Kings Report

Well, Kings fans have been brought down to reality somewhat. But luckily for us, reality means going even on the week with two wins and two losses, and I’m okay with that. The wins included the last of the Kings’ three-game homestand, which took place on Wednesday, January 22nd, against the Golden State Warriors, which means the Kings won all three games and, in fact, they have won every home game so far this year. This is a far cry from where they were in December, holding one of the worst home records in the league.

The game against the Warriors was especially exciting; after being down 18 at one point in the game, the Kings, led by DeMar DeRozan’s 32 points, beat the Warriors 123-117. The first game of the Kings road trip, against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, January 23rd, was another of this season’s many back-to-back games for the Kings, and it showed. The Kings went down big in the first half, and while they tried to rally in the second half and gave fans just enough hope to keep them watching, they lost to the Nuggets, 123-132. Next, it was off to New York, where the Kings had their first two-game losing streak since Doug Christie took over the head coaching job by losing to the Knicks, 120-143. Luckily, the losing streak ended there when the Kings beat the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, January 27th, 110-96. According to De’Aaron Fox, Coach Christie had told them to treat this game like a playoff game, losing three in a row was not an option.

Speaking of Fox, by this time next week, we could very well be looking at a different lineup in Sacramento. The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, February 6th at 3 PM Eastern, and according to Shams Charania of the Athletic, the Kings are expected to open up talks to potentially trade the team’s star De’Aaron Fox. Fox reportedly has a preferred destination, and most people online are speculating that it’s San Antonio. Of course, Fox won’t necessarily get what he wants, but it looks like a trade is pretty likely to happen. I’m not sure what to think; this whole team has been built around Fox; we traded away one of my favorite prospects, Tyrese Haliburton, because we had Fox. Sacramento loves De’Aaron Fox, and he’s my son’s favorite player, so it’s going to be a whole different team without him. I’m definitely going to be watching my phone to see what happens!

This week, the Kings will continue their six-game road trip. They will have played the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, January 29th; then they continue on to Oklahoma City to play the Thunder on Saturday, February 1st; they play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, February 3rd, before coming back home on Wednesday, February 5th, to play the Orlando Magic. Go Kings!