The Sacramento Kings played the Memphis Grizzlies straight up for the majority of the game on Sunday night, but they were unable to keep a lead in the fourth quarter and lost their 16th game of the season. Zach Edey was especially problematic, putting up 32 points, 17 boards, and 5 blocks.
The Kings had no answer for Edey defensively, and mostly cut into or took the lead when he was resting. Sacramento may have lost this game regardless, given how dominant the Purdue product was, but their offense didn’t do them any favors. Time and time again this season, the Kings’ starters seem to forget how to play team basketball and fall into possession after possession of isolation. After the game, Malik Monk had a very simple answer when asked how to fix the Kings’ offensive woes.
“Pass the ball, simple as that.”
A very frustrated Malik Monk from the locker room: pic.twitter.com/OcxYV2KYa7
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) December 1, 2025
Monk’s answer may seem a bit tongue-in-cheek; however, it might be that simple for the Kings. Against the Grizzlies, the Kings had only 25 assists, with 6 of those coming from Monk off the bench. In wins this season, the Kings are averaging 28 assists per game vs. just over 25 per game in losses.
The current starting lineup has a 55% assist percentage, which is 51st out of 59 lineups that have played at least 50 minutes together this season. Simply put, the Kings are better when they share the ball, and the starters are the biggest offenders. Although he was very diplomatic in his answer, Monk gave some clues as to who specifically might be holding onto the ball too long.
“Easier said than done… lot of guys been in the league for a long time, making shots, making plays for a long time. We just gotta figure out when to take the shots and when to play off of each other.”
DeMar DeRozan passes Alex English on the NBA’s all-time scoring list 👏 pic.twitter.com/3Q0M7Z4JxB
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 25, 2025Can You Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?
It doesn’t take forensics to figure out who Monk is talking about in the quote above, despite leaving names out of the conversation. Not only do Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan often settle for unnecessarily difficult shots, they take them before even trying to find something better for themselves or their teammates.
LaVine was the biggest culprit of this against the Grizzlies, and it became an even bigger problem in the fourth quarter, where he went 1-6 with four of his misses coming off contested jumpers with plenty of time remaining on the shot clock.
The most egregious of the misses came after a live-ball turnover by Memphis at around the 4:30 mark, where LaVine immediately took a step-back three with 21+ seconds left on the shot clock. DeRozan had a better night, but he still had periods where he didn’t look to pass at all. This has been a critique of both players throughout their careers. The question is, can they change?
Zach LaVine with a braindead turnover to start the game, and 30 seconds later he turns the ball over once again (with a replay)
In the first one he is literally passes to Collin Gillespie, in the Kings’ backcourt pic.twitter.com/c0ijn8mpvz
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) November 28, 2025
Ray Allen, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and others have all moved into lower usage roles to help their teams win a championship despite being All-NBA players with their previous teams. DeRozan and LaVine aren’t going to suddenly turn the Kings into a championship team by lowering their usage and passing more, which might be one of the reasons why we haven’t seen much of an effort from them.
When it comes to LaVine, I’m just not sure he’s capable of playing any other way. Net rating doesn’t tell the entire story for any player, but LaVine is sitting at 436th out of 484 players who have averaged at least 10 minutes per game this season. LaVine has a better career true shooting percentage than Kyrie Irving and Devin Booker, yet he is nowhere near their level of impact, and a lot of that has to do with his inability to elevate his teammates. Despite his improvements on defense, his offensive tendencies might not be something he’s capable (or willing) to change.
This chart excludes active players, but if it didn’t, Zach Lavine would have the lowest margin by a lot
He’s got a career +/- of -2006 (!?) https://t.co/1KqVasvvx5
— Jack Dann (@JackBDann) November 28, 2025What About an Older Dog?
For DeRozan, there are some signs that he can play winning basketball and help the Kings develop their players. First, he’s has a much better assist percentage (16.2) than LaVine (11.2) while also having lower usage this season. The two have similar assist percentage numbers for their career, but LaVine is averaging a career low this season and has been on a downward trajectory since arriving in Sacramento. In fact, LaVine’s turnover percentage this season is higher than his assist percentage (11.9 vs 11.2), not a great club to be in.
On the contrary, DeRozan’s turnover percentage is just 6.7, which does a lot to offset some of the bad shots he takes every game. DeRozan needs to be way better about not playing one-on-one, and he still causes problems offensively, but his on/off numbers show that he’s less of an issue than LaVine.
Nov 26, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard/forward Demar Derozan (10) puts up a shot against the Phoenix Suns during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images
The Kings are not just losing games because of LaVine and DeRozan’s playstyle; they’re also losing valuable developmental time for the rookies and young players while having them out on the court. Even Keegan Murray suffers when both guys are combining for close to 30 shots per game.
The easiest answer is changing the rotation, but Doug Christie has been reluctant to stick with his changes and still gave LaVine 35 minutes in the loss to Memphis. The hope for Kings fans is that one or both players are moved by the trade deadline, but for now, fans are probably stuck watching a lot of iso-ball as long as both players are seeing heavy minutes.
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