DeMar DeRozan believes the Kings have enough talent to remain competitive

Dec 2, 2024, 4:22 PM

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 25: DeMar DeRozan #10 of the Sacramento Kings shoots over Jalen W...

DeMar DeRozan #10 of the Sacramento Kings shoots over Jalen Williams #8 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of an NBA basketball game at Golden 1 Center on November 25, 2024 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

BY BRENDEN NUNES

Sactown Sports writer

DeMar DeRozan has been around the NBA for a long time. He joins Stephen Curry, Jrue Holiday, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, Garrett Temple, and Joe Ingles as the only remaining active players from the 2009 Draft.

With that comes experience, veteran leadership, and level-headedness that the Sacramento Kings hope will prove crucial to recovering from their 9-12 start to the 2024-25 season.

“It’s always frustrating when you lose, but I think it’s all about how you build character from this and come out of it,” he said.

“Everybody has those rough patches throughout the season at some point, and we’re just there,” DeMar DeRozan continued. The Kings have lost six of their last seven matchups, with their most recent coming in a 127-125 disappointment against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

When asked what makes him believe this group is going through a lull rather than digressing in a concerning fashion, he replied, “Because the talent is there.”

“It’s hard to come across talent anywhere. We have a great collective talent, and we showed early on what we’re capable of doing.”

Working through the kinks of adding new players, primarily DeRozan, was somewhat expected. Still, they don’t want to have to deal with pulling themselves out of a deeper hole than the one they’ve already dug themselves, sitting at 12th in the highly competitive Western Conference.

The 15-year veteran used this year’s Milwaukee Bucks team as an example. “Everybody was killing a team like Milwaukee, for example,” he said. “They have all the talent in the world, and they just weren’t clicking at that right time. Now look at them.”

They started the season 4-9, and panic quickly reached the national headlines, but they’ve won six straight games since and are back to fifth in the East.

While Sacramento doesn’t have players quite to the caliber of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, between De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk, and DeMar DeRozan, they should have enough available to right the ship and re-climb the standings.

It’s just about piecing together consecutive wins, one game at a time, to do so.

More Kings coverage from Sactown Sports

The Sacramento Kings entered play on Sunday night, allowing their opponents to shoot 38.6 percent from three-point range this season (29th in the NBA).

In another close game that came down to the wire, the Kings’ poor three-point defense continued to rear its ugly head during a 127-125 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Golden 1 Center.

San Antonio drilled a season-high 23 triples, surpassing their previous high of 22 set on November 11th–also against the Sacramento defense.

The Kings’ early-season woes have put them three games under the .500 mark (9-12), dropping them to 12th in the Western Conference standings.

When is the next Sacramento Kings game?

On Tuesday night, Sacramento will face the up-and-coming Houston Rockets at Golden 1 Center.

Last season, the Rockets swept the Kings, losing all three games in the regular-season head-to-head series.

Be sure to catch all of the Kings vs. Rockets action right here on Sactown Sports 1140 AM, with pregame coverage starting at 2:00 PM PT on The Drive Guys before action tips off at 7:00 PM PT from downtown Sacramento.