The only way the Sacramento Kings’ loss to the Utah Jazz could have been worse would have been if mole people erupted through center court in the middle of the game. Actually, that would have been an improvement. With a week off due to All-Star, the Kings need to do something to fix this.
Given how bad the season has been, the likelihood of the Kings winning another game gets worse and worse. After their four home game winning streak, Sacramento has now dropped 14 losses in a row. In case you’re wondering, they are tied for the longest losing streak this season.
Being that Sacramento is quite confidently the worst team in both the Western Conference and the entire league, they are quite literally the underdog in every game. At the same time, that doesn’t mean the Kings should expect to get blown out by the Jazz. The game should at least be competitive.
That’s not what’s been happening. Utah utterly demolished the Kings by a score of 121 to 93. The game before that was as bad as Sacramento lost to the Pelicans 120 to 94. These are respectively the third and second worst teams in the West. The Kings should not be getting blown out.
Sacramento needs to tank without alienating fans
To be frank, the Kings are playing improbably bad at times, and it seems likely that they are tanking. Well, to an extent. The sad part is that they’re not intentionally tanking. In reality, Sacramento is a poorly constructed team going through a rebuild bogged down by bad contracts.
It also doesn’t help that they have a head coach who is widely regarded to potentially be the worst in the league, and in way over his head in this rebuild. Just because Doug Christie once played for the Kings doesn’t mean he’s qualified to lead them.
The Kings are currently sporting a record of 12 wins and 44 losses. Thanks to the All-Star break, Sacramento doesn’t play again until February 19th against the Orlando Magic. This gives the Kings eight days to figure out what kind of team they want to be this season.
If they want to tank to try and get a better lottery pick in the upcoming draft, go for it. But tanking doesn’t require getting demolished by teams almost as bad as you. At least make it interesting, something the broken and disheartened Sactown fans would like to see.