- Programming note: Watch Trey Lyles' full "Kings Central" interview with Morgan Ragan at 6:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday before "Kings Pregame Live" on NBC Sports California, and again after "Kings Postgame Live."
Despite reaching newfound levels of success on the court, Trey Lyles wants to hold himself and his Kings teammates more accountable.
Speaking to NBC California’s Morgan Ragan on the latest episode of “Kings Central,” Lyles explained that he wants the team to focus on being more consistent and hold each other up to a high standard of excellence with the NBA playoffs right around the corner.
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“I want us to be more consistent, I want us to hold each other more accountable and I want us to play up to our capability to show that we’re a real team in this league and we can make a lot of noise if we can continue to do the things that we know that we’re capable of,” Lyles said.
“And we’ve shown in spurts here and there, I think [if we can put it all together] we will be pretty happy with our results. We’re still a young team, but I think we know by now what we have to do.”
When Ragan asked Lyles what consistency looked like to him, the 27-year-old forward explained that being consistent involves showing up every day with a desire to get better and hold other teammates accountable.
“I think it would look like us showing up every day and giving 100 percent effort on both offensive and defensive ends of the floor,” Lyles explained. “And I’ll say it to the team all the time, just holding each other accountable. I’ll pull guys to the side. I do it during the games; I do it during practice like, ‘Come on, man.’ I get on [De’Aaron] Fox a lot like, Ccome on, man. Dude, whatchu doin?' ...
NBA
"Like I said, continuing to show up every day. If we can get one percent better every day, we’re just going to continuously get better.”
Lyles and the Kings have undergone a meteoric rise since Mike Brown took over as head coach last season, with the team making the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and ending the NBA’s longest postseason drought.
While Sacramento started off the 2023-24 NBA season looking solid, they have struggled with inconsistencies during the past few weeks, losing to shorthanded teams and barely clinging to a playoff berth.
As Lyles knows, for his team to grab an automatic playoff spot they will have to play much better over the final weeks of the regular season, avoiding the sloppy play that has plagued them during their recent stretch of middling play.