The Sacramento Kings’ ONLY Path to Success is With the Young Guys | Locked On Kings

The Sacramento Kings’ ONLY Path to Success is With the Young Guys | Locked On Kings

It’s hard to imagine that any team that is 14th out of 15 teams in the West with a five and 17 record can find any semblance of success in a season. But there is a way for the Sacramento Kings. It’s all about the young guys and the trade deadline a little bit too. On this episode of the Locked on Kings podcast, the Royal Report, Jason joins me to talk about the young guys. is Maxi Marino, Keegan Murray, Nick Clifford, and how the next generation of Sacramento Kings basketball can begin today. You’re listening to Locked on Kings. You are Locked on Kings, your daily Sacramento Kings podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time. Time for another episode of Locked on Kings. Hello and welcome into Locked on Kings, your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all season long. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season. Visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. My name is Matt George. I have the privilege of being your host here. I’m a Sacramento sports anchor and reporter for ABC10 News. And I’m excited. I got a I got a first time on this podcast today. The first time that I’ve gotten to collab with Jason from the Royal Report. If you haven’t seen his work, he’s another solo podcast host like myself that does a great show breaking down Sacramento Kings basketball. Just another really really good program to hopefully get you through this struggle of a season, get you that kings talk that I know you crave. Uh I I I was made aware of Jason earlier this season and thought, you know what, I’m gonna I’m gonna listen to my comment section. I’m going to bring him on the show. Let’s let’s let’s talk. Let’s chat. I had such a great time talking Kings basketball with him. It’s definitely going to be something that we do on a regular, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Here is the combo. Locked on Kings and Royal Report coming together for a nice nice little Kings conversation. For the last few months, I’ve been getting nothing but comments. You got to collab with Royal Report. You got to collab with the Royal Report. Jason’s great, Matt. You got to have him on the show. And so, I went checked it out, listened to some of Jason’s work. Like, oh my god, this guy’s great. Okay, I’m doing it. I’m bringing him here on Locked on Kings. And Jason nice enough to respond right away. Come over to Locked on Kings. And now I have a feeling this might be something that we we do on a regular basis. Jason from the Royal Report, you can check out his show if you’re not already on on his YouTube channel. Does incredible content after games, just consistent Sacramento Kings talk, helping us get through this uh god-awful season that we’re going through, Jason. But one of the things we’re going to talk about is how can the Sacramento Kings still find some semblance of success with this year? We’ll get into that. Plus Maxine May Reo, Keegan Murray, and all that in just a little bit, my friend. But how have you been getting through this season so far, my man? What is when you’re watching Kings basketball? Because when we’re we’re breaking down these Kings, right, we can’t just turn the TV off and discuss like so many people want to. How what is getting you through these games throughout this god-awful start? I mean, it it’s got to be the little things, like just enjoying the little things and and some of that is watching the veterans play some good basketball, you know, have or at least some fun basketball. But the main thing is the young players. I mean, the the veterans at times can be a little depressing, and that’s unfortunate because there are some great players who have had some great careers, but it’s about the little things, the little growth that we’re seeing from veterans. And so, I think this season when it comes to what I’m looking for, there are kind of three separate categories. It’s like the individual performances then how the team is playing like as a team and the the whole identity talk I know was a little cheesy in the offseason but you know there’s some truth to it trying to get towards a certain identity and then there’s the team building perspective which will come more towards the trade deadline but right now it’s about the young guys and trying to watch mainly the rookies but now that Keegan’s back Keegan as well and watching the little growth that we’re seeing from them. We’ll dive into that in just a second because we finally got a taste of of like more minutes for the young guys in that Houston game. And even though they got blown out, I was actually pretty excited about it, Jason. But but before we get to that, I want to go back to even the beginning of the season because there’ll be a lot of people that claimed, “Yeah, I didn’t expect the Sacramento Kings team to be any good, but I don’t think anybody could say that they were going to be this bad.” like what what were your expectations for this team going into the season, whether it’s record-wise or whatever, and then how soon did you know, oh god, they’re not going to come anywhere close to that? I my expectations, I forget what I exactly said in the preseason, but I definitely was somewhere between, I think, the 12th and the 14th seed in the Western Conference. So, I was not someone who even thought we would make the playin. I mean, I thought there was a chance, so I definitely didn’t think they would be quite this bad. Five and I don’t even know. I I lost track. Five and 17. Five and 17 I think. Yeah, it’s it’s definitely a next level of poor play than I expected where I mean the defense is bad and I expected that. This team was not going to be a good defensive team no matter what, especially when Keegan Murray went down in the preseason. Like that makes sense. The offense being just as horrid as it has been and as hard to watch as it has been, that’s been the really disappointing part. And so when did I know that this team was really bad? I mean, it it did not take long. It was a few games into the season if I’m being honest, just because the team was was so depressing to watch and there felt like there was no life. And that was all with Zack Lavine actually having a very good start to the season. And even Damonte Sabonis, he had his little injury and he came back and but it was like some guys at an individual level playing pretty well but it just not coming together at all. So Jason was more on top of this team or had a better finger on the poles of this team than I did because I thought like this team was was destined to like compete for a meaningless playin spot. I So you had them at like that 12 to 14 range. You might have AB. Absolutely. What’s What’s crazy about this is they’re they’re what five and 17 and they’re like three teams, four teams in the league that are worse than them. Like I would never expect the Kings to be on like a 20 win pace and are they’re going to struggle to have the the bottom three aka top three odds at the number one overall pick. But but here we are. But Jason, we saw in Houston Doug Christie finally not just giving minutes to Maxim Marino who’s been playing really well the last three games, but pulling Zack Lavine’s minutes down to 19. Deard Rosen, I think played 23 and then you have Keegan playing the the 37. You have Nick that played like 23 to 25. You had Keon who didn’t do anything but played 20 minutes. like that first step towards what a lot of people have been asking for, which is you don’t have to completely bench the the the veterans and the starters, but pull their minutes back and start spreading them among the young guys. At least make these losses and make this court time going forward means something or or productive in some sort of way towards whatever semblance of a future that you had. So, even with the final score the way it was and the way that second half went, how happy were you to see, hey, Meek’s out there. He’s struggling, but he’s out there. Keon’s out there. He struggles, but he’s out there. Like, we we finally got to see some of those lineups that we’re curious about. Yeah. Even with Keon El putting up a Tony Stell statline, you know, it’s still nice to see him out there because it’s not like I expect all of these guys to be all-star level players or develop into all-star level players or even be positive basketball players right away because I definitely don’t expect that. But it’s just about them being on the court and having the opportunity to grow. And so I think one of the things going forward for the Kings that they need to do is remove obstacles for the young players and that is the veterans having all of these minutes and from what we’re seeing so far this season not playing the correct way. That’s not something you want in front of your young players. You don’t want them picking up those bad habits and just kind of being in a depressing kind of toxic situation because that’s kind of what it feels like it is. And so I was I was ecstatic to see the young players and it and like you said, it doesn’t mean that you can’t play the veterans at all. And even going forward, it doesn’t mean that you have to trade all your veterans this season. It just means that you have to give your young guys opportunities alongside of those veterans. I mean, I think one of the things we’re seeing with Maxim Renault kind of I don’t know, having having continuing to grow throughout the season, but now he’s really flourishing and he’s set a career high in Houston and just a couple games prior he set a he had set a previous career high and I think he’s being helped by some of the veterans, especially um Russell Westbrook. One of the stats that I saw in the past couple of days was um the amount of field goal attempts that Max was taking and who they were assisted by. Russell Westbrook assisted on 31 of Reno’s shot attempts. The next most is Nick Clifford at 10. So Russell Westbrook is the guy setting Max up. And so you have to have kind of a mix here. And that’s why I was happy that the Kings did get a veteran point guard in the offseason. Um, maybe you didn’t need two, but um, uh, you know, I’m happy to see this mix of veteran and young players and more even minutes distribution because you’re seeing these guys grow and know it isn’t pretty. No, Nick, you know, Nick didn’t play well. Keon didn’t really do much, but Max did and Keegan didn’t play all that well on the offensive end, but you saw him doing things on the defensive end like he always does. So, you’re seeing these positive things and I think as you continue to give guys consistent minutes, you’re not going to see them, especially as rookies, have constant good performances, but you’ll see the flashes and that’s really what I want to see. This episode of the Lockdown Kings podcast is brought to you by Door Dash. The season is heating up and Door Dash has a way to keep fans in their bag all season long. 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You brought up a great point with Russ and and I’ve kind of noticed over these last handful of games too, Jason. Demar De Rozan has been getting more time with some of those second unit groups and with some of those younger players and I felt he’s looked the most comfortable that he’s looked the entire season. Now Dear is someone that I fully expect to be gone at the trade deadline. Like it just makes perfect sense for the Kings to move on from him, do right by him. Uh like he and Malik Monk are at the top of my list of those are the guys that are going to be on the move. Um, realistically, I know the Kings will probably try and trade one of Sabonis or or Lavine, if not both of them, but realistically with those contracts, who knows if they’re going to be able to find anything. So, but until that time, until the time that you can move Demar, just because he’s part of this veteran group that’s really, really struggling and is really, really bad, doesn’t mean that he’s not valuable to some of these young guys, especially like a Anique Clifford specifically. So it’s really just like Russ has jumped out to you with how he’s been working with Maxim and trying to set Maxim up. I really think Demard Roen with that second unit giving that second unit and those young guys a steady scoring presence that they can always lean on and rely upon and more of that isolation mid-range scoring which Demar has made a career out of. But it’s not like he’s demanding the ball the entire time and Nick’s just standing in the corner like some of these other guys are when they play with that primary veteran lineup. So, it’s it’s good to see that Doug, at least over the last handful of games, is starting to find ways to work the young guys in with veterans who are complimenting them, not directly contrasting them like it felt at the start of the season. Yeah, definitely. And I think having a guy like Demard Rosen, even though, you know, sometimes he can be kind of the isolation type of player, I mean, he does that a lot. And that can be thought of as not great in a team environment sometimes. But I think when it comes to playing with a lot of these young players, sometimes that’s what you need because if you throw all of these young players out there, especially against a defense like Houston with all their length and size, they can get overwhelmed. Yes. And that can be okay for development like you got sometimes you got to be thrown into the fire to learn. But also to kind of grow in other ways, grow your game in other ways. You have to have one of those veteran players out there who’s going to have the ball. And so all the young players can learn how to play off the ball and how to move when there is a ball dominant player because the reality of the NBA, especially with some of these young guys maybe projecting as role players, is you’re going to have to learn how to play alongside a guy like Demar De Rozan. Even if when eventually you are in a winning situation, it isn’t going to be Demar specifically that is your guy, but it’s going to be someone who can play some isolation basketball like him. And so I think that that is a valuable learning experience for the young guys. Is there any until Demand Sabonis gets back, which two, three weeks it sounds like is when he’s going to be re-evaluated, is there any reason not to start Maxi Marino and to continue to start Drew Eubanks? No. I’ve been saying this for the last couple of games. What are we doing here? Why is Drew Eubanks starting? And I think last game it was like two minutes into the first quarter, Max is coming into the game. He played 10 minutes total. Yeah, it’s a complete sham. Like it’s as if we’re like we have to start Drew just because he is the veteran and Max is the rookie so he has to come off the bench and it’s not that big of a deal. Like if Max is getting the minutes, he’s getting the minutes. But why? It just seems like it’s completely pointless to me. backs has shown that he’s playing more positive minutes than Drew Eubanks is. And so at that point, it doesn’t matter if he’s a rookie. You got to put him in that starting lineup and and show him that you are confident in him and that you like what he’s been doing so far. Give him that, you know, vote of confidence. Yeah, I I completely agree. There’s no reason why Max shouldn’t start. Like throw him into the fire. He is going to struggle. like who if he starts, let’s say, against Miami and he goes up against Bamabio, like Bam’s going to get the better of him a number of times, that’s what Bam’s supposed to do. He’s a veteran against a rookie in a second round pick, rookie in that. And there are obvious holes to Maxim’s game that he needs to address. He needs to get stronger. A lot of this stuff he’s really not going to be able to do until the off seasonason, but we can see how far the IQ has brought him from where he started to where he is right now. And I mean, he needs to one thing I think he could do better right now is he needs to rebound with more of a purpose. Like really attack a rebound. Don’t just put your arm up there because you’re 7 foot one and hope the ball lands in your palm. Like attack it. Go up with two hands. Try and be physical. Get an over the back foul call. I don’t care. Like go just be a little a little more aggressive rebounding the basketball. More aggression is what Max needs to his game, period. But Jason, something that stood out to me is over these last three games where Max is doing better, he’s starting to shoot the ball a little bit more. like that was his skill at Stanford. He was a floor spacing center in Stanford. He’s three of five from three-point range over the last three games. That volume still needs to go up. The thought behind that is, well, hey, when Deanna Sabonis comes back, naturally he’s going to go back into the starting lineup. Naturally, he’s going to get minutes again. Now, I’m one to believe that no veteran should be playing more than 32 minutes a night unless they’re having such an amazing game like you can’t take them off the floor. But that should be to me the cut off so that there’s minutes for for the young guys as well. What like is there any reason to strongly consider Dom starts at the four, keep Max at the five so he can truly space the floor in that role, move Keegan to the three, which a lot of people have said they want to see Keegan at the three and then go from there, right? Like maybe we have to see how Max plays over the next couple weeks, but that seems a lot more realistic now than it ever felt as as an offseason conversation after Max was drafted. I think I don’t think you do it right away right when Domas comes back. I don’t think you just throw Max in there with Domas because I think there are obvious flaws to that as well just with the perimeter defense uh and the mobility of those guys. So I think there are flaws to that. Um but I think you can absolutely throw them out there together at certain points of the game and see how it goes. I don’t think you just throw them into the starting lineup. What I’ve liked from Max though is like you said now he’s starting to shoot a little bit more and I think I think it was against Memphis where he had it was the fourth quarter he had three moments where he was just wide open from three and he only shot one of them. Yeah. And to me like that can’t happen because he’s being guarded by Zack Edy and Zack Ed’s just chilling in the paint and that’s going to hurt your offense. He needs to be able to shoot that because that’s part of his game. I do like that he started the season out not just chucking up a whole bunch of threes and making that the only thing he does on offense. He’s been a good screener. He’s been doing kind of the little things you need to do as a center, which is set those screens, roll to the rim, be good at finishing around the rim, find yourselves in the right pockets. But now that he’s getting more comfortable, I do want to see him start shooting more. And you saw the way Shenun in the last game, there was a point where he like turned his back on Max at the three-point line and Max shot the ball and swished it. Like that’s what we want to see from him. Just be that uh floor spacer on offense at times. That doesn’t need to be his entire game, but it’s it’s a good aspect to have. And so for him to play alongside Doms, both of them being I think good passers. Max has shown his skills on the ball. That would be a fun thing to try out. I I do question whether it would would hold up on the defensive end, but Domas would definitely cover up some of Max’s flaws as a rebounder right now, which is nice. A and it’s definitely fun to have bigger lineups when we’ve been playing with all of these tiny lineups. This episode of the Lockdown Kings podcast is also brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. one big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. 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Like play play without fear. And I felt like ne over the last couple of weeks, Nick Clifford has has been more you can tell he’s trying to make the right play because when he’s out there, it’s typically been as part of the main rotation with with some of the main guys and he’s trying to be in the right spots and space the floor correctly. And I’m I’m okay with him going 0 for three from three-point range in Houston. Now, I won’t say that same thing if he’s continuing to go 0 for three from three and it’s a month or two from now that he’s getting consistent playing time. Like at some point those got to start dropping if you’re going to be an NBA player. But like let those shots fly. I’ve loved that since Keegan comes back has come back, he’s tried some things. Sometimes it hasn’t worked. He turned the ball over a couple times in Houston trying some things. Great. Like what are you afraid to lose? You’re losing anyway. like don’t be afraid to to take those shots. Don’t be afraid to put the ball on the floor and attack and do something. The one bucket that Meek scored in Houston, he put the ball on the floor, attacked the basket, finished with a strong layup at the rim. Like, love that. That’s the one thing that I think is going to be the only demand that I have for these young guys as hopefully they get more playing time going forward. Be fearless. Experiment. Try things. Now is the time for that. And you’ll find out very quickly what works and what doesn’t, especially when you’re playing against lineups with Amen Thompson and and Kevin Durant on the other side. No doubt. I you saw Keegan’s struggles when he was putting the ball on the floor against Amen Thompson. The handle didn’t look great, but that’s fine. Try things. And I want to see be I want to see Keegan get at least 15 shot attempts per game. The last two games, I think he’s been at 11 and 12. So, like slightly lower than what I wanted him to be. When he first came back, he was really getting them up. The last two games, I think he struggled a little bit more. Um, but I definitely want to see him just continue to shoot. Continue to be very involved in the offense. And like you say with N Clifford going 0 for three from three. Like that’s fine. Just shoot when you’re open. Like you cannot pass up these shots even when you’re not completely open. Like you can get a couple up. That’s fine. but be aggressive putting the ball on the ground. And for me, one of the the plays that kind of stood out to me for Nick was when he first came into the game against Houston and the Rockets went to his own defense and he caught the ball in the left wing and he just immediately let it fly. And then, you know, it didn’t go down. And then the next possession or maybe a possession after that, he catches the ball on the perimeter and he pump fakes and he gets the defense to come out at him. and then he drives. And so it’s just him showing his willingness to shoot all of the sudden attracts the defense out and opens up other parts of his game even though he didn’t even hit the three. And I think that’s what we can see from Nick. That’s what we can see more from Max and Keegan has been letting it fly. So, I absolutely agree like we need to see these guys just getting more shot attempts and I think as the season goes on hopefully we will see more and more of the young guys being featured and getting more shot attempts and especially Nick who hasn’t looked the most confident trying to find his own shot. Him get more comfortable. I just I’m waiting for that one game where Nick really just hits his first couple of threes maybe and just it opens up his entire game and he scores 15 points or so. The overall theme to this conversation is the the path really the only path to any sort of success for the Sacramento Kings this season is future oriented playing the young guys and watching them develop before our very eyes. We could even say to some extent like the growth of Maxi Marino, not physically, but the the growth of Max from the start of the season to where he’s at now. He still has a long way to go, but that exponential growth is is a is a success. Like we’re seeing it’s a small success amongst a lot of failure, but it’s a success. So, the only way the Kings can really have a successful season this year is is with the young guys developing with Keegan Murray showing that opportunity or taking advantage of that opportunity to be a top guy. And then I can add into like how Scott Perry approaches the trade deadline. Like this trade deadline is going to be very fascinating for what the Kings are able to do, what they aren’t able to do, and how the plan really starts to come together a little more uh around that trade deadline time. But going back to Keegan, Jason, like not to put any more weight on Keegan’s shoulders because he’s already carried a ton of responsibility with this organization throughout his entire career here, starting as a rookie for a playoff team. But this is like these next few months in my opinion will define who Keegan Marie is as an NBA player. We already know, hey, you’re going to be an established rotational 3 and D type player. We’d love to see that three three-point percent get back up to where it was his rookie season, of course, but defensively he’s really really good. Rebounding he’s really really good. Like we already know Keegan’s an NBA player and he can have a very long successful career, but this will define whether you are capable of being more than that or not. I already felt like this was his last season even before he signed that $25 million per year contract. This was his last season to show that he could be a guy. Now he’s going to get the most green of green lights or he should get the most green of green lights he’s ever had for the rest of the season. So, it might feel like meaningless basketball in terms of wins and losses over the course of a losing season, but there’s a lot for Keegan to truly play for and discover and do for himself, his image, and his career over the course of these final months of the season, which will also potentially define how Scott Perry approaches this off season with how much he feels he needs to go out and get a number one guy, a number two guy. It just all depends on how what Keegan shows us he’s capable of as a really the only centerpiece that the Kings have left on this roster future-wise. I mean, yeah, you’re totally right about him being the only centerpiece. Everyone is expendable on this Kings team. And I’m I’m even hesitant to say that Keegan is safe on this team. Like, I I don’t think he is. Like, you’re this bad. Anybody is available, but it’s going to take a King’s ransom to get rid of Keegan. No doubt. like you have to get a lot back if you want to trade for Keegan. It is a very important season for him. I think in these first I think he’s played seven games now. What we’re seeing from him is not necessarily him expanding his game in terms of adding new moves to it or being able to, you know, score at all three levels. Like we saw that before, but it’s just his mindset. That’s the thing that’s completely looked looked completely different that we’ve never seen from him before is his him just wanting to have the ball in his hands. That’s what I’ve been seeing. And so that’s important for the rest of the season. And if he wants to be one of the top guys on a team, you got to have that mindset. Of course, you got to have a lot of other things as well, the skills to actually go along with that mindset. I’m not sure he’s ever getting back to where he was as a rookie from the three-point line. You know, I that may have been a little bit of a a fluke now that we’re seeing, but that’s fine. Like, as long as he’s a respectable three-point shooter, he’s also showing that he can get it done in the mid-range, especially in transition. He can really score at the rim. I want to see the ball in his hands as much as possible to see what he really can be as an offensive player. Cuz I’m not sure. I’m not willing to put a ceiling on it. I have what I think he’s going to be as an NBA player, and that’s more as a third, fourth, maybe even fifth guy on a very, very good team, but can he break into that second option? I don’t think he will, but I’m not necessarily willing to put a ceiling on it yet. And so, like you said, this season will define what he can be because he’s going to have that green light. And so, let’s there’s there’s no point to not see what he can be. this team is already so bad and probably wants to stay bad. So, just put the ball in his hands, see what he can be, and hopefully from his point of view, he has that mindset of wanting to be one of the top guys on the team. And from what we’ve heard, I was actually kind of surprised with some of his interviews, him really saying like, I I know it’s going to be tough, but I want to be the guy. I was like, okay, I I’m down with this. So, I I’m really excited to see what what Keegan’s going to do the rest of the season. Keegan’s always in interviews since the moment he was drafted talk about how confident he is. Now, we’re really truly starting to see it. I think that’s the encouraging part. And what we’re also starting to see, Jason, remember how big of a deal it was after Keegan’s first off season, how basically he and De’Arren Fox hung out every day and did nothing but play one-on-one. And we saw the benefits of that defensively for Keegan. Like, he spent a whole summer trying to guard De’aran Fox. And you could see how that improved. Now we’re starting to see some of that offensive bag that maybe he learned a thing or two from Fox or he developed when trying to score on Fox. Like I see those little flashes. I’m like there’s a little dear in there. There’s a little bit of of Dear in what he did. So I’m excited we’re seeing that from from Keegan. Jason, we’ll wrap up with this. Last year’s lottery pick in Devin Carter can’t get on the floor. Period. Like period. And I like I I don’t want to be cruel to say like just label him as a bust and and that’s it because it’s always been the wrong pick. It felt like the wrong pick from the very beginning for Monty McNair. And that’s not Devin Carter’s fault. That being said, like I don’t believe that he’s not playing simply because of a grudge for Scott Perry of I’m not playing him. He wasn’t my pick. Like Devin Carter can’t even get on the floor when they’re down by like 30. So obviously the Devin Carter era, if we even want to call it that, here in Sacramento is over. It’s only a matter of time before they try and move him, if they can get anything for him. But like Scott Perry doesn’t have to own this because it’s not his pick. But the Sacramento Kings do have to own that the guy that they picked with their lottery pick last season is not even getting on the floor. He they’ve made him meaningless in half a season really because he was hurt with that shoulder injury for the first half of last year. Just add it to the list of Kings draft blunders. What a what a strange story that Devin Carter’s been here in Sacramento. It sucks. I in the preseason I actually thought like maybe there’s a bit of a chance that he plays some minutes because because of all of this talk about identity and getting after it defensively and picking up 94 feet and that’s like the main thing Devin Carter does well. He picks up 94 feet but I think you could just see it in the off seasonason when they picked up Shooter then when they picked up Westbrook Devin Carter was going to be the odd man out. I mean, even Keon Ellis was gonna be the odd man out and so so if Keon can’t even get time, Devin’s definitely not gonna get time, right? And it sucks because to to have a lottery pick that you just you don’t see on the court ever. I mean that it happens from time to time and it sucks every single time. Even when it happens to players on other teams like a lottery pick not even really getting a chance to show what he can do. Obviously, I have no idea what’s going on in practice. I have no idea what he’s showing, but he definitely has a lot of flaws that make me question how impactful of a player he can really be. And those flaws are probably the reason he’s not getting on the court because he doesn’t really have a great handle because he has such a slow release because he is a smaller player despite being strong and having some long arms. Like, that’s great, but if you can’t be a positive offensively, it’s at his size, it’s going to be tough to get on the court. That’s what we’re seeing. Maybe if there are no takers for him at the deadline and the Kimings clear out some other players, maybe we could see a little bit of him at the end of the season and maybe out of nowhere he becomes a positive player at least in the rotation. But I mean it there’s really nothing else to say other than it just sucks. The whole situation does. Well, prepare for the sting to hurt a little bit more too because the Kings have taken on the Heat next and DaVon Mitchell has been killing it. killing it in Miami, which he’s such a Miami Heat culture player. Like, he’s just it made so much sense when the Heat Everyone knew it. Everyone knew it. As soon as he went to Miami, we’re like, “Well, crap. That’s that’s not going to go well.” Jason, my man, I appreciate you so much, brother. Uh, congratulations on all the stuff that you’ve been able to do over there on the Royal Report. I want this to become a regular if you’ll if you’ll uh be kind enough to come back on here. I’d love to to join you on the Royal Report sometime whenever you need me. And uh Lockdown Kings listeners, if you haven’t checked out the Royal Report yet, add it to your rotation. I know all of you. I know you all listen to everybody anyway, right? I know you’re listening to Duce and Mo. You’re listening to 1140 and 1320. Make sure the Royal Report is in that rotation uh with with all the Kings content that you consume. Jason, I appreciate you, my friend. Let’s do this again soon and and we’ll get through this season together, my guy. No doubt. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. And we definitely got to do this again.

Matt George and Jason from The Royal Report come together to talk about the next generation of Kings basketball, including Keegan Murray, Maxime Raynaud, Nique Clifford and more.

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