Key Takeaways From Kings' Back-to-Back Losses to Thunder, Bulls

The Sacramento Kings suffered back-to-back losses over the last two days.

Oct 29, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (3) defends against Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Today, we get a two-for-one with my rewatch series, which means double the pain! This week, the Sacramento Kings took on the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Chicago Bulls in an away back-to-back. The Kings have one of the toughest schedules in the league to begin the season, and the matchup with the Thunder was the beginning. 

The Kings would drop both games and now stare at a 1-4 record with no signs of things improving. In the loss to the Lakers, the trends were a lack of rim pressure, size issues, and Sabonis' impact. Let’s see if it was more of the same or if Sacramento has some new problems to address.

Kings vs. Thunder

Right away, the matchup with the Thunder got off to a bad start with Domantas Sabonis missing some easy buckets, a dead-ball turnover leading to a fastbreak, and a lack of flow offensively. The offense looked a bit rough at first, but having a clear number one in DeMar DeRozan around the bench players who are comfortable playing off the ball made a big difference in the final two minutes of the first quarter. The Kings closed the first well on both ends and took a five-point lead into the second. 

Things would go just fine for Sacramento to kick off the second as they took an eight-point lead early in the quarter. Even Devin Carter flashed some really good stuff with a big offensive rebound and dunk. 

Great rebound and hammer by Devin Carter. He's having a nice impact early. He and Ellis are agents of chaos.

— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) October 29, 2025

The Kings have not been a good second-half team, but they did come out a little bit better in OKC. A couple of easy misses from Sabonis ensured the second half started just like the first, and Sacramento was lucky the Thunder were not having a great game and were clearly missing Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. 

The Kings would keep a small lead until the end of the game, but OKC’s aggressive defense and egalitarian offense made sure they stayed within striking distance until Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Alex Caruso put Sacramento away late. 

This was arguably the best game Sacramento played this year, but it was far from perfect. The story of this one was the Kings getting to the rim and not finishing, getting killed in the paint on the other end, and not getting a good night out of Sabonis. 

FINAL:
OKC 107 - @KingsLeadSM 101

THE THUNDER STORM BACK AND IMPROVE TO 5-0!!!

THE OKC THUNDER ARE INEVITABLE. pic.twitter.com/CTnxPJEEau

— Thunder Lead 🏆 (@ThunderLead) October 29, 2025

Kings vs. Bulls

Again, things started off decently in Chicago with Sacramento taking a two-point lead into halftime. For the sake of time, let’s just skip ahead to where it all went wrong. The third has been problematic for the Kings in every single game this season, but allowing the Bulls to hang 39 on them while being outscored by 12 was a new low. 

Although I didn’t mention it as a trend before, the Kings have not been even remotely decent at stopping drives this year, and the Bulls took advantage. Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis used their size to get to the rack at will last night, and it didn’t matter who was defending them. 

Keon Ellis did as much as he could when matched up with both, but they were just too big for him at 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-10, respectively. 

After the game, Doug Christie made a comment about the team “getting bored” with the fundamentals, and that seemed to be true in Chicago. Guards put up no resistance to Chicago’s drives, and when Sacramento did stop the ball, it led to a great look from three for the Bulls, who shot 44% from deep. The Bulls would end up winning handily as Sacramento just couldn’t stay afloat. 

This is absolutely nasty work from
Josh Giddey. Wow.

(🎥 @chicagobulls)
pic.twitter.com/52lDXPstHY

— Elias Schuster (@Schuster_Elias) October 30, 2025

This rings especially true for the Kings' starting lineup of Westbrook, Dennis Schroder, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis, which is now a -40 in 37 minutes played together. The starters have an abysmal 95.1 offensive rating, which seems about right given how clunky the offense has looked. A lot of the same trends still showed up against OKC and Chicago, but there are some improvements and new issues to discuss as the Kings fall to 1-4.

What Improved?

Rim pressure: This one improved against the Thunder, despite the Kings not being able to knock down shots, and they were able to score 53% of their points in the paint against the Bulls. 

Sabonis: Sabonis still hasn’t looked right, but he was much better against the Bulls with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists in Chicago. He still needs to be better, but this was a good start for him. 

What Was Still An Issue?

Size: This isn’t something the Kings can change until Murray returns, but it may be too little too late. Teams don’t have to go to double-big lineups to take advantage of mismatches against Sacramento, and although the size disparity doesn’t always show up the same way in the boxscore, it’s very much there night after night. 

What Were The New, Concerning Trends?

The Starters: This isn’t exactly new, because they haven’t been good all season, but it was clear that they just don’t work together. If the Kings are set on starting those four together and playing them big minutes, they may find themselves outside the Play-In race.

Three Point Defense: This has been a problem since the Beam Team, but Sacramento had been one of the best teams at defending the three to start the season. Against the Bulls, that went out the window. Some of this may just be due to the inability to stop the ball without helping off shooters, which is also nothing new.