How playoff-hungry Kings stack up in West postseason picture

Share

Once again, the biggest storyline following the Kings into a new NBA season is their 16-year playoff drought, the longest in North American professional sports.

This time around, they just might have the weapons to snap it.

De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are taking their partnership into its first full season. Sacramento added plenty of outside shooting by signing Malik Monk and trading for Kevin Huerter. Keegan Murray, the No. 4 overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft, already has proven to have a veteran’s composure on the court.

At the very least, Sacramento is going to be an exciting offensive team to watch this season. At the very best, the Kings will break the historic playoff drought and make some noise in the postseason.

Now, before we begin, let's be clear -- the Kings need to advance past the play-in tournament to officially break the playoff drought. But getting to the play-in tourney is the first step.

As the regular-season opener approaches, where do the Kings stack up in the Western Conference?

Tier 6: Race to the bottom

Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz

Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 pick in next year’s draft, squared off last week when Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans played the G League Ignite. And, whew, the NBA took notice.

Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French prospect, logged 37 points, four rebounds and five blocks. Henderson finished with 28 points, five boards and nine assists.

As one NBA executive told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “it’s going to be a race to the bottom like we’ve never seen.”

Oklahoma City would have been fun to watch this season had Chet Holmgren not suffered a season-ending foot injury. The Spurs traded away All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. Houston is … Houston.

Utah tore its core down, sending away Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Bogan Bogdanovic (and later, Patrick Beverley, who they acquired in the Gobert trade).

There are no guarantees in the NBA, but all four of these teams are expected to do whatever it takes to acquire the maximum amount of NBA Draft Lottery ping pong balls for a chance to land Wembanyama or Henderson.

That means the Kings just need to finish with more wins than one other team to crack a top-10 spot in the conference and enter the play-in tournament.

Tier 5: “Win now” mode

Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers

While the Kings missed the playoffs for a 16th straight season, Portland watched the postseason from home for the first time in eight years.

Sacramento and Portland went on to have very similar offseasons.

The Trail Blazers went out and re-signed Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic, traded for Jerami Grant and signed Gary Payton II to surround Damian Lillard with more talent as he gets healthy again.

Sacramento aggressively added defense and outside shooting. The Kings also selected the most polished, NBA-ready player in the draft in Murray.

Neither of these teams are expected to contend for a championship, but both are hoping to exit this season with an established winning culture and a playoff berth.

It’s fitting the Kings and Trail Blazers open the 2022-23 NBA season with a matchup on Oct. 19 at Golden 1 Center.

Tier 4: High ceilings, low floors

Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers

Minnesota, the reigning play-in tournament champions (in Beverley's eyes, at least), went big this offseason, trading for Gobert, the league’s best defensive center to pair with Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the league’s best offensive centers.

If Zion Williamson can stay healthy, the Pelicans will be a force to reckon with. Williamson, C.J. McCollum and Brandon Ingram is as fun of a trio as it gets.

The Kings-Lakers rivalry could get spiced up again this season if these two teams are hanging around each other in the standings.

The partnership between LeBron James and Anthony Davis has been a disappointment since they won a championship in the NBA bubble. Beverley and Russell Westbrook sharing the floor will be fascinating to watch, win or lose.

It’s easy to see one or even two of these teams climbing up and claiming a top-six seed in the conference. It’s also not out of the question for the Kings to finish ahead of one of these teams in the standings.

Teams in Tier 4 can make a deep postseason run or miss the playoffs entirely, like the Lakers last season.

Tier 3: Luka Dončić plays here

Dallas Mavericks

After stunning the Phoenix Suns in seven games to advance to last year's Western Conference finals, the Mavericks got worse this summer.

The New York Knicks threw a bag at Jalen Brunson before free agency began. Losing Luka Dončić's backcourt mate hurts, and adding Christian Wood -- albeit, a very fun player to watch -- just isn't enough.

But in the annual NBA general manager survey, the superstar Dončić was picked as the heavy favorite to be crowned MVP. He can drop 40 points on any given night and steal a game. He can steal a playoff series.

Unless Dončić misses an extended period of time, the Kings aren't finishing ahead of the Mavs.

Tier 2: Contenders

Phoenix Suns, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets

This tier is where the line is drawn in the West. It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see any of these three teams -- along with the Tier 1 squads -- represent the conference in the 2023 NBA Finals.

Chris Paul enters Year 3 of his tenure in the desert with the same missing piece of his Hall of Fame resume -- a championship. The Grizzlies are hungry and out to prove that last year's 56-win effort was a trend, not a mirage. Denver welcomes back Jamal Murray to pair with back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokić.

The Kings are hoping to have their postseason standing intact before the regular-season finale against Denver on April 9.

Tier 1: Tickets punched

Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers

It was nothing but sunshine, Klay Thompson boat rides and good vibes for the defending champion Warriors this summer until Draymond Green punched teammate Jordan Poole in the face at practice.

The Warriors' culture will survive, though. Steph Curry will be fighting for ring No. 5.

The Clippers are entering arguably one of the biggest seasons in franchise history. Kawhi Leonard is back with Paul George. John Wall is a Clipper and hitting the Dougie again.

The Kings will have their hands full with Tier 1 early in the season, playing the Warriors three times and Los Angeles once over the opening 12 games.

It will be a challenge, but also an opportunity for the Kings to put the NBA on notice that maybe, just maybe, this is the year Sacramento gets its thirst for the playoffs quenched.

Contact Us