Acuff Jr. Keeps Impressing, But Kings' Concerning Trends Continue in Loss to Magic

Stop me if you've heard this before. The Sacramento Kings' inability to defend at even an average level, combined with a struggling offense, has once again led to a disappointing loss at the Golden 1 Center, as the Kings fell to the Orlando Magic 107-100.

Sacramento continues to search for their first win on their home floor, as we saw more of the same trends from the first ten games of the year. The Kings have so many issues that it's going to take a perfect game for 48 minutes in order for them to steal a win, which makes it even more frustrating when we see the same things over and over plaguing the Kings this season.

Acuff Shines Again

At least one of the trends that is safe to say is solidified is that Darius Acuff Jr. is legit. He's breaking records left and right and had another huge game tonight, finishing with 29 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds on 10-of-21 (47.6%) from the field and 4-of-9 (44.4%) from three.

Acuff off the dribble. Splash ☔️ pic.twitter.com/hPZ6XwVsG9
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 11, 2026

Tonight felt like a reminder that Acuff is the most important thing about this season for the Kings. The feel he has for the game through 11 career contests is astounding, and even though the losses are piling up, tonight was another great showing of how bright Acuff's future is (and hopefully the Kings along with him).

Sabonis' Quiet Night

Sabonis was questionable coming into the game, and there were multiple times tonight when he was taking inventory of his knees after some contact under the basket, but his zero points stands out like a huge red flag for Sacramento.

Domantas Sabonis finished tonight with 0 points on just two field goal attempts over 24 minutes.

It's only the second time in his career that he's played 20+ minutes and taken two or fewer shots (0/1 FG over 26 min on Jan. 2, 2017). pic.twitter.com/3qzk17Ybrh
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) November 11, 2026

It wasn't just the zero points, but the fact that Sabonis only took two field goal attempts. Regardless of the lingering injury or not, the Kings just can't function when Sabonis doesn't take shots.

The offense is too predictable with him on the perimeter, and yes, he had the assists and the screen assists that come from the action, but the lack of shooting is now a full-fledged trend to worry about after the first 11 games of the season.

Lack Of Bench Scoring

Another sad trend from the Kings reared tonight as the bench finished with just 15 points. 11 of those came from Keegan Murray, who is quietly starting to find a rhythm. Emanuel Sharp chipped in two points while Dylan Cardwell and Malik Monk each had a single point.

In a game where Zach LaVine scores 31 points, Acuff scores 29, and you get a combined 25 from De'Andre Hunter and Precious Achiuwa, it feels like that should be a recipe for success. But the Kings are still searching for a scoring punch off the bench, and with Monk in and out of the lineup (2:30 minutes tonight), it feels like that consistent scorer off the bench just isn't there this year.

The good news is that Maxime Raynaud will eventually return and should instantly help with a scoring punch with his ability to get more involved in the offense than Cardwell. But until then, the trend is clear: the Kings' bench scoring is a huge problem.

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