The Kings' pursuit of an NBA Cup title will have to be put on hold until next season.
Sacramento officially is eliminated from the NBA's in-season tournament after losing 115-106 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at Moda Center.
The Kings' loss to the Blazers leaves them as the only winless team in Western Conference Group A, currently 0-3 in the group stage of the tournament. Sacramento has a minus-25 point differential in group play.
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Malik Monk led the way for the Kings with 29 points, and Domantas Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox chipped in 43 combined, but it was nowhere near enough to overcome the lack of scoring elsewhere as Sacramento trailed by double digits for the majority of the second half on Friday.
The Kings' showing in the second annual edition of the league's in-season tournament is on par with the rocky start Sacramento has stumbled through to begin the 2024-25 NBA season, sitting at 9-11 after entering the season with expectations of making a deep playoff run.
Instead, through a quarter of the season, the Kings sit in the No. 12 spot in the Western Conference playoff picture, with a steep hill to climb in a conference where even the bottom feeders present a difficult challenge on any given night.
Six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan continues to deal with an ailing back, missing his fifth game of the season on Friday. The Kings are 2-3 without DeRozan, whose absence is apparent as Sacramento struggled to generate consistent offense against Portland.
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So far, things haven't gone to plan. Coach Mike Brown is digging deep into his bag in search of a spark for his team -- including an eye-opening exchange with a referee Sunday that earned a hefty fine.
Luckily for the Kings, there still is plenty of time to right the ship, and they certainly have the pieces to put together a run.