Chasing draft picks, the Kings are on a historic losing streak, with even a single victory looking like a distant dream.
It's not much of a stretch to consider the Sacramento Kings (12-44 rec.) as a team equipped to finish this season with the worst record in the NBA.
Sacramento already owns the league's worst record and is aiming to stack more losses in the midst of their historic 14-game losing streak. However, it's still valid to wonder how many more victories they'll be able to capture over the next 26 games, or if they'll ever win again.
This 14-game skid is now the longest in the Sacramento era, and it'll be up to a ragtag group of overlooked rookies and second-year talents to end it.
With the development of Nique Clifford, Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell and Devin Carter now at the forefront of head coach Doug Christie's priorities, Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes recently predicted that the youth movement would not lead to a turnaround in the win column.
"The trend line continues steadily downward for the Sacramento Kings, a team that has virtually no chance of cracking 20 wins despite not trading away any of its expensive veterans at the deadline," Hughes wrote Monday.
"Sacramento controls its 2026 first-rounder and should lose as often as possible to maximize the value of that pick."
"The Kings are on a 14-game losing streak, the longest winless run since they came to Sacramento. Considering all the losing this franchise has endured, it cannot be overstated how hard it is to set any new futility-related records."
Hughes has the Kings finishing with a 17-65 record, which would be tied with the Washington Wizards for the league-worst and a fall from his preseason prediction of 32 wins.
The Kings' ill-fitting cast of characters did not have competitive upside from the start, but it's hard to believe that a team employing All-Star caliber talents such as Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine would fall this low.
This is especially true when considering the fact that DeRozan has taken part in all 56 of Sacramento's games, averaging a solid 18.7 points and 3.8 assists on a 59.2% true shooting percentage.
At the very least it was plausible to think that the 6-time All-Star could lead the group to more than 17 victories, but injury misfortune and hopes for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft got in the way.
Heading into what could be a 15th consecutive loss against the Orlando Magic on Thursday night, even five more wins for this team appears to be a lofty goal.
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