Sacramento Kings Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kings Notes: Barnes, Brown, Reserves, Sabonis

April 19th, 2023 at 10:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Now a member of a Kings team enjoying being a brash, young squad ready to make a statement in the playoffs, Harrison Barnes can remember when he went through the same experience with the Warriors. Barnes was part of the early days of the Golden State dynasty, spending the first four years of his career with the team before signing with Dallas in 2016 when the Warriors targeted Kevin Durant.

In an interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic, Barnes said he doesn’t have any bitterness related to the Warriors or the way his time with the franchise ended.

“I have nothing but fond memories of my time with Golden State,” he said. “Obviously, I think losing the Finals is always going to leave a black eye in terms of how things went, and obviously they’ve gone on to have success since. But I don’t have any ill feelings towards anybody in that organization.”

Barnes covers a wide range of topics in the interview, including his decision to turn down an extension from the Warriors, his long absence from the playoffs after leaving and how he’ll handle his upcoming free agency. Barnes also addresses hearing his name mentioned as a trade candidate as the Kings tried to build a playoff-worthy roster.

“The trade rumors in the past, I think you fully accept those because of (the struggles) of the team,” he said. “You look at it, and you say ‘OK, having three years of being here, three rounds of lottery picks, disappointment, where every trade deadline, you’re revamping the team.’ You know what I mean? It makes sense. Two front offices. (Coach Dave) Joerger leaves. Alvin (Gentry). Mike (Brown). There’s so much turnover that at that point, you’re just like, ‘I can’t expect to not be in those (trade) discussions.’”

There’s more from Sacramento:

Brown turned around the Kings and earned Coach of the Year honors by focusing on interpersonal relationships, Amick writes in a separate piece for The Athletic. Right after being hired, Brown started getting to know his players, Amick adds, including a trip to Germany to see Domantas Sabonis play for Lithuania during EuroBasket.
General manager Monte McNair deserves credit for building a bench that has helped Sacramento grab a 2-0 lead over the defending champs, states Marcos Breton of The Sacramento Bee. Malik Monk, Trey Lyles, Davion Mitchell and Alex Len have all played important roles in the early part of the series.
Brown expects Sabonis to be ready for Thursday’s Game 3, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. X-rays on Sabonis’ sternum were negative after he was stepped on by Draymond Green.

Mike Brown Named Coach Of The Year

April 19th, 2023 at 6:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

After leading the Kings to the third seed in the West and snapping a 16-year playoff drought in his first season in Sacramento, Mike Brown has been honored as the NBA’s Coach of The Year, the team announced (via Twitter).

Brown, who was also named Coach of the Year in 2009, will be awarded the first-ever Red Auerbach Trophy. He received all 100 first-place votes, marking the first time in league history that the award has been unanimous.

The Thunder‘s Mark Daigneault finished second with 48 second-place votes and 20 third-place votes, while first-year Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was third with 18 second-place votes and 23 third-place votes.

The Cavaliers‘ J.B. Bickerstaff and the Nuggets‘ Michael Malone rounded out the top five, while nine other head coaches received at least one vote.

When the Kings hired him last year, Brown said he wanted to do more than just get the team into the postseason. His goal was to build a team that could win in the playoffs and possibly challenge for an NBA title.

Brown was able to do that quickly, unlocking the potential of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis on one of the league’s most exciting teams. Sacramento led the league with 120.7 points per game while posting a 48-34 record.

Brown is the first Sacramento coach to win the honor and the third in the history of the franchise, according to Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 (Twitter link). The others were Phil Johnson in 1975 and Cotton Fitzsimmons in 1979.

Warriors Reportedly “Shocked,” Angry Over Draymond Green’s Suspension

April 19th, 2023 at 5:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

There was surprise and anger when the Warriors learned about Draymond Green‘s suspension for Game 3 of their playoff series with the Kings, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his latest podcast (hat tip to RealGM).

Green will be forced to sit out Thursday’s game for stepping on Domantas Sabonis while he was lying on the court during the fourth quarter of Game 2. Green was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected after spending several minutes inciting the Sacramento crowd during a review of the play.

NBA vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars explained on Wednesday that Green’s status as a “repeat offender” factored into the decision to impose a suspension without pay, rather than just a fine. Dumars also cited “excessive and over-the-top actions” and “conduct detrimental (to the league).”

Lowe adds that part of the Warriors’ frustration with the ruling is their feeling that Sabonis has been allowed to be overly physical in the first two games of the series. Golden State players and coaches believe that referees are permitting him to get away with too much, which is why Green reacted in the way that he did.

“There’s a sense in the organization that Sabonis is shoving people on offensive rebounds and playing with his elbows out and using the ball as a weapon on offense,” Lowe said. “So, ‘Of course someone eventually retaliated.’ You can give that any validity you want.”

Speaking today with reporters, coach Steve Kerr admitted being “extremely surprised” by the suspension, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Green addressed the team during today’s practice, Andrews adds, but Kerr declined to reveal any details (Twitter link).

“There’s no time to spend worrying about it … it doesn’t matter,” Kerr said about the suspension. “We know what the league decided to do and we have to respond accordingly.”

NBA VP Dumars Explains Thinking Behind Draymond Suspension

April 19th, 2023 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After the NBA announced late on Tuesday night that Warriors forward Draymond Green would be suspended for Game 3 against Sacramento for stepping on Domantas Sabonis in Game 2, NBA vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars has done the media rounds on Wednesday to explain the thinking behind the controversial decision.

Speaking to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, Dumars stressed that league officials spent much of Tuesday deliberating their response, noting that it was “not some snap-of-the-finger decision.” In a phone interview with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Dumars said there were three primary factors that went into the ruling to suspend Green for one game.

“Here’s what it came down to: Excessive and over-the-top actions, conduct detrimental (to the league), and a repeat offender,” Dumars said. “That’s what separates this where you end up with a suspension.”

As Dumars notes – and as the NBA mentioned in its initial announcement – the league weighed Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts in its decision. He has racked up 162 career technical fouls, 17 ejections, and now four suspensions, per Wojnarowski. Asked if someone with a cleaner record might have received a lesser punishment, Dumars didn’t offer a definitive answer.

“It may have been, but the act itself still would have been looked at in a serious way — stomping on a guy’s chest,” he told ESPN. “On the back end of this act, you add repeat offender and that’s how you end up getting to a suspension.”

During the moments when the play was being reviewed on the court in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game, Green responded to the vitriol he was receiving from fans in Sacramento by standing on a chair, egging them on, and taunting them back. Although that wasn’t a primary reason for the suspension, Dumars acknowledged to both Reynolds and Wojnarowski that it was a factor, referring to Green’s behavior as “not helpful.”

“The stuff that happened afterward, that doesn’t help the situation,” Dumars told The Associated Press. “But if it was just that alone, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I focused on the act itself, the fact that it’s a repeat offense, those were the two main things.”

Within an hour of the NBA’s announcement on Tuesday night, the Kings made an announcement of their own, issuing a press release to say that Sabonis had been diagnosed with a sternum contusion and would be listed as questionable for Game 3 (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento).

The league was aware of that diagnosis before announcing Green’s suspension, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Sabonis’ injury wasn’t a major factor in the decision, though Dumars did tell Wojnarowski that “you don’t ignore that.”

As for why Sabonis didn’t face any additional penalty of his own for grabbing Green’s leg just before being stepped on, Dumars said the NBA determined that the game’s referees made the correct ruling on the court and felt that no further punishment was warranted for the Kings center.

“Sabonis was penalized in the game with a technical foul and Golden State gets the free throw,” Dumars told ESPN. “It wasn’t like (Sabonis) didn’t get off without any punishment, but we didn’t think that rose to the level of excessive and over-the-top, conduct detrimental and repeat offender. That’s why you separate those two and deal with one act on the court — and then another act.”

Draymond Green Suspended For Game 3

April 18th, 2023 at 10:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors forward Draymond Green has been suspended one game without pay for stepping on the chest of Kings center Domantas Sabonis, according to a league press release (via Twitter). The suspension was based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts, per the NBA.

The incident occurred during the fourth quarter of the Kings’ Game 2 victory on Monday. Sabonis underwent X-rays on his sternum after the game, which came back negative.

Green’s actions were in response to Sabonis grabbing and holding Green’s right ankle after falling to the floor. Green received a Flagrant Foul 2 and was ejected, and Sabonis was assessed a technical foul.

Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reported earlier in the day that a fine was more likely than a suspension for Green, tweets that most people around the Warriors and the situation believed on Tuesday that a fine was coming. However, Green’s history helped convince the NBA to dole out a one-game suspension instead.

The suspension for Thursday’s game makes the Warriors’ task much more difficult as they try to avoid a 3-0 deficit in the series. Jonathan Kuminga and Anthony Lamb figure to play more prominent roles and coach Steve Kerr could also explore smaller lineups.

De’Aaron Fox Receives Inaugural Clutch Player Award

April 18th, 2023 at 6:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kings guard De’Aaron Fox has been named the inaugural recipient of the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Fox topped the other finalists, the Bulls’ DeMar DeRozan and the Heat’s Jimmy Butler. The award is named after Hall of Famer and Lakers legend Jerry West.

Fox received 91 of 100 first-place votes. according to an NBA press release. He finished with a total of 460 points, far ahead of runner-up Butler, who garnered one first-place votes and 104 points. DeRozan didn’t have any first-place votes while placing third with 77 points. Seven other players received first-place votes but the Warriors’ Stephen Curry was the only one in that group to get two first-place votes.

“When I took the job I didn’t know how consistently he would be in the clutch,” Sacramento coach Mike Brown said of Fox, per NBA.com’s Shaun Powell.

Fox led the league in clutch scoring with a league-best 194 points in 39 games. Clutch time is defined as minutes when the scoring margin is within five points with five or fewer minutes remaining in a game.

Fox shot 52.9 percent from the field and 86.0 percent from the foul line in those situations. He added 20 assists and 10 steals as Sacramento went 22-17 in those close games. That helped the Kings secure the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

DeRozan scored 159 points in 33 games in those situations. He shot 47.1 percent from the field and 89 percent from the foul line while grabbing 30 rebounds and dishing out 16 assists.

Butler also found himself in 33 of those games and scored 151 points. He shot 50.5 percent from the field and 79.1 percent from the free throw line. He added 32 rebounds, 19 assists, six steals and five blocks.

Sabonis’ X-Rays Negative Following Draymond Stomp, Ejection

April 18th, 2023 at 7:20am CST by Luke Adams

With just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 2 in the Kings/Warriors series on Monday, Draymond Green was assessed with a flagrant foul 2 and was ejected from the game for stomping on Domantas Sabonis‘ chest after the two players got tangled up following a missed Sacramento shot (NBA.com video link).

Sabonis fell to the ground while battling for rebounding position and appeared to grab Green’s leg as he went down. The Kings center was given a technical foul for the play, but remained in the game, which Sacramento won to take a 2-0 series lead.

Sabonis underwent X-rays on his sternum after the game, which came back negative, so he appears to have avoided any major injuries, though he’ll undergo more tests on Tuesday as a precaution, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews and Adrian Wojnarowski.

“When I fell, I was protecting myself, and then the incident happened,” Sabonis said. “There is no room for that in our game today.”

For his part, Green told reporters that having his leg held by Sabonis made it impossible not to come down on the Kings All-Star.

“My leg got grabbed — the second time in two nights — and the referee is just watching,” Green said, per ESPN. “I got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. … I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away … I guess ankle grabbing is OK.”

A source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) that Green also requested an X-ray after Game 2 after feeling soreness in his right ankle.

According to Spears, Green believes he hurt his ankle when he got grabbed by Sabonis, though he showed no ill effects in the immediate aftermath of the play as he stood on a chair while the call was being reviewed and egged on Kings fans, who were chanting “Draymond sucks” (Twitter video link via Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento).

The NBA figures to take a closer look at the fourth-quarter sequence to determine whether any additional punishment – such as a fine or suspension – is warranted. Kings coach Mike Brown said on Monday night that he was “curious” about the outcome of that review, as Andrews notes in ESPN’s story.

Warriors Notes: Wiggins, Poole, Kuminga, Adjustments

April 17th, 2023 at 7:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Andrew Wiggins is humbled by the patience the Warriors’ organization showed while he attended to a family matter over the past two months, he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. Wiggins, whose four-year extension kicks in next season, returned to action in Game 1 of the first-round series with the Kings.

“In this organization, I feel like I’ve been blessed, just being here and all that time they gave me off to be with my family,” Wiggins said. “They didn’t have to do that, and they did it. And they didn’t rush me back. It was my decision to come back, so I just feel like that just says a lot about this organization. From my heart, I can say everyone here cares. This whole organization cares. There still can be a lot of good people out there. I’ll never forget that. A lot of teams aren’t doing that, so I’m forever grateful.”

We have more on the Warriors:

Jordan Poole is listed as questionable for Game 2 on Monday night with a left ankle sprain. He twisted it late in the third quarter of Game 1, Kendra Andrews of ESPN tweets. He had 17 points in 22 minutes in the series opener.
Coach Steve Kerr issued a challenge to forward Jonathan Kuminga for Game 2 and beyond — hit the glass much harder. “I’d like to see him rebound,” Kerr told Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area and other media members. “He didn’t have a rebound (Saturday) night, and that’s got to be a focal point for him — and for our whole team. We keep talking about everything, but it still comes back to rebounds. But I thought JK did a really nice job in a lot of ways, and he can get better.”
What kind of adjustments will they make in order to avoid an 0-2 predicament? Tim Kawakami of The Athletic anticipates Stephen Curry playing more than the 37 minutes he logged in Game 1 and Gary Payton II being deployed as the main defender against Malik Monk, among other tweaks.

Warriors Notes: Wiggins, Poise, Looney, Curry, Poole

April 16th, 2023 at 8:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

It wasn’t ideal that Andrew Wiggins ended up with the ball with the game on the line on Saturday, considering he hadn’t played in over two months. However, the Warriors do feel whole again with Wiggins’ return after a lengthy personal absence, Wiggins finished with 17 points and four blocks in 28 minutes in the Game 1 loss to Sacramento, Kendra Andrews of ESPN notes.

“He’s a big part of everything we do,” guard Stephen Curry said. “When you go into a season, you want to be as fully healthy as possible because that’s the way all the pieces are meant to fit. We haven’t had it for a very long time and we tried to hold down the fort. Now we have that look back.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t mind seeing Wiggins get a corner shot with his team down one in the waning seconds. “Take that shot all day long. Left corner 3, that’s his spot,” Kerr said.

We have more on the defending champions:

The Kings showed grit and poise down the stretch despite their lack of playoff experience, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. Sacramento guards De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk outdueled the Warriors’ Splash Brothers in the second half. “They made plays down the stretch,” forward Draymond Green said. “They got to the free throw line. And we missed a couple shots that we’ll make.”
Big man Kevon Looney played 32 minutes, made both of his field goal attempts, pulled down nine rebounds and added two assists, a block and a steal. He re-upped with the Warriors on a three-year, $22MM deal last offseason and Marcus Thompson of The Athletic details how Looney has become an invaluable member of the team.
The Warriors have now lost the first road game in a series 11 times under Kerr but they won Game 2 eight of the previous 10 times. That gives the Warriors plenty of reason for optimism, since they’re familiar with making adjustments, Thompson writes. “For the most part, I liked the way that we played,” Curry said. “And if we can do that again — just with that level of execution, shore up some of our defensive kind of rotations and looks to try to slow those guys down. I know we can shoot the ball better and rebound the ball better. So if we can do those things, I like where we’re at … we’ve got to win one in this building at least, so, why not Game 2?”
Jordan Poole is listed as questionable for Monday’s game after rolling his left ankle on Saturday.

Poll: Western Conference’s First Round Playoff Series

April 15th, 2023 at 3:57pm CST by Luke Adams

After calling for your predictions for the four first round series in the Eastern Conference earlier in the day, we’re pivoting to the West this afternoon.

Here are the four first round series in the Western Conference:

Denver Nuggets (1) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (8)

Unlike in the East, where there are a handful of overwhelming favorites at the top of the conference, the Western Conference field appears more wide open as the playoffs begin. The Nuggets are heavily favored in this series, but their betting line (-550, per BetOnline.ag) isn’t anywhere close to the -1200 and -1300 lines we were seeing in the East.

As good as the Nuggets were this season, they weren’t playing their best basketball down the stretch, having lost five of their last seven games and 10 of their last 17 entering the postseason. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, had a disappointing year, but have a lot of high-end talent on their roster, including three-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, and ascendant All-Star Anthony Edwards.

A Timberwolves team playing to its full potential could give Denver trouble, but we haven’t seen that often this season. It would be a major upset if Tim Connelly‘s new team can get past his old one.

Memphis Grizzlies (2) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (7)

After incorporating their trade-deadline acquisitions on February 11, the Lakers went 18-8 to close the regular season, which would translate to a 57-win pace over 82 games.

Throw in the fact that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are relatively healthy and two key members of the Grizzlies‘ frontcourt (Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke) aren’t, and it’s easy to understand why Memphis is only a slight favorite (-142) over Los Angeles (+122) in this series.

Still, the Grizzlies had the best net rating (+4.0) in the West this season and history is working in their favor — as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the NBA’s No. 7 and No. 8 playoff seeds have lost 95 of 100 first round series in the last 25 years. Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and company won’t be intimidated by the Lakers’ star power.

Sacramento Kings (3) vs. Golden State Warriors (6)

The Kings‘ reward for snapping a 16-season playoff drought is a first-round matchup against the defending champions, who have won titles in four of the last eight years.

The Warriors‘ impressive track record in the postseason has made them betting favorites (-265) in this series over Sacramento (+225). Golden State has had an up-and-down year, but has a huge experience edge in this matchup and seemed to be hitting its stride at the right time in the season’s final weeks. With Andrew Wiggins set to be available for Game 1, the roster is at full strength and will present a tough challenge for the higher-seeded Kings.

Still, the Kings have been exceeding expectations all season long, and their home crowd should be whipped into a frenzy for the first NBA playoff basketball in Sacramento since 2006. This has a chance to be a very fun series.

Phoenix Suns (4) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (5)

The key for both of these star-studded rosters is staying healthy. Suns forward Kevin Durant and guard Chris Paul have battled multiple injuries over the years, including this season, as have Clippers forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The Suns have the health advantage entering this series, with George considered unlikely to play vs. Phoenix as he recovers from a sprained knee.

Even if PG13 can return to action before the series ends, the Clippers will be in tough against a Phoenix team that has looked incredibly dangerous with Durant on the court. The former MVP has only played in eight games for the Suns since being acquired at the trade deadline, but they’ve won all eight, outscoring opponents by a total of 88 points in those contests.

The Suns are considered strong betting favorites, with a -465 line at BetOnline.ag.