Sacramento Kings coach Doug Christie could be on the verge of getting fired after starting the season 3-12, its worst start through 15 games since going 2-13 to start the 1990-91 season.
Kings Match Longest Losing Streak Since 2021-22 Season
The Kings have now matched their longest losing streak since the 2021-22 season after falling 113-99 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night at Paycom Center.
Playing without star big man Domantas Sabonis, the Kings extended their losing skid to seven games after another third-quarter collapse against the defending NBA champions.
Christie noted during his postgame interview that the morale in his locker room remains low.
“What I would say is frustrated. That’s probably the term I would use,” Christie told reporters after the loss.
The Kings trailed 58-50 at halftime before OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took over the game late in the third quarter. He banked in a mid-range jumper from near the right side of the free throw line and was fouled and made the free throw to put the Thunder up 83-67.
Sacramento committed nine turnovers in the third quarter alone.
“The level of competition the guys brought I thought was really, really high level,” Christie added. “That’s what we need to get ourselves out of where we’re at, and if we do that on a night-to-night basis, most nights in the NBA you give yourselves a chance to win. This was the world champs and there were eight, nine minutes left, and they found themselves right there.”
Zach LaVine, the Kings’ leading scorer, was limited to eight points for a second consecutive game after shooting 4-of-10 (40%) from the floor and missing all four of his 3-point attempts.
Precious Achiuwa, starting amid Sabonis’ absence, recorded 15 points and nine rebounds, while Dennis Schroder added a team-high 21 points off the bench.
Sacramento Has Struggled Under Doug Christie
The Kings have gone 30-36 (.454) under Christie since the firing of Mike Brown last December.
Christie, who finalized a multi-year contract to become Sacramento’s next coach in April, had been an assistant with the Kings since 2021-22 and played for the franchise in five of his 15 NBA seasons.
Sacramento went 27-24 last season under Christie, ranking ninth in offensive efficiency during that span and going 13-10 in clutch-time games compared to 6-13 earlier in the campaign under Brown, per ESPN Stats & Information.
The Kings won 20 of their first 31 games under Christie but finished 7-13 in the last 20 games of the season.
Under Brown in 2023, the Kings ended a 16-year playoff drought, the longest streak in league history. Brown had a 107-88 (.458) record in 2½ seasons in Sacramento, with a winning record in both of his full seasons.
Rick Adelman is the only other coach to post a winning record in a full season since the Kings moved to Sacramento. This is all so relevant because Sacramento was supposed to turn things around with Christie at the helm.
Although the Kings eventually got worse with Brown calling the shots, at least they were once a playoff team. At this rate, the team would be very fortunate to qualify for the play-in tournament.
