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Last season was bad for the Sacramento Kings. This one was even worse, but for different reasons.<\/p>\n
The Kings closed out the dismal 2025-26 season with a 122-110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday at Moda Center. During exit interviews Monday at the team\u2019s Golden 1 Center practice facility, the Kings couldn\u2019t help wondering what might have been if they hadn\u2019t been decimated by injuries.<\/p>\n
The Kings (22-60) tied the Utah Jazz for the fourth-worst record in the NBA and matched the franchise\u2019s second-lowest win total since the team moved to Sacramento in 1985. Kings center Domantas Sabonis was asked what the team needs to improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell because the whole team hasn\u2019t played together all year,\u201d Sabonis said. \u201c… We have so many pieces that we\u2019ve been missing \u2014 wings, tall defenders like everyone\u2019s wanted \u2014 but we haven\u2019t played together, so it\u2019s tough to evaluate because you have now some pieces that you can use, but we haven\u2019t seen it on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeMar DeRozan famously referred to his first season in Sacramento as a \u201cs— show\u201d after the Kings were undone by internal chaos and upheaval. Coach Mike Brown was fired. De\u2019Aaron Fox was traded. As the season came to an end, general manager Monte McNair was dismissed while assistant general manager Wes Wilcox and assistant coach Luke Loucks left to take jobs in the college ranks.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s team didn\u2019t have that kind of internal strife under new general manager Scott Perry and coach Doug Christie, but the Kings couldn\u2019t stay healthy. Sabonis missed 63 games due to injuries. Keegan Murray missed 59. Zach LaVine missed 43.<\/p>\n
DeRozan didn\u2019t hesitate when asked which of his two seasons in Sacramento was more difficult,<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one,\u201d he said. \u201cThis one for sure. It\u2019s tough with so many guys out. We started out the season without a key guy. Another key guy dropped. It was like thing after thing after thing. Trying to make adjustments in the midst of feeling like you\u2019re sinking in a deep hole by losing games, frustration, so many emotions. There definitely was a lot going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray missed the first 15 games of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb. He made his season debut a day after the Kings announced Sabonis would be sidelined with a partially torn meniscus.<\/p>\n
The Kings acquired De\u2019Andre Hunter in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he was injured in the second game he played for Sacramento. Hunter, LaVine, Sabonis and Drew Eubanks all ended up having season-ending surgeries.<\/p>\n
All I want to do is be on the court, and the fact that I wasn\u2019t able to do that and be a part of it,\u201d Sabonis said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even get to play with Keegan, so that\u2019s definitely sad. We definitely have a great two-man connection game, and we definitely worked on things last summer to try and use it, but things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
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