Sacramento Kings
Now that we've moved on from the teams that are disappointing for completely different reasons, there are two teams on this list that are depressing because they are not winning at the pace that perhaps many inside the organization thought they would. We begin with the first of these two teams, the Sacramento Kings. After making the huge move to retain Malik Monk and then to acquire DeMar DeRozan, it's safe to say that the Kings haven't had the huge bounce-back season that some were expecting.
The Kings have struggled out of the gate and have lost seven of their last 11 games. Overall, the Kings are 9-10 and while they may not be completely out of the playoff race, they find themselves sitting outside the top 10 in the Western Conference standings at the moment. To be quite honest, I'm not sure this is what the Kings had envisioned for this season after the moves they made during the offseason. The unfortunate part of it all is that it's almost impossible to point at one single issue that is dooming the team.
I'm sure the Kings hoped it was that easy. But it never is in the NBA. Nevertheless, it's been a bad start in the NBA for the Kings and as they try to figure it all out, I can't envision how this team is going to tangibly turn things around. Unless the Kings are going to suddenly transform into an elite defensive team or Keegan Murray finally begins to take that step into stardom, this team does feel stuck. In a way, there isn't much the Kings can do at the moment to help the team take another big step forward in their progression.
The Kings don't have a ton of trade assets sitting around and I can't imagine they want to shake up their roster at the moment. Even if they did want to, it's hard to look across the league and find one target that will drastically change the outlook for the team this season. Because of the situation the Kings find themselves in, I find it hard to believe they're going to be able to make a big move up the West standings. The Kings will make the postseason; I don't think they're in that much trouble. But another first-round playoff exit is very much this team's ceiling at the moment.