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Nov 9, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook (18) reacts during the second quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Justine Willard-Imagn Images Justine Willard-Imagn Images

Three Takeaways from Kings' Second Straight Disappointing Blowout

Originally posted on Sacramento Kings on SI
By Eric Sperlazza | Last updated Nov 10, 2025 12:48 AM ET

The Sacramento Kings are in the midst of a tough part of their schedule. On Friday, the Kings lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 31 and took on the Minnesota Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards tonight.

The Kings got Domantas Sabonis back after missing time with a rib contusion, and Precious Achiuwa got his first start in a Sacramento uniform. Despite Sabonis returning and another good night offensively from a few Kings’ stars, Sacramento was blown out again at home, 144-117. Here are three quick takeaways from tonight’s game.

New Year, Same Kings

There’s no secret to what the Kings struggle with most, and it hasn’t changed in a long time. Kings Head Coach Doug Christie has been preaching defense since he took over for Mike Brown and that message still hasn’t seemed to get through to his team. The roster doesn’t scream defense, but some of the issues go beyond roster construction. Before the game, the broadcast mentioned that Christie was emphasizing communication with his team after the Thunder basically back cut them to death on Friday.

For some reason, it doesn’t seem like that message resonated either, as the Wolves had plenty of easy looks all night long. For the second straight night, the Kings’ best perimeter defender, Keon Ellis, didn’t see any action until the 4th quarter when the game was already way out of hand, which seemed contrary to Christie’s message after the Thunder game.

Ellis alone isn’t the answer, but it’s clear the regular rotation guys aren’t either. With the exception of Achiuwa and Nique Clifford, who both have been getting minutes, the Kings aren’t playing many good defenders. Russell Westbrook can hold his own on that end, and even he saw fewer minutes than usual tonight. The team can continue to talk about the need to defend, and it won’t matter until the roster changes. At some point, you need to stop trying to make a bad defensive team something it's not.

Points Off Turnovers and In the Paint

Justine Willard-Imagn Images

The Kings did lose the turnover battle by six, but the bigger issue was what the Wolves did with those turnovers. Minnesota scored 37 points off of Sacramento’s 16 turnovers while the Kings managed just 10 points off the Wolves’ 10 giveaways.

The Wolves are an athletic team that turns insult into injury fast, and the Kings just didn’t look like they could keep up. Again, some of this is just a lack of athleticism with the roster, and some is the Kings not getting back in transition. As is the case with anything effort-based, the Kings can take steps to limit points off turnovers, but they haven’t shown that they’re willing to. The hope is that this won’t be a trend after they gave up 23 points off 15 turnovers against the Thunder.

The Kings also gave up 64 points in the paint as the Wolves carved up their defense like the Thunder did. Lack of size will always be an issue, but the Kings didn’t do the simple things to stop the Wolves from getting easy looks. Achiuwa deserves a shoutout for some solid interior defense. The problem is the Kings aren’t getting much help outside of him. Drew Eubanks should get some credit for his rim protection, but he’s also been the culprit of some easy looks the last two nights out. It’s far too easy to score on the Kings in the paint right now, and that needs to change because it’s already easy enough to light them up from deep.

Sabonis and Schroder Struggle

Sabonis has been dealing with injuries all year and has yet to look like his All-NBA level self this season. Sabonis has still put in his usual great effort on the glass, but his scoring hasn’t come easily at all. Tonight, Sabonis went 5/17 from the field and was tied for the team lead with 3 turnovers while dealing with Rudy Gobert.

Even though Gobert is a tough matchup, Sabonis is one of the Kings' best players and needs to find ways to be effective if he’s going to play. It’s admirable to try to play through the pain, but it isn’t worth it if Sabonis isn’t able to be himself. His game is very physical, and injuries make it a challenge to play that way, so he deserves a chance to prove he’s still able to score against size, but it hasn’t looked good so far.

Sabonis and Dennis Schroder seemed to be getting into some sort of rhythm, but Sabonis’ absence seemed to erase most of that as the German point guard wasn’t great tonight either. Schroder scored just 3 points in 28 minutes after a rough outing against OKC on Friday.

Dennis has at least been a decent facilitator when everything else isn’t going well, but he was only able to add two assists tonight. When he’s on offense, he’s a fun watch, but the lack of size and streaky scoring seem to be why he’s mostly come off the bench in his career.

This article first appeared on Sacramento Kings on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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