The Good, Bad, And Ugly From Kings 3rd Straight California Classic Win

The Sacramento Kings have had a great start to the California Classic, winning both their first games at Golden 1 Center. The Kings kept the train rolling with another win, this time over Brayden Burries and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Sacramento was in control of the game for the majority of the first half and into the third, but a rally from the Bucks made things interesting. In the end, Sacramento squeezed out a 95-89 win at home. Let’s get into the good, the bad, and the ugly from tonight’s contest.

Kings win.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) July 7, 2026

The Good

Let’s start with Darius Acuff Jr., who played much better overall in his second outing with the Kings. Though Acuff was able to put up 25 points in the opener, he took 29 shots, looked rushed offensively, and struggled a bit defensively as well. Tonight, Acuff let the game come to him offensively, and his ability to be the kind of offensive engine Sacramento needs was evident all night.

Acuff finished with 22 points on 4-9 from deep, including a dagger three in isolation to end any chance of a Bucks comeback. He also finished with three assists, but that number could’ve easily been higher if his teammates had helped him out a bit more.

Darius Acuff Jr. EXCELLED tonight 🙌

22 PTS
3 REB
3 AST
4 3PM
2 BLK

The 7th overall pick led the @SacramentoKings to victory at the California Classic 🔥 pic.twitter.com/AwpZZ4ro0C
— NBA (@NBA) July 7, 2026

The bar for Acuff defensively isn’t going to be Jrue Holiday or Derrick White. All the Kings need him to do is be close to neutral on that end, and tonight I thought he showed that he might be able to reach that level sooner rather than later. It’s just his second game of the summer, and it’ll be a different story against full-time NBA players, but I thought Darius was solid defensively tonight.

The play of the game for me was on that end, when he got stuck as the low man and not only made the right rotation to protect the rim but got a block on Bucks’ seven-footer Jesse Edwards.

Darius Acuff with the two-way sequence 👀 pic.twitter.com/dGhoqcGZS2
— Tyler Rucker (@tyler_rucker) July 7, 2026

Along with Acuff, Marquel Sutton had another really strong outing. Sutton finished with a team-high 24 points and surprisingly knocked down 4-8 from three after shooting just over 30% at LSU last season. Sutton did a great job of spotting up in the corner and finding space while playing off-ball, which is a great skill to have for a player trying to get a shot in the NBA. If he continues this type of play, the Kings really should consider inviting him to camp for a closer look.

The Bad

Offensively, Sacramento looked pretty choppy the majority of the game, and that was even more true when neither Acuff nor Nique Clifford had the ball in their hands. Some of that is to be expected with Adam Flagler, Jonathan Mogbo, and Emanuel Sharp sitting out tonight, but it was still pretty rough with that context in mind. Dylan Cardwell, in particular, had some not-so-great moments offensively, and I think it’s fair to expect a little more out of him, even with his limitations on that end.

Cardwell smoked an easy look under the hoop, missed quite a few simple reads with the ball in his hands, and still looked very much like a player who needs a lot more work with the ball in his hands. Dylan was far from the worst player offensively for Sacramento, but he has unfortunately earned a bit more of the focus after playing significant minutes last season. Some of it could be him feeling rushed and too eager to show off what he’s worked on, and that will be something to monitor as the summer goes on.

more of this >>> pic.twitter.com/o9fO9alnG6
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) July 7, 2026

He doesn’t really deserve to be in this section, but Nique wasn’t great tonight either. He missed all three of his triples and finished with just 8 points on 3-9 shooting. Clifford impacted the game in a ton of other ways, but like Cardwell, it’s fair to expect more of him going into his second year. More than anything, this is the setting for Clifford to look for his own offense, and he faded into the background a bit too often for how talented a player he is.

The Ugly

The plus/minus numbers don’t necessarily tell the story, but Sacramento was completely out of sorts with their bench unit in. Other than Isaiah Stevens, the reserves really couldn’t get anything going offensively and didn’t help their case on defense either.

With Acuff, Cardwell, and Clifford on the bench, Milwaukee crawled all the way back into the game and made it interesting in crunch time. There are always players in these games who are not NBA-caliber guys, and the Kings seem to have quite a few sitting on the bench.

Sheesh. https://t.co/cvMw6DpdnB pic.twitter.com/TtXC5QE6ZH
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 7, 2026

Sacramento also struggled to take care of the ball, and while that isn’t out of the ordinary in summer league, 19 turnovers to just 16 assists is a rough ratio to look at. Acuff had four turnovers himself, Stevens had three, while Clifford and Cardwell had two apiece.

Though those four made up the majority of Sacramento’s giveaways, the lack of spacing and chemistry with their counterparts might’ve been more of the issue than the decision-making. This will likely get a little better as the team practices together more, but it was a pretty rough watch at times.

After an undefeated run in the California Classic, Sacramento will head to Las Vegas for Summer League at UNLV. The Kings kick things off against Keaton Wagler and the LA Clippers on Thursday and should have their full roster back in action. That game tips off at 8:00 PM PST, and it will be another great chance to see Acuff square off against another guard selected in the lottery.

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