The Sacramento Kings are tanking, sort of, maybe, kind of.
Their roster wouldn't suggest it at first glance. They've got Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan, and Russell Westbrook.
Except, well, it's 2026 now. And those guys are past their prime. And the Kings are bad.
Maybe it's not by design, but the result is an 8-29 record through January 6.
It adds up, too.
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How Sacramento Kings have reinvented tanking
The Kings have created a team that may not give the most effort on most nights.
This is how CBS Sports writer Sam Quinn explained it in a post on X:
"The Kings might honestly be reinventing tanking. The old way to tank was just to get rid of everyone and go young. But effort means so much now that you genuinely might be better off with a bunch of old ex-stars who just want to take bad shots and do nothing else."
And this post examines just how rough it really is:
The Sacramento Kings have the worst offense in the NBA. But at least they also have the 27th best defense in the NBA...
— Basketball University (@UofBasketball) January 7, 2026
And the worst rebound %, the 29th best TS%, no cap space this summer, 29th in average age by minutes played (29.8). COMPLETE disaster.
Vivek needs to sell. Pic.twitter.com/W33okqtoe0
Yeah, it's definitely hard to see how things get better in a hurry for the Kings.
They'll have to get their high draft pick right in June, and then they'll have to start moving to a new, much younger future.
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