The One Thing the Kings Must Fix Before Next Season

It’s a bit humorous to write about the “one thing” the Sacramento Kings need to fix when the team is 14-50. There are so many things this team needs to fix, including perimeter defense, point guard play, interior defense, and more. All of these things are important to focus on in the offseason, but there’s one other part of the game that might require more than just drills.

If someone asked fans, media, and maybe even the coaching staff what the single biggest issue would be for the Kings, I think a large majority would say shooting.

A fall from grace

The 2022-23 team, built around De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, was one of the best offenses in NBA history. That Kings’ squad wasn’t the best in the league when it came to perimeter shooting, but they were still in the top-10 at 37% from deep.

A rookie Keegan Murray shot 41%, Kevin Huerter shot 40%, and Harrison Barnes shot 37% from behind the line, forming a solid shooting trio that allowed Fox and Sabonis to work in the paint. This team catapulted the Kings to the best offensive rating in NBA history at the time, and the 3rd seed in the Western Conference before it all started to fall apart.

With an offense headlined by Fox & Sabonis, teams are forced to help off Keegan Murray but he makes them pay for it... He's up to 41.0% on 5.7 3PA/g.

Murray is the only rookie shooting above 40% from three on 4+ 3PA/g. pic.twitter.com/5E5CNB1LAy
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) January 10, 2023

In the 2023-24 season, the shooting slide started, but the Kings were still able to shoot close to 37% from three, which was good for 16th in the league. De’Aaron Fox had a career year from deep, shooting 37% on nearly eight attempts per game, while Trey Lyles also provided some much-needed spacing from the four spot. Shooting wasn’t a real problem this season, but you could see the cracks starting to form as Murray and Heurter couldn’t replicate their numbers from the season prior.

With Barnes gone, and Heurter and Murray continuing their skids, perimeter shooting really started to look like a problem last season. It may have been overshadowed by a ton of organizational dysfunction, but it was absolutely there. Sacramento was still 16th in the league, but its three-point percentage dropped under 36% for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

Even with Zach LaVine added to the roster, who is an excellent shooter at 39%, the Kings dropped to just 33.4% on the season this year, good for dead last in the league.

Zach LaVine has been on a HEATER! Here are all of his threes from the last two wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hykZ1UOQe2
— The Kings Herald (@thekingsherald) April 8, 2025

Shooting makes basketball fun

We’ve all heard the complaints about the modern game. There are too many threes, no one goes to the basket anymore, big men are never in the post, etc. While some of that may have some merit, I would argue the Kings have proven how much worse basketball can look when a team can’t space the floor.

Not only are the Kings the second-worst offense in the league, but they’re also one of the hardest teams to watch night after night because they simply don’t have enough shooting.

Miami scorching from the perimeter, shooting 15/24 to Sacramento's 5/12 from distance. Heat leads the Kings 77-64 at the half. Zach LaVine 12 points, Norman Powell 15.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) January 21, 2026

With players like Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan, who prefer to operate in the paint, you need spacers around them for their game to be effective. The result has been crowded lanes, turnovers from bad spacing, and little to no room to operate for any of Sacramento’s ball-handlers.

If you look at the bottom of the league, other than the Brooklyn Nets, who simply cannot score at all, I would argue that the Kings are the hardest to watch. The Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, and Indiana Pacers aren’t exactly lighting it up from deep either, but they all have enough shooting to run a real offense at least.

Kings shooting 9% from three. Seems bad
— The Kings Herald (@thekingsherald) January 5, 2026

Where do we go from here?

Unlike many of the Kings’ other issues, shooting isn’t something that can be easily fixed by changing coaches or practicing more. Of course, players can grow as shooters, but that’s not going to be the case for this current Kings roster. Westbrook and DeRozan aren’t perimeter shooters, and never have been. Sabonis has had some good seasons from behind the line, but he can’t be expected to be a consistent threat. That puts a lot of pressure on Murray, whose record-breaking rookie season is looking more like an anomaly than a given.

The only realistic option is for the Kings to go and get some shooting this offseason, and I would argue that needs to be their number one priority after the draft. Whether they look to use their second round pick(s) to address the need or use assets to find a shooter in the trade market, this is a need they simply cannot ignore if they don’t want to be the second-worst offense in the NBA again. I would even go as far as to say that whoever the Kings select with their first-round pick will struggle offensively if their spacing isn’t improved significantly.