With the preseason now just days away, the Sacramento Kings are working hard in training camp to prepare for the 2025-26 season under first year head coach Doug Christie.
There have been numerous quotes from everyone around the team, including Christie, new GM Scott Perry, and the players, on how they are working hard to build a culture and identity, as well as implement the new offensive and defensive schemes. But there’s one overarching theme that has been evident since media day last Monday: everyone seems genuinely happy.
That’s to be expected with the season on the verge of starting, but the Kings are also not a team expected to do much this season by many around the league. They have several veterans whose futures are up in the air with the organization, but everyone seems set on winning as many games as possible and executing Christie’s vision for the team.
They don’t sound like a team that is being projected to win 33 games; they sound like a team who is ready to compete. And more importantly, they seem ready to have fun.
It’s not that the team last year had bad vibes during training camp under Mike Brown, but looking back now, there’s a stark difference in how everyone is acting this season so far.
Last year, the Kings had high expectations to not only get back to the playoffs but to make a deep run in the postseason. There was talk of the Western Conference finals after the signing of DeMar DeRozan. The trio of him, Domantas Sabonis, and De’Aaron Fox was supposed to take a big leap under Mike Brown, which ultimately led to one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory.
And little did we know that there was turmoil within, with the team not wanting to bring back Brown and Fox not wanting to play for another coach. That wasn’t known at the time, but thinking back a year, tensions were relatively high for training camp.
Mar 22, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings interim head coach Doug Christie talks to media members before the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Fast forward to this season, and everyone seems excited to play for Christie. From the outside looking in, he appears to have a special knack for connecting with everyone. From players, to coaches, and the front office, everyone seems to be aligned this training camp.
He’s been described as a ‘player’s coach,’ which is a big compliment coming from the players. While he doesn’t have the experience of other coaches around the league, everyone enjoying each other’s presence can go a long way in the NBA.
While the Kings were linked to Jonathan Kuminga all offseason, they didn’t have any big trades that were rumored to bring them to the next level like last year. Sacramento was linked to Cam Johnson and John Collins all offseason under Monte McNair, but no move ever came to fruition, which ultimately led to frustration from both fans and players.
The Kuminga trade was more of a trade for the future than one to get the Kings over the hump this season. There was no player on the Kings’ radar that would have put Sacramento in the contender’s category for the upcoming season.
That also lowers expectations and gives more clarity on what the plan is for the season, something that the players seem happy to be enjoying this training camp.
It’s still early, and it’s just training camp, but it’s a good sign that vibes are so high for the team. Everything could implode once the games begin, but if the goal for this year is to build a new culture and identity, training camp is the perfect place to start that. And, so far, everything seems to be on track to bring Perry’s vision to life.