Everything That Went Wrong in Kings' Blowout Loss to Spurs

Well, here we are, Kings fans. The preseason has officially ended, and it already feels like it took a year and a half to get through the two-week stretch for Sacramento, as they finished 0-5 with their fourth blowout loss of the exhibition season.

After what was looking like a solid training camp, the Kings have completely lost all of their positive momentum from the draft, free agent acquisitions, and thoughts of surprising the league. It's hard to imagine a worse preseason than this that the Kings could have had.

Is that a little harsh? Yeah, probably. But for a franchise desperately trying to build a culture and identity, it sure doesn't look like they are heading in the right direction. There have been some good moments this preseason with a few standouts, but it just feels like a missed opportunity for the Kings to continue some positive momentum in their rebuild. With all that said, let's take a look at this blowout loss to the Spurs a little bit more.

Starters Stood No Chance

The Kings have had so many players in and out of the lineup this preseason that there hasn't been a chance for the main rotational players to build chemistry and cohesion. And in case they are hoping it magically all comes together on day one of the regular season, I hope they were paying attention tonight, as that's about the farthest thing that happened, as the starters got their first look together.

The Kings fell behind big early, and the Spurs never looked back. And fell behind big may actually be putting it lightly. The Spurs led 42-18 after the first quarter and stretched the lead to 71-37 at the end of the half.

It was clear that the Kings' starters weren't familiar with each other's games, and one simple stat proved it: Turnovers. Ben Simmons and Domantas Sabonis each had five, and Zach LaVine and Darius Acuff Jr. had two each. Simmons chipped in seven assists to put a bit of a positive spin on it, but the starters had more turnovers (14) than they did assists (13).

If that doesn't scream "We haven't played together," I don't know what does. But now the Kings are out of chances and will have to hope everything clicks in the regular season (spoiler alert: it probably won't at this rate).

Missing Forwards

Coming into the season, one of the most intriguing things about the Kings roster is their added frontcourt depth, specifically at the wing position. But while Simmons was out doing his thing tonight, turnovers notwithstanding, Keegan Murray and De'Andre Hunter left a lot to be desired.

Murray finished with three points and one rebound. Hunter had two points, two rebounds, and a steal. Both wings shot 1-of-5 from the field, with Keegan making one of his two three-point attempts and Hunter missing all three of his. So, between the two, that's a final stat line of five points, three rebounds, and a steal on 2-of-10 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 from three, with nary a free throw attempt in sight.

That's just not going to cut it from the two veteran wings. It's important to remember that both players are coming off injuries, but they'll need to show something better in the first handful of games to give hope of turning things back around.

The Kings have five days to try to fix all of these problems before they kick off the regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, October 21st at 7:30 PM PST.

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