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By TJ Macias
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See, this is why Sacramento cannot have nice things.
After a dismal hurricane of dead preseason games and a handful of abysmal regular season games, the light at the end of the Kings loss tunnel finally appeared with the excellence of rookie Darius Acuff Jr. and the team’s win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
And now, rumors are turning that light in the tunnel into an oncoming train.
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One of those worried about the light includes former Kings star and legendary point guard Mike Bibby -- a name that has to be uttered in a whisper in order to even get into the River City.
Prior to the Kings Monday win, Bibby went on Straight Game Podcast to talk about the alleged boiling heat between the rookie and center Domantas Sabonis.
Despite Acuff Jr. turning field-goal attempts into magical fairy dust, Bibby says it’s not a good look for the team since it’s apparently a bad look for a teammate to take that many shots while losing.
“I think I might have seen Sabonis have like four shots last game,” Bibby said. “With Sabonis, he’s best with the ball in his hands, when he’s making plays for other guys and doing that point guard stuff. I think he’s at best in that situation. You put those guys to the side, let’s see how long this is gonna take till everybody’s disgruntled. With losing on top of that, that’s not gonna have a good outcome.”
In his first six starts with the Kings, Acuff Jr. has taken 144 shots with a usage rate of 32.3%.
Examples of other stars in the league with five games with a higher usage rate include Luka Doncic with 40.0% and Victor Wembanyama with 33.8%.
During Monday’s 115-100 win over the Mavs, the rookie had 25 points, six assists and five rebounds in 37 minutes. It was the third consecutive game where Acuff Jr. had at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists making him the first rookie to achieve that feat since Luka Donic in 2019.
Yet, some are still fickle on the locker room factor, which is where Sabonis comes in, especially back in October when the big was quoted saying:
“Move the ball. Get me the ball more so I can swing it and get guys open. You know, we took a lot of one-pass shots, pick-and-roll shots without passing the ball; you know, those numbers are really high, and I feel like we’re best when we kind of mix it up – point guard shoots, point guard hits the corner, point guard hits me, then I can make the read – that’s where I’m best at.”
The Sacramento media, especially those determined to shut down all the rumors, have taken to watching both Sabonis and Acuff Jr. interact closely on the court and on the bench in terms of how they communicate without the ball between them as if the situation needs to be handled with kid gloves from an outsider’s perspective.
But that’s all it is – an outsider’s perspective.
Facts are written on the court, especially when it comes to their next game.
The Kings take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.
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