Sacramento’s 0-6 start puts Doug Christie in a tough spot

The Sacramento Kings’ winless start continued Saturday with a 136-105 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, dropping them to 0-6 on the season.

Memphis’ 42-point third quarter turned a close game into a blowout, while rookie Darius Acuff Jr. kept producing: he scored 38 points, including nine of Sacramento’s 11 three-pointers.

On Sactown Sports’ The Matt George Podcast, George said the game felt like a repeat of the Kings’ recent losses: Acuff was thriving, the bench struggled to make an impact, and Sacramento faltered after halftime.

“I could have not watched a single second of this game and been able to basically copy and paste post-game podcasts from the last couple of games and apply them to this performance,” George said.

The Kings trailed 66-55 at the half, then were outscored 42-25 in the third quarter. George questioned what happens during halftime and said Sacramento needs to address its repeated collapses.

“Whatever this team is doing during the halftime break, they need to rethink things,” he said.

(The Matt George Podcast is brought to you by IBEW Local 340 & Power Business Technology)

Acuff shot 12-for-25 from the field and 9-for-14 from three, adding five assists. George pushed back against criticism that the rookie’s scoring does not help the team win, arguing that Sacramento’s lack of support leaves Acuff with little choice but to take on a heavy offensive load.

“What the hell is Darius Acuff Jr. supposed to do?” George asked. “What is Acuff supposed to do?”

He noted that Acuff made nine of the Sacramento Kings’ 11 threes, while the team shot 29% from beyond the arc. George called the rookie “the only watchable reason to follow the Sacramento Kings right now.”

Sacramento also got 19 points from De’Andre Hunter, who George praised for his third straight strong game. Domantas Sabonis had 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, but took only five shots in 38 minutes. Zach LaVine scored 11 points in 21 minutes.

The Kings’ bench scored 20 points, an improvement over some recent games, but George said the production still paled beside Memphis’ reserves.

He said coach Doug Christie faces a difficult choice: play his starters heavy minutes to chase wins or spread playing time across a thin roster while injured players recover.

George favored the latter approach, even if the losses continue.

He warned that Sacramento could reach 0-10 and said a winless start as long as 0-19, a possibility raised by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor, was difficult to dismiss given the schedule.

The worst record to begin an NBA season is 0-18. The 2009 Nets and 2015 Sixers did it.

The Sacramento Kings are 0-5. They get blown out every night. They won’t be favored in any of their next 14 games. Only 4 of these games are vs. teams on back-to-backs.

0-19 is on the table.

I said before the season that Sacramento would finish with its worst record in franchise history (16 wins or worse). That might have been underselling how ugly things could get for the Kings. Their schedule was fairly light to begin the year, and yet they still have the NBA’s worst net rating. It’s only about to get much harder.

— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnor) October 30, 2026

The Sacramento Kings will try to stop the slide Monday against Dallas.

After six games, Acuff’s scoring has given fans a bright spot; Sacramento still needs more from the rest of the roster to turn that into a win.

Listen to all episodes of The Matt George Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and watch each episode on SactownSports.com, the Sactown Sports app, or the Sactown Sports YouTube page.

More Sacramento Kings content from Sactown Sports

• Sam Amick shares his intel on Doug Christie’s job security with the Kings
• Why the Kings should give Darius Acuff Jr. room to grow
• Sacramento Kings exercise third-year option on Nique Clifford
• Kings Injury Updates: Raynaud, Cardwell, and Murray

Sacramento Kings 2026-27 Regular Season Schedule

• Monday, November 2nd @ Dallas Mavericks (5:00 P.M. PT)
• Wednesday, November 4th vs. Los Angeles Lakers (7:00 P.M. PT)
• Friday, November 6th vs. San Antonio Spurs (7:00 P.M. PT)
• Sunday, November 8th vs. Miami Heat (6:00 P.M. PT)
• Tuesday, November 10th vs. Orlando Magic (7:00 P.M. PT)

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