Kings coach Doug Christie ‘f—ing embarrassed’ after another blowout loss
The Sacramento Kings are in freefall less than a month into the 2025-26 season after falling to 3-9 following a 133-100 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. Sacramento has now lost three of its last four games by at least 27 points and is off to its worst start in 12 games since the 2017-18 campaign.
“I was embarrassed,” Kings coach Doug Christie said. “I wish I could have put on the jersey. At 55, I would have shown you better than that. At least I’m going to use all six fouls. I can’t move, but I’m going to foul someone.”
Sacramento out-rebounded 45-35, committed 20 turnovers and was decimated in the fast-break point category to the tune of 33 to eight. Atlanta led by 44 points despite star guard Trae Young not even being in the lineup.
The Kings were coming off a 14-point loss to the Denver Nuggets and had lost their previous two games by 27 and 31 points to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively. The Kings have lost their nine games by an average of 15.3 points.
“Put on a jersey, represent it properly,” Christie said. “…I’m fucking embarrassed. Unacceptable. Period. It’s true. It’s simple. It’s not even hard. Sometimes you come here and you try to figure out ‘well, you know, maybe I’ll look back and watch [the tape].’ I don’t need to watch any tapes. I probably won’t watch it. I saw him live once. Hell, if you want to watch it again, but I will.
More starting lineup changes coming?
Christie had his interim title stripped earlier this offseason after taking over for former Kings coach Mike Brown midway through the 2024-25 campaign. Christie, best known for being a tenacious defender during his 15-year playing career, was a key part of the Kings’ core in the early 2000s. He joined the team as an assistant coach in 2021 before taking over the franchise following Brown’s sudden firing.
During his first season as a full-time coach, Christie often shuffled the starting lineup in hopes of finding stability. Through the first 12 games of the season, the Kings have deployed nine different starting lineups. Part of the reason for this major shuffle each night is the attempt to find a lineup combination to compensate for the loss of forward Keegan Murray, who has yet to play a game after undergoing thumb surgery last month.
Sacramento rolled out one of its smallest starting lineups earlier this month, which included Russell Westbrook, Dennis Schröder, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis. With LaVine out against Atlanta, he was replaced in the starting lineup by Precious Achiuwa, who signed with the team earlier this month.
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That size – or lack thereof – was on display against a bigger, more physical Hawks lineup Wednesday night. The Kings have been looking for another playable forward next to Murray since he was drafted in 2022, but they still haven’t found one. This is part of the reason why the Kings explored a possible sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors earlier this offseason for Jonathan Kuminga.
Yet less than a month into the season, Christie is still searching for answers and a cohesive lineup. And if you thought more changes weren’t on the horizon, you’d be wrong. Christie was asked about the possibility of making any further changes to the lineup after the bench unit outscored the starters 55-45, which included a team-high 20 points for Keon Ellis.
“You have to do it,” Christie said. “These guys are minus-31, minus-38, minus-34, minus-20. We have to do it.”
What hasn’t worked so far for Sacramento?
The Kings experienced a logjam at the guard position before the start of the season after signing Westbrook days before the opener and adding Schröder via sign-and-trade earlier this offseason. Additionally, Sacramento returned LaVine, DeRozan, Malik Monk, Devin Carter and Ellis, and added Nique Clifford in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft.
On paper, the Kings have a roster of veterans who have all had individual success in the league. However, this core makes little sense on the basketball court due to their non-complementary and redundant skill sets. That’s part of the reason the Sacramento Kings could be considering a possible fire sale at the trade deadline and a complete rebuild ahead of a busy 2026 NBA Draft.
Ellis, who has been Sacramento’s most consistent defender at the guard position over the past three seasons, has been in and out of the rotation through the first dozen games. Ellis has played mostly in timeouts over the past few games after starting 49 games over the previous two seasons. Ellis failing to make the rotation every night is the byproduct of a flawed roster headed toward another lottery appearance.
“Yes, it’s all about the numbers,” Christie said earlier this month. “There’s a big traffic jam there, so night after night it might be different. It won’t get any easier when we get Keegan back.”
Christie’s postgame rant and frustration summed up what the last two and a half years have been like for the Kings since they ended the longest playoff drought in North American sports following a 48-win season during the 2022-23 campaign. Since then, Sacramento has lost in the play-in tournament two years in a row and saw the face of the franchise, De’Aaron Fox, leave via trade earlier this year.
The reality for the Kings is simple: Do you stay with the status quo, continue to put a band-aid on a broken product that can’t be fixed, or do you look in the mirror and face the reality of having to hope the lottery balls come back in your favor to land a franchise-altering draft pick? The answer to that question could determine Sacramento’s prospects by the end of this decade.
