Dear Sacramento Kings,
Long time listener, first time caller. I’ll take your response offline, or in the comments.
Please note that the following is solely my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the thoughts and opinions of The Kings Herald, its staff, or its members (though it may resonate with the “haters” in the crowd. /Rolls eyes)
Please release your hostage Domantas Sabonis at your earliest convenience.
As a longsufferingtime Kings fan, I have seen this show before. “Franchise” player is castigated for the shortcomings of the organization, and eventually fire sold, local reputation somewhat in tatters.
We need not look any further back than less than one year ago, when the perception was out there that De’Aaron Fox wanted Mike Brown fired. And none of it was fundamentally true. He did want out when shit hit the fan because he had told the team he didn’t want to play for another coach. Fox was dispatched to greener pasture for a handful of tragic beans, granted release as a hostage and off to play with perhaps the best player of this next generation, for an organization that knows how to cultivate small market success.
And now the rumblings have begun about Domantas Sabonis.
Now it seems that Domas is not happy with how he is being featured on the offensive end. Now it is Domas that is mailing it in.
Sure.
Even if he was frustrated with his role on the offense, it would be warranted. It’s not about how many shots he gets, in my opinion. It would be about the touches and possessions. No one other than Keon Ellis is really finding open spots, no one is really running the pick and roll with him consistently and once he passes it to the ISO troops he won’t see it again.
What’s next with the rumblings? That he is not a playoff performer, based on one series in which he played one-handed due to a fractured thumb that he had nursed through the whole season? Hey, if he’s not a playoff performer, he’s with the right organization!
Or that he is not fully invested this year, even though he is playing with damaged ribs that would put most players (especially established players) in street clothes?
Is Sabonis the face of a franchise? Probably not. He is not Nikola Jokic. His game has limits, and he is neither the rangy wing or lightning guard that propels teams forward in today’s NBA. He should probably be no better than your third offensive shooting option, especially given his reluctance to shoot in high volume, and you better have someone else that can close out games on the offensive end (I hear that De’Aaron Fox kid was pretty good at that). He needs length up front with him, defensive help at the rim. None of this was unknown when you traded for him, yet you have done nothing to fill those cracks.
Domantas Sabonis deserves better, as did Fox. This is the conundrum of having talented players under the umbrella of an absolute shitshow of an organization. First you devalue them, then you blame them for your failures, then you sell them off for pennies on the dollar.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
So before you besmirch the reputation of this man any further, please relocate him to a better NBA organization. It should be easy – there are 29 of them to choose from. And after that is done, I am sure you will let Keegan Murray know that he is next on the block (it won’t be Zach LaVine, he gets the Vivek boy-crush pass).
Nice arena, though. It looks really spacious with all those empty seats!
-Rob Hessing