MEMPHIS
There were reasons for optimism Thursday for the Sacramento Kings. They were playing only their second opponent in their first 16 games with a losing record. They were getting their most versatile two-way player back into the lineup. They were going against a team that was missing its two stars and riding a five-game losing streak.
And the King lost by 41 points, falling 137-96 to the struggling Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum.
Forward Keegan Murray’s return to the court following his October thumb surgery did very little to change the direction of head coach Doug Christie’s team. The blowout loss was Sacramento’s eighth straight, all coming by double digits, leaving very little reason for optimism — particularly hours after the team announced center Domantas Sabonis would be out at least three or four weeks with a partial meniscus tear in his left knee.
Veteran DeMar DeRozan, who scored just seven points on three shot attempts, is averaging 17.9 points per game, and fewer than 20 for the first time since 2012-13. That was his fourth year in the league, before he made the first of his six All-Star teams.
“In a s—– place,” DeRozan said when asked about where his team is emotionally. “Don’t nobody want to lose the way we’ve been losing.
“I think it’s just everything right now for us is just s—–, honestly,” he continued. “Sometimes when you’re in the deep end, it’s hard to hear anything. You’re just trying to swim your way out, one way or another.”
Worse yet, it appears very little has gone right in a season in which first-year general manager Scott Perry mandated a change in culture to set a foundation for a sustainable winner. The problem with Perry’s mission is that very few players who are getting big minutes on this Kings roster seem likely to be part of his big-picture plan.
The big contracts for Sabonis and Zach LaVine look less and less tradable given the NBA’s restrictive apron landscape — and those players being unable to help the Kings win games.
DeRozan, who is in the last fully guaranteed year of his three-year, $79.3 million contract, could be a trade candidate, which he acknowledged after Thursday’s drubbing. He sounded unsure of his future.
“I’m pretty sure everything comes into question when you’re in the situation like we’re in now,” DeRozan said. “That’s another thing that’s frustrating. That’s another thing. Only time will tell. We’ll see.”
The Kings came in with the NBA’s fourth-worst defensive efficiency. They allowed the Grizzlies to have 42 assists to just seven turnovers. Big men Zach Edey and Jock Landale combined to shoot 15 of 16 for 37 points. Rookie Cedrick Coward scored 19 points. Santi Aldama, who averages 12.5 points per game, tied his career high with 29. Six Grizzlies finished in double figures.
“I feel like when one thing goes bad,” LaVine said, “it snowballs.”
It was similar to Sacramento’s home loss Nov. 12 to the Atlanta Hawks when the Kings were walloped by 33 points on their home floor. A notable takeaway from that game was Christie lighting into his team during his postgame press conference where he opened with the statement, “Shameful compete level, that’s it,” before taking any questions.
On Thursday, instead of going after players’ effort, he called it part of the process.
“There’s a frustration,” Christie said. “These are bad feelings. We don’t like them. But we know that there’s a process that we are going through to get where we want to go.”
It was far from the nearly 13-minute press conference after losing to the Hawks when Christie said, “We’re going to find people that want to compete, period.”
Thursday’s loss felt markedly different. Christie didn’t light into his players. He cited recent quarters, like the first against Oklahoma City on Wednesday, which he thought his team played well and used as a sign of optimism.
Christie was asked about the shift in tone.
“It’s not where you just continue to go down that hole,” Christie said. “They know the message. What I’m saying to you isn’t necessarily what I said to them, but you’re not in the locker room, so that’s not privy to everybody. We know that Domas is out. Keegan’s just coming back. There’s a lot of different things that have transpired that we’re just trying to work through on the fly. It’s not an excuse. It’s just a reality of what it is.”
LaVine addresses fourth-quarter benchings
LaVine sat in crunch time for a third straight game. But Thursday was far different than the previous two, which were winnable down the stretch.
He sat on Thursday because the Kings entered the fourth quarter trailing by 37 points. He was held out of the fourth quarter during Sunday’s loss in San Antonio and only played two minutes in the final frame in Wednesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which the Kings lost by 13 and 14 points, respectively. He scored eight points in both of those games, while he appeared far more aggressive Thursday, finishing with 26 points while leading the Kings with 17 shot attempts through three quarters.
LaVine scored 29.5 points over the first five games of the season, looking like the easy scorer the Kings envisioned when they traded for him in the De’Aaron Fox swap last February. But his scoring dipped to 14.7 points per game over the next seven, which surrounded missing two games, Nov. 5 to a back issue and Nov. 12 to a thigh contusion.
“It’s just something different every game,” LaVine said. “From the first five games to now, just completely different. But I appreciate the guys like Russ (Russell Westbrook and) DeMar. They’re trying to look to get me going early. But it shouldn’t be at the cost of other people either.
“We haven’t been able to find a game where everybody is playing their game at the same time. It’s not anybody’s fault. It’s not like I’m trying to not be aggressive or not score. We’re all trying to share and sacrifice and figure out how to win.”
LaVine only took seven and 10 shots in the previous two games, respectively, and acknowledged that’s not enough for him to be the player the Kings need. Sacramento came into Thursday ranked 25th in offensive efficiency, which will get worse following a 96-point performance.
“I’m not my best self when I take eight to 10 shots,” LaVine said. “I can be as efficient as you want me to be. But if I’m taking eight shots, it’s like, what are we doing? So today I just tried to be a little more aggressive, try to find spots, my teammates (were trying) to find me, which was great.
“But obviously it didn’t result in anything like a win. I’d love to go 4 for 8 and we win. I scored a lot of points in my career. We’re just trying to get a win right now. Gotta go sit on this flight. Got a day tomorrow. Got a game Saturday. Come Saturday, gotta figure it out.
“Only time will tell. It’s hard to say right now. A lot of frustrations from a lot of angles. Still a lot of season left, still a lot that’s in front of us. We gotta fight for something.”
LaVine admitted he didn’t like getting benched the past two fourth quarters. He said he understands the idea of Christie going with other players who might be playing better.
“I’ll always be a team guy,” LaVine said. “(But) personally, I don’t like it. I’ve never not played in the fourth. But when you’re trying to find a win you do whatever you can, I guess.”
Of course, LaVine sitting out fourth quarters comes while he’s the Kings’ highest paid player and the centerpiece of a trade shipping out De’Aaron Fox, who became known for his clutch fourth quarters by winning the NBA’s clutch player of the year award when the Kings broke their historic playoff drought in 2023.
“Does it make sense?” LaVine said asked if he understood Christie’s reasoning for sitting him in fourth quarters. “I think he’s just trying to find anything, anyone to go out there to find a win. I think I’m more than capable of doing that. If I’m 10 for 10, or 0-for-10, I’m a guy that’s scored more points in the fourth quarter than a lot of people in this league. So I think I should be on the floor.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 11:05 PM.
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Chris Biderman
The Sacramento Bee
Chris Biderman covered the 49ers from 2013 to 2021 and started with The Sacramento Bee in August 2018. He previously spent time with the Associated Press and USA Today Sports Media Group. A Santa Rosa native, he graduated with a degree in journalism from the Ohio State University.
