DeMar DeRozan, Kings stars stunned by ‘rollercoaster' 2024-25 NBA season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SACRAMENTO – Seven hundred and forty-nine days separated the beginning of an exciting new voyage for Kings basketball and the volatile ending of a sinking ship in Sacramento.
The Kings clinched their first playoff berth in 17 years on March 29, 2023, as the Western Conference’s No. 3 playoff seed. A first-round playoff exit at the hands of the then-defending champion Golden State Warriors was far from disappointing, as it signaled what was supposed to be the start of sustainable success in Sacramento.
The Kings would not make the playoffs in the two seasons following.
General manager Monte McNair and coach Mike Brown helped bring a winning culture back to the state’s capital two years ago. As of Thursday morning, neither remains with the organization as Brown was fired midseason and McNair and the Kings mutually agreed to part ways after Wednesday’s season-ending NBA Play-In Tournament loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Somewhere in between, Doug Christie stepped in as interim coach, franchise point guard De’Aaron Fox was traded midseason to the San Antonio Spurs, which meant implementing new pieces such as Zach LaVine and Jonas Valančiūnas with the clock ticking on the season, and an assistant coach and assistant general manager leaving midway through the season.
It was a season DeMar DeRozan, a 16-year NBA veteran who has seen just about everything the league has to offer, still is trying to wrap his head around.
“I think it really won’t hit me for the next couple of days,” DeRozan said Wednesday night after the Kings’ 120-106 loss. “It’s probably the most I’ve been through in my 16-year career. The season that we had, it was a lot. It’s too hard to kind of fathom right now, but I’m pretty sure over the next couple of days it will kind of hit, the reality of everything that we all went through.”
DeRozan and his Kings teammates spent Thursday morning talking to the media during end-of-the-season exit interviews, each trying to find the right words to articulate the season they just endured.
DeRozan explained the year, his first with the Kings, as difficult, frustrating and emotional. Having missed the playoffs the previous two seasons during his time with the Chicago Bulls, DeRozan sought a fresh start and figured Sacramento was the perfect place.
The No. 9 seed and a win-or-go-home play-in game probably wasn’t what he expected, especially when the result was the latter.
“I put so much time, effort, preparation, sacrifice into the game of basketball,” DeRozan said Thursday. “As much as I care for it, it’s hurtful when you just don’t give yourself the opportunity to play for what matters, and that’s to make it to the playoffs, give yourself a chance, and then not knowing what could have happened. It sucks.”
DeRozan’s veteran leadership was believed to benefit a mostly inexperienced team. It was. But all the moving parts weighed on the team’s production on the court. And even as a respected, well-established NBA vet, this Kings season was like no other he’s endured.
“I mean, first time in my career I dealt with the firing of the coach in the middle of the season. I’ve never had that before. So that alone was a first,” DeRozan said. “You have a GM leave. Throughout the season, an assistant coach leaves in the middle of the season. A lot of those things were definitely a first. A lot of stuff that people on the outside may not understand what we go through internally, what we see every day, the people we got to deal with every single day, see them here and then all of a sudden see them gone.
“The aura of so many changes like that could change internally that people don’t get to see so that can make it definitely difficult.”
Domantas Sabonis, part of the original “Beam Team” two years ago, labeled the past season as “crazy.” He said he wasn’t consulted on the team’s decision to part ways with McNair, nor the decision to hire Scott Perry as the new general manager. The Lithuanian big man made it known that he wished he could be more involved in those discussions, but added he understands his role as a player and to leave those moves to the front office.
Another player who has seen the ins and outs of the association is LaVine, who was brought to Sacramento from Chicago as part of the deal that sent Fox to San Antonio.
He refused to make excuses for how the season ended, simply stating all the moving parts are “the nature of the business.”
Malik Monk, as expected, was a bit more straightforward with his assessment of the turbulent season. He has had a fair share of adversity over his eight-year career. From the rock-bottom lows in Charlotte to getting a fresh start with the Los Angeles Lakers to finding a place he loves to call home in Sacramento, Monk is no stranger to change and adaptation.
Still, nothing compares to what he experienced this year with the Kings.
“Not s–t like this,” Monk said when asked if he’s seen anything like this Kings’ season. “Nothing at all. I haven’t seen anything like this before.”
Like the Kings’ season, Monk’s role this year changed sporadically. He went from a top Sixth Man of the Year candidate to the starting shooting guard to the starting point guard and then back to the bench in that sixth-man role before injuring his calf and missing the season’s final four games.
Monk said he felt like he had to “four different players” this season but wouldn’t complain. He doesn’t know which role he’ll play next season, though he admitted feeling most comfortable at the starting two-guard position.
Whatever role, whichever coach, players, or executives are around him, all he longs for is a little stability moving forward.
“I feel like NBA players, we go off routine and stability,” Monk said. “And when you tweak that a little bit, something can happen. So yes, it’s always good to have stability in life, man. Because if you’re going up and down, life is not fun. So having stability, it just makes it level out and makes everything go smoother. So I feel like we need that for sure.”
Keegan Murray labeled his junior year “a whirlwind of a season.” Keon Ellis seconded that notion: “The whole season has been crazy.”
It was a similar theme echoed by most players, including Trey Lyles, who believes the inconsistencies affected his performance this season.
“I’d say this season in a nutshell has been a rollercoaster,” Lyles said. “From teammates leaving, teammates coming in, coaches leaving, coaches coming in, and that type of thing, it was a pretty up-and-down season. For myself, I told Doug I feel like when I got consistent minutes, my game was consistent. When it wasn’t consistent, I wasn’t consistent.
“So that’s just where it was going into games, not knowing how much I was going to play, sometimes being told I wasn’t going to play. So just all over the place with that. As a player, it’s hard to stay consistent with those things going on.”
Players spoke to the media from 10:45 a.m. PT to 1 p.m. on Thursday. Over that two-hour-and-15-minute span, the one consistent talk point was the lack of consistency within the organization.
Before reporters could finish their questions asking the players to evaluate the up-and-down season, several players’ facial expressions said everything for them before actual words came out of their mouths.
But after the twists and turns, loops and sudden drops, this rollercoaster ride officially has come to an end. The ride will undergo a major makeover and construction might take some time, but eventually, it’ll be time to sit down, buckle up and brace for yet another journey of Kings basketball.
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