At this point in the season, the losses don’t hurt as much for the Sacramento Kings. In fact, sometimes they help when it comes to their chances in the NBA draft lottery.
In that respect, the Kings took one of their best losses of the season Sunday, falling 116-99 to the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center in the fourth game of a five-game road trip.
Ochai Agbaji came off the bench to score 18 points for the Nets (17-58), who had lost 10 in a row and 20 of their last 22. Nolan Traore had 17 points and six assists. Drake Powell scored 16 points, Noah Clowney scored 15 and Nic Claxton added 10.
Devin Carter had 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Kings (19-57). Nique Clifford had 17 points and seven rebounds. Precious Achiuwa had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Sacramento improved its position in the lottery standings, gaining ground on the Nets and Indiana Pacers, who beat the Miami Heat 135-118 after losing 18 of their last 19 games. The Kings still have the fourth-worst record in the NBA, but they are now just a half-game behind the Nets, a half-game behind the Washington Wizards and one 1 ½ games behind the Pacers.
The teams with the three worst records have a 52.1% chance of securing a top four pick and a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick.
The injury riddled Kings — playing their second game in 24 hours and their third in four nights — were even more shorthanded than usual. DeMar DeRozan (right hamstring soreness) and Malik Monk (right shoulder contusion) were ruled out along with Drew Eubanks (thumb), De’Andre Hunter (eye), Zach LaVine (finger), Keegan Murray (ankle), Domantas Sabonis (knee) and Russell Westbrook (toe).
Kings coach Doug Christie deployed his 35th different starting lineup of the season. Christie started Carter and Clifford in the backcourt with Daeqwon Plowden, Achiuwa and Maxime Raynaud in the frontcourt.
Brooklyn outscored Sacramento 15-6 over the first five minutes and led 31-18 at the end of the opening period. The Nets went up by 20 early in the second quarter and led by as many as 27 before carrying a 68-45 advantage into the halftime break.
Sacramento capitalized on 10 third-quarter turnovers by Brooklyn to outscore the Nets 28-18 with a 13-0 advantage in points off turnovers. The Kings trailed by 13 at the end of the third quarter and cut the deficit to nine on a 3-pointer by Clifford early in the fourth, but the Nets responded with a 13-0 run to push the lead back up to 22 points.
Christie acknowledged that the Kings were in a difficult position given their recent schedule injury situation.
“It is, but that’s not an excuse,” Christie told reporters in Brooklyn. “This is about professionalism, and I thought early we didn’t meet the level of physicality. In the third quarter, we came out and met the level and just kind of ran out of gas.”
Up next
The Kings will conclude their five-game road trip when they visit the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors (41-32) are tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference with the Atlanta Hawks, a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers for the last automatic playoff berth in the East.
The Raptors are led by Brandon Ingram (21.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.7 apg), RJ Barrett (18.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.3 apg), Scottie Barnes (18.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 5.6 apg) and Immanuel Quickley (16.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.0 apg). Barnes scored 23 points to lead Toronto to a 122-109 victory over the Kings on Jan. 21 in Sacramento.
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Jason Anderson is The Sacramento Bee’s Kings beat writer. He is a Sacramento native and a graduate of Fresno State, where he studied journalism and college basketball under the late Jerry Tarkanian.