Sacramento Kings: Is it time for another coaching change?

On the brink of another failed season, the Sacramento Kings need to make a coaching change to hopefully change their fate

Another year, another forgotten season by the Sacramento Kings.

As it stands, the Kings hold a 13-22 record and are two games out for the final spot in the Western Conference playoff picture.

On the heels of an eight-game losing streak, the decision becomes whether to play and compete for that final spot, but only to face the daunting task of keeping pace with the Los Angeles Lakers, or to play for the lottery and take your chances next year.

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Given the fact that they have not qualified for the postseason since 2006, it is safe to assume that the Kings will choose the latter of the two.

It has become an expected and sad reality that you can write off the Kings every year.

What is exceptionally frustrating about this year’s team is that they look like they are going out of their way to fail when they were on the cusp of playoff contention only last year.

Last season, this team went 39-43. If you are a Kings fan, you were incredibly excited as the team finally looked ready to compete.

The trio of Marvin Bagley III, Buddy Hield, and De’Aaron Fox was supposed to put the league on notice. Bagley is just a shade under 7-feet but has the combo skills of a big man and a small forward. His talents along with Hield’s shooting ability and Fox’s super-speed and athleticism should be turning heads this season.

With that said, each member of the trio are has regressed from last year. Granted the extensive injuries to Bagley and Fox have not helped, their time on the court has not provided the results it did last year.

With the trio in place as the face of the team along with a mix of young and veteran talent such as Bogdan Bogdanovic, Richaun Holmes, Harrison Barnes, and Trevor Ariza, how does this Sacramento Kings team look so bad?

Two words: Luke Walton.

Walton has been a coach in the NBA since 2014, where he was a disciple under Steve Kerr and the juggernaut Warriors before spending three years as coach of the Lakers.

When Kerr had to be sidelined at the start of the 2015 season, Walton coached the Warriors to a 39-4 record which led to their bittersweet 73-9 season. This was obviously a great achievement by Walton and made him a hot commodity in the head coaching search for teams the following offseason.

However, when you are coaching a team who just won a championship and had three all-stars on their roster, how much coaching is really happening?

The Lakers did not seem to mind and stuck Walton with a flurry of young talent. In his three years in Los Angeles, Walton went 98-148. The likes of D’Angelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Julius Randle never lived up to expectations. Not even signing LeBron James could save him.

Knowing how poorly Walton developed the young talent, general manager Vlade Divac threw caution to the wind and hired him as the leader of the Kings’ young talent.

According to Basketball-Reference, the Kings went from 4th in the league last year to 22nd in 3-point percentage, 14th to 29th in rebounds per game, 9th to 26th in points per game, and are dead-last in pace of play.

There are plenty of strong coaching options out there if the Kings decide to fire Walton. A strong candidate could be Mark Jackson, who has been credited in part for the development of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and laid the foundation for the Warriors’ dynasty.

Where this Kings team is so young, maybe flirt with the idea of hiring a college coach such as Jay Wright out of Villanova University or Dan Hurley from the University of Connecticut.

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Regardless, as long as Luke Walton remains as the head coach, the team and the fans will have to continue their suffering.

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