Pacific Division preview
Howdy! In a few years, when the Warriors fall, this might be the collection of the five worst owners in professional sports.
PREVIOUSLY: ATLANTIC, SOUTHEAST.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Last season: 50-32, somehow traded for Luka Dončić, lost in opening round to Minnesota even though head coach J.J. Redick played Jordan Goodwin the second-most bench minutes.
Offseason: DeAndre Ayton, that's gonna help.
C: DeAndre Ayton – the bleached tips are a good start to a comeback season. Nothing new from Ayton in Los Angeles, he'll have his head turned defensively but make up for it with dunks. It was easier minding his many Blazer missteps because we knew Ayton was never long for PDX, Lakerdom is different. DeAndre is one of the NBA's more blatant and obvious bad defenders, and his coach throws snits. It won't matter, he'll be great at what he does, but little will be answered.
F: LeBron James – will use eventual retirement tour to announce in every NBA city that he once considered signing with their home team.
F: Rui Hachimura – 40 percent from deep in 160 career Laker games, 48 percent from deep in his postseason career, turns it over once every other game.
SG: Austin Reaves – hopefully he stops twisting his clubhead and also spine in time for basketball. Hits threes and earns free throws and plays amphibiously, Basketball-Reference comps him to Cuttino Mobley and spiritually I agree, right-handed Austin Reaves plays like left-handed Cuttino Mobley. Reaves is from Newark but Newark in Arkansas and as someone who had his tires changed in Newark (but in New York) "Newark" remains the funniest town name to spot outside the state it is known for. No other city reveals its state's accent and tone and general attitude like "Newark," and that state ain't Arkansas. Anyway, Reaves will have a great year.
PG: Luka Dončić – trick this season is to not overextend himself. Chucking during the NBA's nowhere season in November and December, when it feels like the whole world is watching but in reality it is just you and me and a few other people.
It saddens me that the Laker brass found no way to make the the transition from James to Luka palatable for each's representative industries, especially infuriating when we note that they work for the same stupid shoe company. As if there was no way to embolden James' representation while still hopping upon a Luka trade, a transaction reportedly weeks in the dangling.
Years from now basketball fans will wonder about that wild switchover when Luka and LeBron worked alongside each other and we will have to tell them how underwhelming the partnership was. I hope 2025-26 changes this outlook in a severe way, this pairing is unlike anything else in NBA history and I want to explore all its possibilities before settling on the dumb, dramatic opportunities.
Jarred Vanderbilt was injured last season and awful in the playoffs but 66 games of Jarred Vanderbilt play would truly help the Lakers in a bid for 50 wins. I'm not over him and the Lakers can't be either: Jarred is signed through 2028 and we require more fruitful baseline meandering ... Point guard Gabe Vincent had fewer assists in 72 games last season than New Orleans' teenaged rookie center Yves Missi had in 73 games, and who the hell was Yves Missi passing to on the Pelicans?
Shake Milton had more assists than Gabe Vincent last year and yeah, Shake Milton was in the NBA last season, I frigging PROMISE you Shake Milton was in the NBA last year, can't lose Shake. Cannot shake Milton.
Adou Thiero appears ready for this:
The 2024-25 Jaxson Hayes denouement was satisfying, he really hasn't moved much since his rookie season and Redick wasn't going to pretend the lob dunks made up for it. DeAndre Ayton inspires similar vexation but he's better at scoring than Jaxson Hayes.
I've been told Shake Milton signed with a team in Serbia. Serbia shook.
Maxi Kleber is 34 midseason and even if it is over, I'm fine with that. Anything to get to April. Maybe he's got another few banked-on threes left inside there ... Marcus Smart had more assists than Gabe Vincent last season in half as many games. He's here to play when LeBron cannot. LeBron is here to play when Marcus Smart cannot.
Laker brass and press treating Dalton Knecht's $4 million deal like it is some sort of millstone is annoying, this was the No. 17 pick in the draft, sometimes players have holes. This one is still 24, it hits shots and doesn't turn it over, go do something with it, there are a few months left to poke at that brain before it finally seals ... Jake LaRavia is seven months younger than Knecht and entering his fourth NBA season, his two-way skills are good enough for minutes on a championship contender but the problem is that he's surrounded by (as the 24-year olds say) unserious defenders.
Bronny James, what can I say but why do my parents and aunts and uncles keep asking about him, do they talk about Bronny on cable a lot or something? ... Augustas Marčiulionis, same dad, same kid:
I wrote no singular tribute to the recently-deceased Charley Rosen. My gratitude is reflected in my ongoing, unerring, love for the pro game. Doing This Stuff.
What I can relay is that I'm a few pages into a book Charley wrote on the 1972 Lakers and he's already claimed, with stern sincerity, that "one of the most passionate fans of the Lakers was Charles Manson."
Now, I'd never heard this, and initial internet searches say nothing. But I'd also argue pedantically that even if Charles Manson were an occasional Lakers rooter, his overall enthusiasm for various pursuits reliably makes Charles Manson "one of the most passionate fans of the Lakers."
However, was Charles Manson as rabid about the Lakers as those other interests? Was Charles Manson kicking up at the ranch, perpetually aiming his rabbit ears at Chick Hearn? Did he line up the radio simulcast to the TV? Was there a Laker schedule taped to the fridge? Was it there to remind the Family not to make noise during Laker games? Did Charles Manson put on a disguise and buy a ticket to Laker games? Have we checked for the bones of long-since-declared-dead weed and speed dealers underneath the parking lot outside The Forum?
I'm not going to become a Manson Guy, I can't be a Manson Guy, too obvious, not in me. I'm not going to learn about Bugliosi, his sordid catalogue, go down that rabbit hole. I'm not going to hang out in the library thumbing through the index of every Manson book available, looking for "Hairston, Happy."
Rest in peace, Charley Rosen. As always, you've given me something to think about.
The 2025-26 Lakers will feast on lesser opponents, build up wins during the larger games, do all the annoying Laker things that annoy most but rarely moi.
Luka taking on the inevitable Men's Health cover, in September, can't even wait for training camp week. LeBron's second Decision culminating in a product he can't even sell at most stores. Dork City, made for this city, this team.
So there's nothing cool about the Lakers, so they give too much away, so they're the only basketball team DeAndre Ayton actually likes. There is still enough to butt toward 50 wins in the West, there is still enough to make a two-month run at the title. Maybe each of these things cannot happen in the same campaign, but helpers abound.
Everyone on this team, however, is ready to miss 62 games. Marcus Smart can win a few nationally televised games, a playoff series, or he might be done with NBA basketball. James might be completely hamstrung this season, battling decades-old fissures developed successfully avoiding Tony Battie. Redick is out for employees to blame and the Lakers feature scads of patsies, there is no sensible pivotman, there is no actual point guard, there are no reliable perimeter spot-up threats beyond Rui.
They can't use Max Christie, it isn't that bad, but it is thin. The Laker season will be navigated loudly and will inspire many, many emails from me to you.
Guess: 44-38, tied for No. 7 in West.
L.A. CLIPPERS
Last season: 50-32, Kawhi and Harden worked in every playoff game, 4-3 loss to Denver in opening round.
Offseason: L.A. added three players with 50 years' NBA experience.
C: Ivica Zubac – won't turn 29 until March, entering his tenth season, whatta career. Mike Muscala. All-Star production and availability and he's still signed to Zach Collins-money for the next three seasons (owed less than $59 million between now and 2028). Fifth in the NBA in dunks (177) last season, should play this well through the length of his contract and might retire as the best NBA player never to make an All-Star team.
PF: John Collins – projecting doomsday for the Clippers – Kawhi hurt, suspensions upend the locker room – is fine, understandable. Projecting big losses for the Clippers runs into a problem with Collins, who will ably replicate Kawhi's box score contributions without the slickness nor side hustle. The other problem with the doomsday expectation is that head coach, his staff, the Clippers aren't going anywhere.
F: Kawhi Leonard – Leonard isn't, either, the NBA won't do jack with Steve Ballmer's salary cap subterfuge and (being serious, here) it will probably cost Pablo Torre deserved entrance into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Maybe Pablo should do NRA ads like Curt Gowdy. Kawhi Leonard will be great when he's around and with nothing left to tear or break, I've equal reason to either expect 65 games with 17 rest dates or 17 dainty appearances and 65 games on injured reserve. He doesn't have to hurt himself every year, wear down in pain. It's only likely.
SG: Bradley Beal – if Suns-level Bradley Beal can remain on the floor as much as Norman Powell did (Norman averaged nearly 2000 minutes and 70 games), he will still not be as good as Norm Powell was for the Clippers. If Beal stays on the floor and rediscovered that joie de D.C., finally working for the team of his choice, things could roll. Beal wasn't bad last season, only a decoy, utterly out of Mike Budenholzer's plans.
PG: James Harden – all-time inexplicable run continues for Harden at age 36, he was monstrous in 2024-25, everyone expects the same moving forward and why not. Beal can run a possession in a pinch, Harden's backup is a Hall of Famer, is other backup is starter-quality. If Kawhi is healthy he'll take a 'hoink of usage off Harden's hands. The Clippers set Harden up nicely to not have to do as much.
Chris Paul understands his role, here, winning ballgames and making plays. The last two scenarios (GSW, SAS) were a little busy, and Paul should be composed while back to doing what he does best. If only for brief bursts.
Brook Lopez and Nicolas Batum are the sort of vets which used to end up in Miami, the same can be said for just about anyone on the Clipper roster. We move for Mickey Arison to raise a Board o' Guvnahs hackle against Steve Ballmer, maybe make a joke about the Heat enterprise nearing "Puerto Rico," see if Steve's face scrunches even further.
Lopez still whaps shots away, the center position won't skip a beat. Turns 38 in April, turned it over 84 times in 80 games (31.8 minutes per game) last season, a routine rate for the 7-footer. Hit 37 percent of his threes.
Batum moves the ball, he is the extra gear to extra pass with.
Nicolas Batum was born the same week Jerry Sloan took over as Jazz coach. If that makes Batum sound old, understand that I can remember the night Jerry Sloan took over as Jazz coach.
Bogdan Bogdanovic is busting his ass through back woes to be ready for the start of the season. The 33-year old made 43 percent of his threes (30 games, 61-143) after becoming a Clipper last season, L.A. will settle for far less than that if his body can just stay in the lineup. Bogdan has a team option for $16 million next season and wants to make that money. And prove summertime international basketball tournaments and NBA basketball absolutely mix.
Kris Dunn can change the course of a contest off the bench, turn a tired 27-12 deficit into a comeback that even Clipper superstars want to be a part of. I am a major fan. Kris Dunn averages, uh, six points and three assists.
Derrick Jones Jr. looks closer to 6-4 each year and I don't know anybody who gives up his body like this guy. He was probably a standout wide receiver in junior high but some coach had to talk him out of playing, too many lunges over the middle, the crowd of parents would gasp, even the drunk ones, the ones betting on kids.
Derrick Jones Jr. has never kneed his way into double-figure charges in a season, and takes twice as many charges (91 taken, 55 earned on the nine-year career). Helicopter is the business, and at $10 million a year.
Stout lead guard Patrick Baldwin Jr. is here because he knows all the plays ... Slim off guard Cam Christie's recollection is not as supreme but Cam (the No. 46 pick in 2024) is five years younger.
Yanic Konan Niederhauser has three, cool, names. Big dunker, 6-10 but jumps longer than that, worked at Northern Illinois and Penn St. and I'm in.
Jahmyl Telfort is a hearty off guard from Quebec who spent five years doing a little bit of everything, slowly, for Northeastern and Butler.
Kobe Brown, a large forward who was the No. 30 (and final) pick in the 2023 draft, will make the Clipper roster. Kobe Sanders, a two-way player, likely will not. Guessing they only passed the ball to one another.
Jason Preston was a Clipper and then a Jazzman, I've written about him three years in a row and I've never seen him play, not one of his 195 minutes that I can recall. A true shooting star.
Two-way Trentyn Flowers.
(I've never actually heard that song all the way through so I don't know the next line, and can't make a joke. I'm not going to listen that song. There is nothing to be gained by me listening to that song.)
This is a championship team. This could be a regular season bruiser which bails out when the playoffs heat up, when nobody wants to acknowledge the reins let alone take them. Or knees could fall apart.
Either that, or the Clipper regular season turns disastrous but the Finals run rears at the exact right time. The third quarter of the second Play-In Game.
Or, or! The Clippers are old and injured and act that way.
What I'm less certain of is the NBA and Adam Silver disparaging the Clippers' 2025-26 title chase in any meaningful way. Or its Play-In attempt. Or its injury-wracked flop.
Injuries should destroy this group, but this also means me predicting tendinitis outbreaks and elbow sprains or worse, no, not me. This is the year Harden hurts a team? That he misses 44 games? Leonard is here and there? The Clippers didn't lose because of injury last spring, they lost because the West is perpetually impossible.
Yet, the bench is so old. That's the joke.
John Collins turns the ball over, the Clippers turned the ball over more often than they'd like last season, and Collins is no perfect match for the Clippers' preferred slim-forward defense. If Harden or Leonard show their age in any startling way, the Clippers are cooked.
We'll doubt them when it is time to, not because were in a space to reasonably guess.
Guess: 50-32, tied for No. 4.
PHOENIX SUNS
Last season: 36-46, missed the playoffs, everyone laughed at the owner.
Offseason: Phoenix fired the coach, fired the GM, people still laugh at the owner. More people laughing than before. The laughter builds with each week. Soon enough, the only ones not laughing at him will be the ex-employees suing him, and that's only because they do not want to defy a court order.
C: Mark Williams – talented with the ball, will pass more than DeAndre Ayton, dunks a ton and earns free throws. Big stats if his legs hold up. He didn't play in preseason while waiting out a contract extension (not even) the Suns won't give him, but I'm sure that's fine. Not a defender but also doesn't run the floor.
F: Ryan Dunn – turned it over 40 times in 1410 minutes last season, 74 games, 44, starts, doesn't hit threes yet but the 23-year old's legs will come around. Split time at each forward position and looked to be the mensch he was as advertised as.
F/G: Dillon Brooks – went right back to taking those midrangers again in his second year with the Rockets and, nope, Houston wasn't doing that. Nailed 40 percent on threes and his defense will stand out, turns 30 midseason, 76 turnovers in 75 games in 2024-25.
SG: Devin B00ker – turns 29 the day before Halloween which is important because 1). that's a lot of parties and 2). once Devin stops earning free throws with his athleticism and bounce due to age, he is less than superstar-y because of his deficient three-point accuracy. For now, though, over 25 a game on 46/33/89, seven dimes, superior ballplayer.
G: Grayson Allen – cooled off from (a league-leading) 46 to 42 percent from long range last season but he also took way, way more treys. Already 30, he will be asked to continue with the volume, accuracy be darned.
Jalen Green's hamstring will keep him out of the Suns' opener, not a fine start to a second chance but it's only October, or maybe November. He doesn't hit threes, but shoots them. Gets to the line a ton, but, those threes. Takes plenty. Missed only six games combined the last three seasons, to his credit he saved legs on defense and it made him a reliable attendee.
Nick Richards can't believe that he escaped Charlotte, only to have Mark Williams show up over the summer. Turns 28 in November and the 7-footer is in an odd situation, career-wise, without much room to play himself into the hearts of contending teams.
Jordan Goodwin is back with the Suns and we root for him, spots are crowded because Brooks and Green and Allen and Booker rarely miss any games ... Rookie big man Khaman Maluch took in plenty of CBS shine, everyone should have massive opinions on him yet the consensus so far is, "eh, why not."
Villanova product Collin Gillespie worked at point guard quite a bit down the stretch last season and the numbers were better than the Suns were: 43 percent from deep, limited turnovers, he is already 26 and it is time to pop ... The 2024-25 Suns were sixth in threes made per 100 possessions and Royce O'Neale working 75 games of 40 percent was a large part of that, his 179 threes were technically the second-largest part of that, not sure about trading a first-round pick Royce is 32) ... Nigel-Hayes Davis is a 30-year old Wisconsin product who worked nine NBA games in 2017-18, mostly recently a much-decorated 3-and-D swingman working out of Turkey, he looked good in exhibition season and could have an outta nowhere killer 2025-26 with Phoenix. These three are the most British of each of the names on the Suns, including Grayson Allen.
Up and down rookie season for Oso Ighodaro, but, goodness gracious sakes alive, the things that this young man saw in 2024-25. If he took notes, he'll probably want to be in touch with his representation, he is likely a key witness and his testimony could be worth quite a lot in 2025-26.
As a ballplayer? One of many bigs trying to distinguish the Suns' center position, as has been the case since around the time of the moon landing. Oso started the exhibition games and could start most of the season because the other two centers are from the Hornets.
Koby Brea is a 6-6 career 44 percent college three-point shooter, if he can't make the Suns, Nets, please find this man ... Rasheer Fleming is one of the benefits from the Kevin Durant trade (No. 31 pick), ran around a ton in the exhibition season, looks good to me:
The problem with getting in my licks? Jordan Ott.
The new Suns head coach could be the latest among the assistants who cannot relate as head coaches – would you trust a guy who won over Mat Ishbia in an interview? – or he could turn these Suns into diligent performers over 82 games, push them toward a Play-In.
There are so many lugs, here, so much room to lay the ball in. They tell me I should pay attention to injury "luck," that I should worry when Devin Booker plays 75 games in one season, stats say the pendulum is supposed to swing back and knock him out for three months of the next season. I say, get the heck out of the way of that pendulum!
Booker worked 75 times last season, Dunn did 74, Royce O'Neale 75, then again, nobody was really pushing it on the 2024-25 Suns.
We wonder how this team gets to the line if the bigs are out, which they often are, and we wonder how this team defends if the bigs are in, which they sometimes will be.
Don't expect too much from them, that'll only excuse Ishbia's failures.
Guess: 36-46, tied for No. 12.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
Last season: 48-34, traded for Jimmy Butler, fell in Western semis after Stephen Curry's ankle turn.
Offseason: Golden State's offseason? Where to begin? I'll start when they do.
C: Al Horford – turns 40 in June, kept the C's five-man-string together during the title defense, didn't look like he was draggin' to me! Nor Golden State, either, which waited the summer before welcoming the veteran, who battled Chris Webber the first time he played the Warriors (not a joke, it was in 2008).
PF: Draymond Green – dropping off but not to the degree where I wouldn't want Draymond Green on the court as much as his 35-year old legs can hold. This isn't going anywhere.
F/G: Jimmy Butler – superstar when he plays, but he used to play for Thibs: Butler misses at least 20 games a season and the 36-year old still could be too burned out to help in April in May. He started working 2000 minutes per NBA season in Obama's first term, back when 'Argo' was a thing. Butler's appeared in 13o playoff games, led the playoffs in minutes twice, as many career playoff minutes as Ziaire Williams and Cam Thomas have regular season minutes. Then again, I'm not sure what we'd call what Cam was doing, "regular."
G: Brandin Podziemski – still isn't 23, can switch and talk and take the brunt and by the playoffs maybe this time he'll have the legs to hit shots.
PG: Stephen Curry – *shrugs shoulders* what can I say but "Steph."
He turned 36 in the offseason and could be the lead guard on one of the NBA's best defenses. I can't explain it, most logic eludes me, but like many of you I have little expectation Stephen Curry will be anything less than the most profound perimeter performer in NBA history in 2025-26.
Stephen Curry completely changed the game in ways too numerous to count. For one, he is the reason defenders can't look at the shot clock on the other side of the floor now.
Maybe extended time around Stephen Curry will encourage or at least instruct new Golden State Warrior Seth Curry on how to be a better, all-around, Hall of Fame NBA player ... If DeAnthony Melton returns in any approximation to his previous self after an ACL tear, the Warriors could really push ... Moses Moody struggled with calf woes during camp, not enjoyable to hear. He's a good two-way player and I dig the way he sometimes finds his way in front of the rim, butting toward free throws. Still only 23.
I won't let Steve Kerr's maxim turn law, Jonathan Kuminga is not some sort of unpure basketball offering, he isn't iconoclastically bad.
No, that would be James Wiseman. Kuminga's just a score-first forward who puts his teammates and coaching staff off, plenty of those in NBA history. In fact, the Warriors would be served to find another one should once they move on from Kuminga, if the Warriors want to finish Stephen Curry's career scoring more than 78 points per game.
Kuminga is the pick which sprung from Kevin Durant's sign-and-trade, converted to and then from D'Angelo Russell. Historically, his spot in the roster must make everyone cranky.
Ten turnovers in 73 exhibition season minutes for Kuminga. Jonathan will win some NBA games this season, he'll be asked to score for this team and he will succeed at this, someone will smile, they'll write nice things, man, don't fall for it.
Trayce Jackson-Davis does many strong box score things and already has 213 NBA dunks to his credit, way more than you and me COMBINED. But the coaching staff doesn't like his defense, the way his team thinks twice when he's out there.
Gui Santos' prominence in the postseason likely betrays Kerr's plans for the guy, they are ready to move from Jonathan Kuminga and the 24-year old Santos looks like a good guess for a rebound forward, in relationship terms, irrespective of rebounding ability ... Few people were as scared of not getting back as Quinten Post last season, sometimes fear worked. The second-year 7-footer is 25 and hopefully ready to smoothly make up for a miserable initial NBA postseason.
Buddy Hield, able to relax, might be something worth watching. It may not matter how old he is. It might matter how old he is ... Gary Payton II worked 62 healthy and potent NBA regular season games last year, plus 11 sound (overall) postseason performances. He is 33 in December but his past injury woes may make these numbers meaningless, GPII looking like a 29-year old out there. Thirty-year old. He didn't look any older than 31 last season.
Will Richard is the team's second-round pick, started in the exhibition season, 22 and a 6-5 off guard and if Mike Dunleavy Jr. likes him, well, I don't know what to think ... Pat Spencer was born on July 4, so were the Grant twins, Horace and Harvey ... Alex Toohey is an Australian big and if he lands a gig in San Francisco it'll be the first time in his life he won't be surrounded by people making puns about his last name.
Golden State's excellence with Butler on 2024-25's roster rings in my ears, happily, but I wonder if last spring may have been the tour to see.
This roster is riddled with old players and injured people. It will exude not only charm and sophistication but the idea of impermanence, a reminder that we gotta watch these guys.
This huddle is rife with intense peer pressure, like we haven't seen since Riley's cranky Lakers, the old ones, after the titles, after Kareem, the mutinous teams.
Think of the expectation to cut correctly with this crew: Butler, Curry, Horford, then the idea of Draymond Green, glaring. You think Dray's going to let that glare do all the speaking and for a while there, it does, before, nope, Draymond is talking now, loudly and pointedly, this time "glaring" through his diaphragm.
The assumption, well before the two timelines admission, was to offset Curry's winter with someone's spring. Then an ungodly injury wave hit in 2019, with it a lottery pick, and the climb turned into a cakewalk. Other dynasties found future saviors deep into a draft – Reggie Lewis, Toni Kukoc, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard – the Warriors wound up with No. 2, a selection expected to star.
It didn't, now Golden State is filled with not-now.
When it plays, though, it will be pristine.
Guess: 48-34, No. 6 in West.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Last season: 40-42, lost Play-In Game about 16 minutes into it, traded for Zach LaVine. Yeah, they're the team with DeMar DeRozan. I know.
Offseason: Holy shit: Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schröder!
C: Domantas Sabonis – clearly concentrated upon and eventually won the defensive rebounding percentage crown in 2024-25, along with the overall rebound rate championship. These are the things big centers do when they can't keep up, but can box out. Will Domantas turn increasingly Drummond-like as the year moves along? Possibly, the 29-year old has been at it for a while. The stats won't go anywhere, so dig in as always for one of the NBA's great box score rides: Sabonis averaged 19 and 14 and six dimes and remains one of the NBA's great bigs. We just wonder what the second act will be like, we wrote Brook Lopez off a decade ago but Brook's bounce was different.
F: Keegan Murray – disappointing third season and also, like, he didn't get to shoot the ball as much. When half your shots are threes, when your average attempt is from over 17 feet, pressure tends to turn knees and elbows inward. Surgery on his left thumb recently, should be back by Christmas, five-year and $140 million contract extension through age 30 is the Kings pretending he's as good defensively as they think he can be. And the acknowledgement that his services will be respected and useful one day on a great or up-and-coming team, think Tobias Harris, but it won't be in Sacramento.
SG: DeMar DeRozan – playmaking dropped off a bit within new surroundings, DeRozan picked his spots and his free throw rate fell as well. Didn't change the arc of his two-pointer, he nailed more than half his midrangers for the second time in his career, the shot that ate up most his diet, 22.2 points on 17 attempts overall. Just stays out there and doesn't miss.
SG: Zach LaVine – these poor guys, won't someone please separate them. All LaVine's shooting numbers went up in Sacramento, shout out to theeeeee United Center: Zach's ability around the rim and in the paint and in the DeRozan Territory (10-to-16 feet) blossomed, he managed 44 percent (a career-high and by a lot) from deep, 23 points on 16 attempts. The pairing of LaVine and DeRozan remains toxic, but at least the guys like each other now.
PG: Dennis Schröder – as a Bulls fan, I often wondered which different kinds of influences Dennis Schröder would have over a DeMar DeRozan/Zach LaVine-led team. Would it cause the club to fold, for Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the Bulls and create a second National League baseball team in Berwyn? The Chicago Spindles?
The Kings had every second of De'Aaron Fox's career to consider what the team would look like once Fox commenced his inevitable trade demand, I cannot believe "the Bulls plus Schröder and Sabonis" is the best they came up with. Dennis is fine, he is also 32 and played sweaty Eurobasket all summer.
Anything to keep the Kings from fielding the team's last lottery pick, I suppose. Devin Carter did not look overwhelmed or outclassed physically during his rookie year, but he did look like someone only recently learning how to hold a basketball, loft a ball at the goal.
I like Devin a lot, he'll be fine. Lord Nelson over here had one arm last year.
Keon Ellis parked 43 percent of his three last season, second year in a row with a mark over 40 percent, he's going to be around for a while. Not in Sacramento, but he'll be around ... Malik Monk, another shooting guard, handled the LaVine acquisition and his own bench demotion better than I woulda handled it. Not because I'd lost my starting job on the Sacramento Kings, but because my Kings turned into the Chicago Bulls.
From what I saw, Monk looked for others without hesitation. It was an injury-bugged campaign but he still averaged a career-high 17.2 points per outing, he turns 28 midseason and I wonder what the plan is beside asset retention: Malik has a player option after 2027, he was unyieldingly professional in 2024-25 despite many opportunities to balk. Says the most about Malik, plenty about his head coaches and DeMar DeRozan.
Sacramento didn't have its own first-round draft pick because of Kevin Huerter, woof, but did well to trade an incoming Spurs pick which may not materialize (protected top-16 in 2027, 'else a second-rounder) to the Thunder for No. 24 selection Nique Clifford, OKC sending out a Clipper pick it earned in the Paul George trade. No chanting, this time:
Doug McDermott hit over 43 percent of his threes last season but it was another productive instance in a long career of being not really what we need right now, Doug.
Drew Eubanks boards and blocks and bobbles the ball out of bounds.
Dario Saric is 32 in April and I don't know what the Kings are doing here, when Skal Labissiere is available to sign on the free agent market.
I thought Isaac Jones was more of a mainstay than he was as a rookie but the hearty forward only worked 304 minutes over 40 games. I probably just noticed him set a nice screen for DeMar DeRozan in three different games, doesn't matter, the Kings need someone who isn't a shooting guard and have I got the "Isaac Jones" for them.
Maxime Raynaud is a second-round pick out of Stanford, a 7-footer, two turnovers in 56 exhibition season minutes, Sacramento announcers will have to stop themselves from saying "Maxime Raynope" this season, I will not:
I respect the Kings' commitment to the bit with Russell Westbrook, but it cost Terence Davis a job with Sacto, and Kings fans can tell you Terence Davis can get the job done.
The Kings might be after a slice of the action Russ showcased alongside Nikola Jokic last season. More likely they just remember Westbrook from all those advertisements. Russell Westbrook is 37 in a month, he will play his tail off and Sacramento will appreciate not only his effort, but his overall presence.
But he takes possessions away from better players, even if DeRozan and LaVine's efficiency tails off a twitch in 2026. The resounding lack of creativity deadens, this was the franchise that used to take chances, betting it could convince C-Webb, taking Hedo ahead of Des. Mason, committing to discarded small-ballers like Tony Delk or Bobby Jackson.
Now it acquires the players most likely to be recognized by the man who owns the team.
Doug Christie may very well turn into a fantastic NBA head coach someday. Doug Christie may be the Sacramento Kings' best chance at stability, a franchise savior to be proud of, to bank upon. Each of these things may be true, we will not find out this season. It ain't Doug's fault.
This is not the team to turn around with sloganeering, rah-rah roundups after practice, coach-went-there-so-I-should-too. These Kings are self-motivators, all the way down to the players we have misgivings for. Everyone here plays hard, wants it, doesn't need the motivational extra edge or the needed X and O bump.
This is why, even if DeMar and Domantas dim slightly, even if LaVine dips below 40 percent on threes, this collection will do good things. The Kings will be in games with chances to win them, as long as the ball stays out of Zach's hands in the fourth quarter. Whole fourth quarter, not just the final five minutes.
These men are professional and they are skilled and they will work hard for Christie. They will take chances based off myriad past experiences, exemplified by whatever theory Schröder is up to at the moment. Wins will happen.
The problem here is everyone is a shooting guard, or a guard shooting, or a center shooting like a guard, or a power forward taking the shot we used to reserve for shooting guards (the three-pointer). The bench? Shooting guards. The coach? Ex-shooting guard.
Sacramento made a commitment to Christie that we want to watch work, this isn't some random player, this is an ex-King. If it doesn't hit, he'll be an assistant forever, maybe an interim, relegated because he couldn't hack it at home base. Even if Christie ends up earning that future, even if he stinks at this, we should root for this unique opportunity.
This team is flawed, but we can watch without too much grief because these contracts expire someday, and these men are great at basketball. And whatever Russell Westbrook does.
Guess: 37-45, tied for No. 10.
YOU BETTER WATCH YOURSELF
Thank you for reading!
