Ever heard about the Greek myth of Sisyphus? Basically, dude fucked around when he was alive, so when he died Zeus made sure he found out. Picture a hill, nothing special, just a normal everyday hill. Maybe it’s a beautiful sunny day, you know that time at like 4:00 when the sun is just low enough in the sky to have a perfect golden light over everything but not so low it begins to set? (am I rambling? I’m rambling). Anyway, at the bottom of the hill lies a boulder. This thing is massive, like at least 10 feet tall. These are the conditions our guy Sisyphus wakes up to in the afterlife. Zeus gives him the lowdown; as soon as you manage to roll that rock up to the top of the hill, he’s free to go. Simple enough right? So Sisyphus gets to work, struggling and straining to move that stupid hunk of earth. Somehow, he’s actually making progress. Slowly but surely he gets closer and closer, until finally, he’s about to finish. He’s right at the apex of the hill, then right as he goes to slot the boulder at the top and call it a day, the unthinkable happens: the rock starts to roll back down. It rolls right over Sisyphus, flattening him instantly (he’s already dead so it’s not like he can die again). It rolls and rolls until it’s at the bottom, right back where it started. Sisyphus runs back down the hill with it, sobbing and cursing his miserable luck. After sometime wallowing in his misery, he rallies to try again. And again. And again. For eternity. See, Zeus cursed the boulder, making it so that Sisyphus will never be able to make it to the top of the hill, no matter what he does. Perhaps the cruelest part is Sisyphus doesn’t know what he’s trying is impossible, so he’ll never give up trying to roll the goddamn boulder up that goddamn hill.
That’s how our story ends, Sisyphus cursed to repeat the same cycle of hope getting ripped out of heart and replaced with despair until the end of time. There he remains to this day, slaving away at a dream that will never be realized, resigned to an eternity of useless efforts and unending frustration. If you wanted to know what being a Sacramento Kings fan feels like, that’s about it.
Hope is not a word usually associated with Sacramento basketball- I think it all got put in an emotional trash compactor sometime after the Tyreke Evans Rookie season and he who shall not be named’s tenure as GM. Too many failed draft picks, bad free agents, and losing seasons of basketball has a way of breaking a fanbase down. After the waves of frustration and depression, a lot of Kings fans were hit with the worst feeling a basketball fan can have: apathy. It’s better to expect failure, because then you’ll never be disappointed. Me personally, I could never be apathetic for long, maybe I’m just a masochist. However, I haven’t really felt optimistic about the Kings in a while. But why?
Well, for starters, personnel wise this is the best team the Kings have had in years. Let’s meet the starting 5:
De’Aaron Fox, 25, point guard: The face of the franchise. A human highlight reel with alien speed and burst. Post Sabonis trade he’s been unleashed on both sides of the ball, hitting threes and locking in on defense in never before seen ways. Also, he dominates in the clutch. A career first All-Star appearance should be on the way for StarFox.
Domantis Sabonis, 26, center: The engine that powers the Sacramento. A true offensive hub who leads the team in both assists and rebounds. He’s a wrecking ball down low, clearing out weak defenders with ease. What Sabonis lacks in rim protection he makes up for with smart rotations, communications, and effort. Another All-Star caliber player who makes for a deadly 1-2 punch.
Kevin Huerter, 24, wing: The best under the radar acquisition in the offseason. Since being traded to Sac, Huerter is averaging career highs across the board. He’s been given free reign within the offense, and it’s beautiful to watch. Standing at 6′ 7″ with a lanky frame that allows him to get his spilt-second shot off, Red Velvet is hitting an absurd 53% of his 3s, and he’s shooting 7 a game
Harrison Barnes, 30, wing: The old man vet in the locker room, he’s a dude that’s won at every level. He’s rebounding from an atrocious start to the season to hopefully be the steadying presence every team team needs.
Keegan Murray, 22, forward: As another big body that’s lights-out from downtown, the 4th overall pick has been a perfect fit with Sacramento. Despite awful circumstances outside the game, he keeps improving with each rep. Once the pick and roll defense and self creation becomes more consistent, this dude is gonna be a problem. He’s also a hilariously awkward and lovable dude, the team’s younger brother that everybody’s rooting for.
Outside of the starters, the bench of this team is deeper then it’s been since, well probably 2006. Coach Mike Brown usually runs a 9-10 rotation, so let’s meet them. Rapid fire time, you’ve got:
Malik Monk: 6th Man of the Year candidate thanks to his scoring and playmaking (plus some improved defense), De’Aaron Fox’s best friend, band-aid connoisseur.
Davion Mitchell: Bulldog defender, tireless worker with an improved jumper, not related to Donovan Mitchell.
Chimezie Metu: Can jump out of the gym, excelling in his new role as the backup center, elite shit talker, one of my favorite players.
Trey Lyles: Smooth, steady, a jack of all trades and master of none, always contributes something positive in a game.
Terence Davis: Instant energy off the bench, liable to explode at any time, also liable to dribble the ball into a triple team and airball a layup, extremely coachable.
I was lucky enough to be in the building for the Kings’ first win of the year against the Heat, it was electric. The building was loud as hell, the basketball was fun, and the Kings managed to rally despite losing Sabonis to some atrocious foul calls early in the 4th. It was a great win, an awesome moment. Yet, I still wasn’t sold. Look, anybody can win on a good night. Every NBA team is full of the best basketball talent in the world, the 1% of the 1%. So yea, everybody’s gonna have nights where everything’s clicking. The Kings have had plenty of those the last 16 years, even during the worst years. But what separates the good from the great are how they respond on the nights when shit hits the fan. When shots aren’t falling, when the refs are hosing you, when injuries strike, when you have every excuse to lose the game-yet you win it anyway. That toughness, that grit, it’s something I haven’t seen from my beloved Kings in years. That was until the game against Charlotte.
It looked to be a classic Kings letdown game. We’ve seen this a million times before, we play a complete game one night, then get absolutely destroyed the next. The first half in Charlotte was following that same script: the Kings looked lifeless, especially after De’Aaron Fox excited early with a knee injury. Going into the half down 15 against a bad Hornets team, with our best player out for the game, our other star was back in foul trouble, what a classic Kings game. But then a weird thing started to happen- Sacramento started to battle back. Kevin Huerter kept hitting shots, Davion Mitchell was having his best game of the season, the Kings wouldn’t go away. Then, Matthew Delladova checked in. 32 years old, hasn’t been in the NBA in years, so naturally he powers a run that gives the Kings their first lead of the game.
It went down to the wire, but ultimately the game was iced by some clutch Davion Mitchell shots. And just like that, the Kings had won. Against all odds, Sacramento rallied together, weathered the storm, and won ugly. This game turned out to be a catalyst, the Kings have been on a terror since then. 6-2 in their last 8, and both losses coming at the hands of referees missing late calls against the Kings. Both of these were later acknowledged by the NBA as incorrect. (what’s the point of the Last 2 Minute report anyway? It’s like league is saying “oops, we messed up! Does that change anything? Nope!”) Over this stretch, the Kings have found an identity, won close games, and made a statement in their first nationally televised game in 4 years. Hope is back in Sacramento. What a time to be alive.
In the offseason, it was very clear what this team had to fix: Fox and Sabonis are great players the rely heavily on attacking the paint. The Kings had only one above average 3 point shooter on the roster in the Post-Sabonis trade 2021-22 season, that being Harrison Barnes. So, how to you fix this? Draft Keegan Murray, sign Malik Monk, trade for Kevin Huerter. Boom. Now the Kings starting line-up surrounds Fox and Sabonis with elite (well HB has been shit so far but he’s getting better) shooters that frees them up to dominate inside. Thus far, the results speak for themselves. The Kings are 2nd(!!) in the league in Offensive Rating and points per game, 5th in assists per game, 3 point attempts, AND 3 pointers made (all stats of 11/26/22). The offense is firing on all cylinders, and it’s so much fun to watch. Running through Sabonis with a million DHO (dribble handoffs) actions and smart cutters around it makes for some beautiful basketball.
Defensively, it’s not quite as rosy. Currently Sac has a bottom 5 defense in the league, but there’s reasons for optimism. One, this team was never going to win games on that side of the ball. It’s an arms race, and we think ours are bigger than yours. Two, the effort is there. A massive part of defense is just effort, and with Mike Brown holding all of his players accountable and emphasizing that end of the floor, you can bank on getting that night in and night out. Despite Sabonis not being a rim protector, he moves well for his size, and the Kings have done a good job playing at the level of the screen in pick and roll and scrambling behind that to force deflections and turnovers. When Metu checks in, they run a switch-everything defense with a bunch of athletes that can check nearly any matchup. It’s not pretty (or very good yet), but the Kings keep managing to get stops with the game on the line, and that gives me hope for the future. Just having a league average defense would take this team from good to great.
The game against the Nets felt like a fever dream, you couldn’t have scripted a more perfect game. It honestly felt bizarre just seeing the Kings logo on TNT and hearing the crew talking about Sacramento in the pregame. After a really fun back and forth in the first quarter, Terence Davis checked in and started playing like prime Micheal Jordan. The game was never close again. I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. It was retribution for years of suffering, a statement on the biggest stage that this team isn’t the same as all the rest.
Will this be the year we roll the boulder up the hill? Or will our souls get crushed yet again? There’s no way to know. But, at this moment, there’s hope in Sacramento. This team, this coaching staff, this front office, they’re different from the failures of year past. The city is starting to believe again. That belief is seed that grows to turn dreams into reality. We’re not Sisyphus, we’re not doomed to be miserable forever. I truly do believe that.
Fuck the curse, let’s prove everybody wrong.
Ben Talks Ball 
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