SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #19 Sacramento Kings

It’s day four of the 22-team countdown, as we are approximately 19 full days away from the NBA festivities taking place in the Disney World Bubble in Orlando. All teams have officially arrived in the land of the Magic Kingdom, and if you’ve been following Twitter pages like @NBABubbleLife, you’ve probably seen some of the recreational activities and amenities granted to your favorite players on teams invited to the resumed season. Everyone is settled in, with team practices occurring at the top of every hour and players getting back to the routine of being around their teammates, preparing for future games.

The next team up for mention on this list is on a slightly different path of trajectory when it comes to competing in the bubble. Surely just like the Nets, Wizards and Suns, the Sacramento Kings are in the same boat of having an uphill battle to land the final seed in the West, but there are two major differences that could benefit them: they’re all healthy, rested, and focused on taking down the three other teams vying for the eighth playoff spot in the conference, and they have significantly easier resumed season schedule than the San Antonio Spurs who sit a spot above them at 10th in the West.

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Sacramento’s Season In Review (28-36, 11th in West)

The Kings’ season has been marred by a plethora of unfortunate injuries to core pieces, questionable coaching decisions, and recently the potential reality of losing Buddy Hield and Jabari Parker to opt-outs due to their COVID-19 diagnoses. And still, these resilient Kings, who have been trying their hardest to enter themselves into playoff pictures of seasons past, have a real good chance of doing so in a prolonged season.

Just making the cut as one of the 22 teams invited to Orlando for this season’s resumption, Sac-Town’s team had plenty of optimism that things would finally turn in their favor even before the 2019-20 season commenced.

Earth shook (at least on Kings ground) when it was announced that Buddy Hield would sign a massive 4 Yr./$86 Million max extension and many were looking at the tandem of Hield and lightning-quick guard De’Aaron Fox (he cut his hair, btw.) to take the next step into superstardom with their ever-improving court-vision skills and decision-making as primary ball handlers in Luke Walton’s offense.

Marvin Bagley III was looked at to bounce back from an otherwise average rookie season and play an entire year without missing substantial time due to injury and the middle of the pack players were to step up and contribute in multitudes to help get the Kings back into the postseason for the first time since 2007.

And of course, none of the latter really happened for another season. Walton’s coaching status quickly became a topic of ostracism as a result of his poor minute distributions and on-court combinations, they lost four of their first five games, Marvin Bagley got hurt – again – and only suited up for 13 the team’s 64 contests, and they basically reaffirmed their roles as punching bags for the rest of the West to pick up cheap victories on during road trips.

But it hasn’t been all bad. Up until the season was halted due to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s decision to suspend the season over concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic, Sacramento composed a 13-7 record over their last 20 games, and subtly, snuck into the playoff conversation.

What has been a surprise and, take it for what you will, a beacon of promise for future seasons this year, has been the rise of role player Richaun Holmes, who’s been a source of energy off the bench for a team that’s been without a pure rebounder and rim protector since DeMarcus Cousins left in 2017. And what a replacement he’s become. While the Willie Cauley-Stein experiment didn’t quite pan out as Cousins’ complementary asset in the frontcourt, Holmes has gained a ton of respect from fans and media experts alike thanks to his “head down and work” mentality, which has surely rubbed off on the entire team.

Though undersized at 6-10, Holmes has shown flashes of his polished footwork under the rim as a low-post scorer and has out-hustled even the most tenacious of players night in and night out. The Kings got Holmes for a bargain (2 years, $10 Million left on his deal) and he has not disappointed in the slightest and has been a gift out of nowhere, especially when you look at his productivity and a reduced role in prior destinations like Philadelphia.

It’s been another transitional year for the Kings, but it’s certainly been a year many lest forget in terms of some memorable games played, which have all further added to the development of De’Aaron Fox, Richaun Holmes, Marvin Bagley III, Bodan Bogdanovic, and others.

There was that time early in the season against the initially-undefeated Boston Celtics that concluded in suspenseful fashion, thanks to some barely decent defense by Buddy Hield that caused a floater by Marcus Smart to bounce on and off of the front of the rim as the Kings won, 100-99.

Or that time where Sacramento managed to handle the Clippers emphatically on January 30 inside the Staples Center, four days after the passing of Kobe Bryant. Granted, they weren’t playing the same-stadium Lakers, Bryant’s franchise team, but the aura left by the five-time champ and four-time Finals MVP was felt all the same in the building he built.

De’Aaron Fox emphasized just how much the Black Mamba inspired him, delivering a scintillating and inspirational performance: 34 points, 3 rebounds, and 8 assists off 14/24 shooting – the best scoring output he’s ever had in an NBA uniform. It was also the first win of any team inside the Staples Center since Bryant’s death.

Sacramento has shown that on occasion, they are proven to have hung with the league’s most arduous teams that are playoff-bound, and they didn’t back down when given the chance to compete. Their final matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies saw yet another promising performance from the likes of their star in Fox, who had a strong showing on the offensive end while battling Ja Morant and tally 16 combined points in the second half of a 25 point night for the Kings’ starting point guard.

Finally, who could forget the $86 Million dollar man Buddy Hield capitalizing on his spotlight and winning the 2020 MTN DEW 3-Point contest back on February 15? While the win was awe-inspiring, considering that Hield drained his last shot to win the contest, it meant more to the fact that Sacramento is starting to get some attention from the national media.

The Kings haven’t had a true All-Star since 2003 (Brad Miller actually, Boogie Cousins doesn’t really count since he was traded to the Pelicans right after the 2017 All-Star game) so their hope is that both Hield and Fox become All-Star caliber players at some point so that drought ends soon.

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Sacramento’s Roster For Season Resumption: Within arm’s reach of forcing a play-in tourney, Sac-Town’s young core will have to go all-out in Orlando.

Keep in mind, as abhorrently unfortunate of a season that Sacramento has had, it’s a miracle that they’re only four 1/2 games out of snatching the eighth seed from the Memphis Grizzlies and keeping the Pelicans, Trail Blazers and Spurs out of reach from the final spot in the West. Fox has been their MVP by a wide margin, leading his club in scoring and assists while also showing that the chemistry between him and Buddy Hield is intact.

Still, health played a major factor in determining what caused some of the Kings’ most significant losses and lower positioning in the Pacific Division out West. Fox missed 17 games over the stretch of the season due to a lingering ankle injury sustained back in November, but after his return on Dec. 17, he picked up from where he left off with his 18.2 points, seven assists and four rebounds per game and actually upped his scoring numbers, as he was averaging 20.4 ppg., 4 rpg., and 6.8 apg. before the season was suspended as a result of the worldwide Coronavirus concerns.

Hield, on the other hand, looks to come into Orlando just as hot as he was when the season was paused. Hield is having his best two seasons as a pro, and reasonably so since he got the brinks trucks backed up for him with that four-year extension he got in the offseason. Hield was averaging 19.8 points per contest off 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.5 percent shooting from deep prior to the suspension. He has become a true second option as a premier perimeter scorer that primarily makes his mark off the catch, and who Fox will usually look to the most during their running of halfcourt sets.

And alongside the two guards in the backcourt will be the likes of Small Forward Harrison Barnes, who is looking to revisit the postseason for the first time since 2016. Barnes, who is averaging 14.7 points, and 4.8 rebounds per game, while shooting an impressive 38.3% from the 3-point line, will be looked to be the usual slashing 3-and-D man on a Kings team that is going to require his presence to stop guards who are switched onto him out around the arc, as well as take opposing Small Forwards out of the game with his own strength and polished footwork on the defensive end around the rim.

With him in the frontcourt will be the duo of Richaun Holmes and Marvin Bagley III for the resumption of this season. Bagley’s health has been a major concern but when the former Duke Blue Devil is healthy, he’s a dynamic, physically imposing stretch big that can be annoying to guard.

He averaged 14.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in the 13 games he played with relatively poor shooting percentages from the field, but Bagley’s potential and room for progression is evident. It’s been said that he’s packed on 10 pounds of extra muscle during this quarantine, but in the event that his lower body ailment appears to be too much of an obstacle for him in this eight-game seeding schedule, in will come Nemanja Bjelica to start at the five.

The sharpshooting Serbian has floated around different rosters throughout his five-year career but has found a home in Sacramento as a productive bench player and occasional starter. Bjelica (11.9 ppg., 6.4 rpg., 2.8 apg., 47.5% FG, 42.4% 3PT) has been an efficient substitute for Bagley as the starting center for the Kings and has helped the Kings become a top-20 defense in the NBA while also being a spark of offense from deep and in the restricted zone underneath the basket.

Sacramento’s bench may be one of the strongest in all of the 22 teams invited to Orlando. As Fox sits, Luke Walton will give the keys to the offense for both point guards Cory Joseph (6.3 ppg., 3.4 apg., 2.5 rpg., shoots 42% from deep) and Yogi Ferrell (4.2 ppg., 1.3 apg., 1.1 rpg.) to run the floor and command the floor.

When Hield takes his rest, rising star and sixth man Bogdan Bogdanovic (14.5 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 3.2 apg.) will step in to provide some isolation and pick n’ roll buckets with a natural shot-creating ability that puts pressure on any defense. Justin James (2.5 ppg., 0.9 rpg., 0.5 apg.) will have a lesser role in the offense but will be asked to do the same as a two-guard on the floor.

At the forward spot, longtime journeyman Kent Bazemore (10.3 ppg., 5 rpg., 1.1 apg.) and brand-new King Corey Brewer will try to impact the game with their already aforementioned roles of scoring off the dribble and coming off of screens ready to shoot set in place.

In Bagley, Bjelica, and Holmes’ place will be two fellow Blue Devils; Harry Giles (7 ppg., 4.2 rpg., 1.3 apg., 0.6 bpg.) and Jabari Parker (4 ppg., 4 rpg., 2 apg.). Parker is currently recovering from the Coronavirus as we speak, and his status for playing in Orlando is unknown with him not taking the trip to South Florida with the team. Former starter Alex Len (6.6ppg., 7.1 rpg.) will be another body Walton will be infringed upon utilizing for additional rebounding depth.

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Sacramento’s Schedule, At A Glance

As the Spurs have a 1.5 game advantage over the Kings in what should be a four-way dogfight for the final seed in the West, the Kings have a slightly more grueling eight-game stretch in comparison to their adversaries in San Antonio. Which made the decision to put the Kings at #19 on this countdown a little more definitive.

Sacramento faces a total of four playoff teams in this abridged seeding schedule, which doesn’t say too many good things if they are going to potentially be without their second-best player. On July 31, they will tip-off in a rather important game against those very Spurs they are trying to move above in the Western rankings, and with a win, get that early headstart on ascending the standings toward the eighth seed. After that, they’ll (literally) be playing an away game against the tournament-hosting Orlando Magic, the first playoff-contender Sacramento faces during their time in Orlando.

Two days after that, they have to go toe-to-toe with Alvin Gentry’s New Orleans Pelicans, who are also battling for an opportunity to force a play-in tournament for the final Western seed, though they have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the entire league. A date with undermanned Brooklyn might be a bit of a reprieve before they have to go and play James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s Houston Rockets (pending if they play, considering that both didn’t arrive in Orlando with their team). They’ll have one more run-in with Zion Williamson’s Pels before playing their old pals AKA their Pacific division rival Los Angeles Lakers to close out their regular season.

They’ll have the 15th easiest schedule, as well.

If there is any room for luck that can be made for this misfortuned-but-not-out Kings team, it’ll have to be on the back of their best players in De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.

The rest of the cast and crew must chip in significantly so that the Kings can look like a tumultuous opponent to face come time for the resumed season to start later this month, but the opportunity lies right in front of Fox and Hield to show the collective NBA universe just how close the Kings are to being a true growing powerhouse on the right path to being staples in the playoffs for years to come.