack mode en route to 24 field goal attempts. He's going to shoot a lot this year, but he should find a better balance between attacking and facilitating as the season goes on.

There's a lot of talk about the Kings' defense this season, but the offense is right there with it. At the end of the day, if Sacramento doesn't figure out how to generate more good looks from three, they could finish at the bottom of the rankings on both sides of the ball once again.