Zach LaVine Gets Brutally Honest After Kings' Loss to Warriors

The Sacramento Kings suffered another blowout loss against the Golden State Warriors.

Jan 9, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) controls the ball against Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) during the third quarter at Chase Center. | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Sacramento Kings seemed to be holding their own against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, being tied 84-84 with about three minutes left in the third quarter. However, things went very south after that. The Kings were outscored 53-19 in 15 minutes of action after that, leading to a dominant 137-103 Warriors win in San Francisco.

This marked the Kings' seventh consecutive loss to move them to 8-30 on the season. With the trade deadline approaching, the Kings' poor roster construction continues to become clearer, with some major changes likely on the verge of happening.

After Friday's loss, Kings star Zach LaVine compared the Kings' roster construction to a dysfunctional band, and while it was an unexpected analogy, he was spot on.

"I mean, it doesn't sound good I tell you that, I mean the music, if that's what you guys are going for, you can have the most talented people in the world, but if the guitarist and the violin guy, and then somebody that is orchestrating, and somebody on the saxophone, if they are all not playing in the same key, it ain't going to sound like music. It is going to sound like a bunch of instruments playing. So, there is an analogy for you," LaVine said.

Apr 11, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (10) talks with forward Domantas Sabonis (left) and guard Zach LaVine (8) during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden 1 Center. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Kings are like a bad band

The Kings have some of the most talented players in the NBA with LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis, but it is concerning how poorly they fit together. Luckily, the front office that decided to pair LaVine and DeRozan, despite seeing how they did not fit together while paired on the Chicago Bulls, has been dismantled to make way for Scott Perry as the new general manager.

Perry knows that the only way to fix this Kings franchise is to tear down the roster and do his own construction, because this is some of the worst roster building the NBA has ever seen.

Sure, the Kings have not had a fair season, dealing with injuries while they play the league's toughest schedule, but they were not going to have much success this year regardless. After Friday's loss, LaVine also talked about how "keeping things close" does not matter, and the Kings need to find ways to actually be competitive.

“I mean, you don’t get points for keeping things close in this league. You are supposed to keep it competitive and, you know, get it down the stretch. You figure out how to win. We haven't been able to do anything but the opposite of that. We keep it close, and we end up feeling some way in the fourth quarter and coming back into the locker room," LaVine said.

“You don’t get points for keeping things close in this league. You’re supposed to keep it competitive and get it down the stretch and figure out how to win and we haven’t done anything but the opposite of that.”

- Zach LaVine pic.twitter.com/1FtgmGieLn

— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) January 10, 2026

During the Kings' active seven-game losing streak, six of the seven losses have been by double-digits, with four of them by 24 or more points. The Kings have not been able to even stay competitive in most of their games recently, with just a two-point loss to the 14-24 Dallas Mavericks being the outlier.

"I don’t know. We have played really good in stretches," LaVine continued. "I think we felt good in the first half, and there was a two, three-minute stretch in the third quarter where they went on a 13–0 run and we couldn’t get anything going. I think that was the ballgame. You know, from that point we didn’t recover. They stayed in a rhythm, and you know, in the fourth quarter you are trying to play catch up with a team that is already in rhythm, making threes, making shots."

With upcoming matchups against the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Knicks, it will be challenging for the Kings to stop their losing streak from reaching ten games.