The Kings are probably going to be a play-in team, and that's OK

Not all rises are linear due to various factors.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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The Archers; Henry Raeburn; 1787-92

The Sacramento Kings lost another heartbreaker on Tuesday, in a (still) rare national TV game against the Phoenix Suns, who are responsible for multiple heartbreaking Kings losses this season. (Actually, the Kings were mostly responsible for the last one.) After hours of the broadcast crew and studio crew hyping the incredible production of Domantas Sabonis (he had 35-18-12, absurd!) and the unique attack of De’Aaron Fox (a game-high 40, many of which looked effortless), the result was familiar to this season: the opponent gets the Kings in rotation and hits some shots, the Kings have a miscue and/or some missed free throws, the opponent gets a rare offensive rebound at the worst moment, ballgame.

The loss dropped the Kings to eighth in the West, 1.5 games out of Nos. 5 and 6 and just two games ahead of the Lakers, who are ninth. A year after finishing as the third seed in the West, the Kings are 30-23 …

… which is the exact same record they had after 53 games last season.