The 2025-26 NBA season picked up right where the 2024-25 season left off for the Kings.
But the kicker isn’t exactly Sacramento’s 120-116 season-opening loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night at Mortgage Matchup Center. It’s how the loss came to be for coach Doug Christie and Co.
Up by as much as 20 points and heading into halftime with a cushy 17-point lead, Sacramento’s first-half masterclass—without a single second of injured star Domantas Sabonis, that is—was put to the wayside after countless self-inflicted wounds in the final 24 minutes.
“They made a little adjustment to try to slow our pace down. They switched one through five,” guard Zach LaVine told reporters.
“But the biggest thing is we fouled too much, and we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, in my opinion. With that big of a lead, even going into the fourth, you got to close those games out. So, that one hurts.”
In the third quarter alone, after star guard Zach LaVine had erupted for 22 points in the first half, Sacramento was outscored 24-8 on points in the paint, showcasing its lack of frontcourt depth.
Not only did Phoenix outrebound Sacramento 51 to 37, but it picked up twice as many offensive rebounds throughout the night—18 to 9.
Guard Malik Monk, who also wasn’t shy offensively, contributing 19 points off the bench, acknowledged rebounding has to be an instant fix for the Kings.
“Somebody has to step up and go get some rebounds,” Monk told reporters. “We can’t be leaking out. I’ll go get some more. I think I was leaking out too much today. It won’t happen again, though.”
Trailing by nearly 10 points in the fourth quarter and without Sabonis, who amassed a second-best 972 rebounds throughout the 2024-25 season, at his disposal, Christie opted for rookie center Dylan Cardwell.
“Can’t survive getting outrebounded … “ Christie said after the Kings’ loss. “Got to find a way to box out [and] make sure that we are rebounding the basketball.
“You know, the fundamentals, simple things that we talk about. Scoring the basketball, we can obviously do that. But defense is where everything is going to happen at. That will be better for them as well.”
“Scoring the basketball, we can obviously do that. But defense is where everything is going to happen at.”
Doug Christie expects the Kings to improve defensively moving forward pic.twitter.com/o44auIj6O8
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) October 23, 2025
The Kings might have started the season in Arizona’s desert—but they were also transported to a familiar path where basketball’s defense and late-game gods usually aren’t on their side.
Download and follow The Deuce & Mo Podcast