Acuff Impresses in Preseason Debut, Kings Fall to Lakers

The Sacramento Kings tipped off the 2026 NBA preseason with a 127-103 loss against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday in Sacramento, but the real story is the debut of their first-round draft pick. 

Darrius Acuff Jr. started in his first NBA game and dropped 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting with two rebounds and four assists. All but two of those points came within his first 19 minutes on the floor.

“They gave me the confidence to go out there and be aggressive,” Acuff said. 

It didn’t take long for the rookie out of Arkansas to earn the respect of his teammates.

“He’s special,” Kings forward Precious Achiuwa said of Acuff. “He can really score the ball, plays the game at a different pace.”

Nique Clifford led the Kings with 23 points off the bench. The second-year guard out of Colorado State shot 8-of-13 from the floor including 6-of-10 from the free-throw line. 

Kings star Zach LaVine scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting within a limited 15 minutes on the court. Domantas Sabonis, De’Andre Hunter and Achiuwa started for the Kings but played for only 10-13 minutes and combined for nine points. 

The Kings only made four shots from the three-point line while the Lakers shot 20-of-44 from beyond the arc. Both teams matched the same number of free throws (25) while Los Angeles made four more baskets than Sacramento. The Kings won the rebound battle 46-39 but committed five more turnovers than the Lakers. 

“I don’t think offense is the problem,” Acuff said. “I think defensively, we just weren’t racking up stops as a team as much as we needed to. I think that’s what separated the game.”

The Lakers were led by Luka Doncic’s 21 points on 5-of-12 shooting (3-of-9 from 3PT) and eight free throws. Quentin Grimes added 16 points and Ziaire Williams chipped in 13 points from the starting lineup. Cameron Carr scored 19 points while Chris Manon added 12 points off the bench. 

The Kings earned an early 20-19 lead with 4:27 left in the first quarter when Acuff made a 15-foot pulley jump shot. The Lakers then outscored the Kings 43-10 through the next 15 minutes to go up 62-30 with 5:08 remaining in the second quarter. 

Jake LaRivia scored all of his 12 points off the bench during that run. LaRivia previously played for the Kings during the 2024-25 season, in which he played 19 games off the bench. 

Sandro Mamukelashvili drained a 27-foot three-pointer to finish the first half with the Lakers leading 73-47. He finished the game with eight points including two baskets from the three-point line. 

Kings head coach Doug Christie said he was “very disappointed” in his team not setting the physicality of the game against their Pacific Division rival. 

“We want to set the physicality of the game,” Christie said. “We didn’t set it or meet it.”

The Kings entered the second half with a better pace and outscored the Lakers 30-26 in the third quarter. The Lakers maintained a 30-point lead early in the third quarter before the Kings closed the gap to 91-71 after a pair of free throws from Daeqwon Plowden with 3:08 left in the period. Plowden finished the game with 12 points off the bench for Sacramento. 

A 28-26 fourth quarter kept the Lakers ahead of the Kings by 24 points. The key takeaway from a preseason route is seeing how Acuff handled playing against an NBA starting backcourt for the first time.

“His poise is at a really high level,” Christie said. “He’s not ducking the smoke. He’s not scared.”

The two teams will meet again at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, Oct. 8. This time in Los Angeles on ESPN2.