The biggest weakness the Sacramento Kings have demonstrated in a season of so much frustration has been a stunning lack of 3-point shooting in the modern NBA game.
That weakness was on full display in a nationally televised game against the Phoenix Suns as the Kings opened a five-game homestand Tuesday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Devin Booker, Collin Gillespie and Grayson Allen combined to make 13 of Phoenix’s 19 3-pointers in a 114-103 victory over a Kings team that made only seven 3s.
Going into the game, the Suns were fifth in 3-point attempts (40.6) and 13th in 3-point shooting (.360). The Kings were 30th in both categories, shooting 33.6% while averaging 30.1 attempts.
Phoenix went 19 of 49 from 3-point range, shooting 38.8%. Sacramento went 7 of 27, shooting 25.9% while getting outscored 57-21 from beyond the arc.
“We have to be able to shoot the basketball,” Kings coach Doug Christie said. “We shot 25%, but even then a lot of those 3s came in transition, which is crazy. Minus 36 at the 3-point line is just tough to survive.”
Jalen Green scored 20 points to lead the Suns (35-26), who are two games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the final automatic playoff berth in the Western Conference.
Allen came off the bench to score 18 points. Gillespie had 17 points, six rebounds and nine assists. Booker had 17 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Rookie center Maxime Raynaud had 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for the Kings (14-49), who are closing in on 50 losses for the 19th time in the Sacramento era. Precious Achiuwa had 18 points and nine rebounds.
Raynaud noted that the Kings gave up 18 offensive rebounds, which allowed the Suns to amass a 27-13 advantage in second-chance points.
“I don’t remember how many second chance points they got because of that, but quite a lot, so I think that was the game right there,” Raynaud said.
Mailk Monk came off the bench to provide an immediate spark for Sacramento, scoring 11 points in his first four minutes. He went 4 of 4 from the field with three 3-pointers, including a one-legged bank shot as the shot clock expired.
The Kings led 30-22 at the end of the first quarter, but the Suns went up 41-32 after outscoring Sacramento 19-2 to start the second quarter. The Kings responded with a 13-5 run to cut the deficit to one on an emphatic dunk by Achiuwa. They went into the halftime break trailing 59-55.
The Kings and Suns exchanged leads a couple of times early in the second half before Phoenix staged a 14-0 run to take a 76-63 lead following back-to-back 3-pointers by Royce O’Neal. The Suns led 90-75 after hitting seven 3-pointers in the third period.
Phoenix led by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter. The Kings cut the deficit to nine on a basket by Raynaud with 1:23 remaining, but they couldn’t get any closer.
Up next
The Kings will play host to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday.
The Pelicans (19-44) will come to Sacramento as part of a six-game road trip after losing to Lakers 110-101 on Tuesday. They had won four in a row before suffering a 137-117 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
The Pelicans beat the Kings 120-94 in their first meeting on Feb. 9 in New Orleans. Trey Murphy III scored 31 points in that game. Zion Williamson had 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with five rebounds and six assists.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 10:57 PM.
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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.