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Look, they're the 7th seed after last night, Dallas has very much the power and control to keep them the 7th seed after Friday.

Malik Monk is going to get a nice payday from a team like the Orlando Magic or San Antonio Spurs this off season, I am not sure if they can get anything back for him.

It's hard to say where they go from here, they clearly need a real #1 option in Sacramento, or a better #2 if Fox can become that guy (which doesn't seem likely).

I don't see Sacramento beating OKC in a playoff series today. I don't see them beating Minnesota if that is their opponent. They are going to be another first round exit.

What's the move here, what's the choice with all they've invested in Domas? Him and Fox combine for $76 million next year.

I mean what do you bundle up Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter to see if you can find the right guy? That money seems to line up with Zach LaVine whom Sacramento did want many years ago.

Is that the only option? Zach Lavine - Sabonis - Fox? Good lord, can you imagine the defense on this team?

They are a no defense team and it starts with their C. All the defensive criticisms levied on Jokic should apply twofold to Sabonis. He would be a PF in any other era.

Kings will prob get swept but Kings fans will be like "Sabonis got 4 double doubles!"

Overrated Sabonis will get another triple double in the playoffs as they lose. They’re not good enough.

WHAAAT

they have TWO 20 year old all stars not in their prime yet. I swear these takes

And no, I don't even watch them often. They play at 1 am local time.

Honestly, after SO many years of bad teams, you run this group back. It's a fun team

Statlanta wrote:They are a no defense team and it starts with their C. All the defensive criticisms levied on Jokic should apply twofold to Sabonis. He would be a PF in any other era.

He's literally 10-0 vs AD head to head

bballfan1three3 wrote:WHAAAT

they have TWO 20 year old all stars not in their prime yet. I swear these takes

Sabonis is in his prime right now

Fox, you could also say is in his prime right now, most NBA players really enter their prime around 27.

Regardless, these guys are who they are, are they really anything more than a treadmill team?

Theyre good and they are very young. Upgrading from Barnes and getting a defensive minded F/C would go a long way for them

Wolfgang630 wrote:Overrated Sabonis will get another triple double in the playoffs as they lose. They’re not good enough.

Still better, than anyone on the Knicks.

iLLmatic860 wrote:Kings will prob get swept but Kings fans will be like "Sabonis got 4 double doubles!"

If they get to play a series, no way Wolves or OKC sweeping them. Denver sure, possible.

They need to pray that Clippers have another massive meltdown so Paul George doesn't opt into his player option. He's exactly what they need on the wing.

There a lot of really good teams in the league right now. Some of them may get left out due to the parity. It happens. Sacramento's main players are still relatively young so they can always run it back.

Statlanta wrote:They are a no defense team and it starts with their C. All the defensive criticisms levied on Jokic should apply twofold to Sabonis. He would be a PF in any other era.

It starts with the backcourt and not the 5 spot.

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The Kings will continue to build this off-season by way of the draft and free agency. I don't see any reason to move any of the core talents they have established. Murray needs more time to develop but he's obviously a keeper.

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From a salary cap stand point, they're in a good spot. They don't have to pay luxury tax, and Fox is on a very friendly deal until 2026. They have some wiggle room over the next couple of years to add some players.

My biggest concern with the Kings has always been whether Fox has it in him to take that next step. If this is as good as it gets for him, they'll need to attract another playmaker, someone like Paul George, to help take them over the hump.

As it stands, they're a first round exit.

bballfan1three3 wrote:WHAAAT

they have TWO 20 year old all stars not in their prime yet. I swear these takes

And no, I don't even watch them often. They play at 1 am local time.

They are both in their prime now. It's not like they are 21 and 22 and have a ton of upside. This is what you will get.

For them to become a contender Keegan Murray has to really blow up. Else they are stuck with not being able to do much, unless they trade a bunch of future picks to land a star. The problem with this is that every team in the west and more or less the east is just one star player away from becoming a contender.

I don't have a problem with them lurking around because the west will lose a couple of good teams soon because of age and injuries.

This is about who they are. Last year the west was down so they got the 3 seed. Now the middle class in the west is better so they'll be play in. I think in a normal year with the Fox/Sabonis core they'll be good enough to get the 5 or 6 seed in the west, maybe sneak out of the first round but that's it. There's nothing wrong with that, but after another year or 2 I would expect there will be calls to blow them up

Extremely unlikely they can add a player that's better than Fox and Sabonis, so it's about maximizing the rest of the roster, and upgrading that defense. They had a bad year shooting the ball from 3, but I think the offensive principles are still pretty sound: Sabonis being orbited by movement shooters, and Fox pressuring the defense with his on-ball scoring and speed.

When you're built around 2x borderline top 20 guys, your ceiling is fringe/dark horse contender, but even to get to that you need a rock solid roster. I think they should go the route of the Knicks (who would have easily won 50+ games this season if healthy) and try to put strong defensive pieces around their good but not great offensive stars.

Keegan Murray is a very solid piece with some solid upside. Keven Huerter's last 11 months have been disconcerting. They don't get a whole lot of production off the bench outside Monk (even if some of their bench guys have been super functional this year). Harrison Barnes is fine.

Losing Monk sounds like a disaster, but I think they'll have a good chance to keep him. He'll have suitors this offseason, but how much money do they want to throw at a small scoring guard?

Statlanta wrote:They are a no defense team and it starts with their C. All the defensive criticisms levied on Jokic should apply twofold to Sabonis. He would be a PF in any other era.

Jokic is the Center and the defensive anchor, if he were so bad, how come his teams are always well above average?
this season they are 10th defensively, with a lineup that consists of two very good defenders in KCP and AG, an average defender in Murray and a below avg MPJ

Jokic has by far the best DRTG out of all the Nuggets players, year after year. also, their defense craters when he sits on the bench, in huge sample sizes over multiple consecutive seasons. he also consistenly scores highly in most of the advanced defensive metrics
the wildest thing this year has been his pnr defence, he's in the top in the league in defending PNR's when he's defending the screener

Jokic is much better than Sabonis defensively, he's not the best defender obviously, and not even close but he's a well-above average defender all in all and he can turn it up, as we can see by the Nuggets consistent 4th quarter and clutch defense for the past two seasons plus ofc - that championship run

he's a poor rim protector but he's also great in some other defensive skills and aspects
Sabonis simply isn't, he needs his Brooke Lopez or his Myles Turner..