5 things that went wrong for Sacramento Kings in the 2020-21 NBA season
The Sacramento Kings found themselves with some chances to advance to the postseason during the 2020-21 NBA season. However, the team was not good enough and once again fell eliminated in the regular season.
Even though the Sacramento Kings were 10 games under .500, the team finished just two games out of the NBA's Play-In tournament places, in 12th place in the Western Conference. Closing the season with a three-game losing streak definitely did not help Luke Walton's Sacramento Kings on their quest for the Play-In, but the season was not a total disappointment.
The Sacramento Kings have been flirting with a .500 winning percentage in the last three seasons, but the 2020-21 NBA campaign was their 15th consecutive season with a losing record. Sacramento's most recent season with a winning record was the 2005-06 campaign under coach Rick Adelman.
The team showed some promise last year, mainly with De'Aaron Fox playing at a high, possibly All-Star, level. Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, rookie Tyrese Haliburton and Richaun Holmes were also top performers for the Sacramento Kings on offense, but another losing season was the end result of their efforts on the court.
In this article, we will give you five things that went wrong for the 2020-21 Sacramento Kings.
Without further ado, let us start.
#5 Losing streak to end the regular season
The Sacramento Kings were in contention to enter the Play-In tournament until the final week of the regular season. Before going into the details of the Kings' season, let us just say that a three-game losing streak to finish the 2020-21 NBA regular season was the bottom line as to why they missed the Play-In.
Beyond the team's longstanding deficiencies throughout the regular season, losing the final three games (twice against the Memphis Grizzlies and one versus the Utah Jazz) sealed Sacramento's year.
They were on a roll before that, having taken six victories in the seven games preceding the end-of-year skid. However, the Sacramento Kings could not take advantage of the San Antonio Spurs' own losing streak and finished two games back.
#4 Marvin Bagley III has not unlocked his potential with the Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings selected Marvin Bagley III with the second pick of the 2018 NBA Draft. Yes, ahead of Luka Doncic and Trae Young. Bagley's main problem, however, was not that he was picked ahead of those stars, but that he's been unable to stay on the court consistently and also struggles on the defensive end.
Despite having career averages of 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game (while playing only 25 minutes per game), Bagley has missed 108 games throughout his first three seasons and has a career Defensive Rating of 113.
While the defensive struggles can be solved with a little more energy on that end, the unfortunate injury-prone characteristics are a concern. Though the Sacramento Kings might look to move on from him, they have to take into consideration that his talent could be unlocked elsewhere and come back to hurt them, but the decision could be sensible at this point.