Doug Christie Meets With Kings Starters After Embarrassing Loss

The Sacramento Kings had ten days off to prepare for the home stretch of the 2024-25 season. But it doesn’t appear that the rest and rejuvenation during the All-Star break did the team any good, as they suffered an embarrassing home loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

According to reports, things were bad enough that head coach Doug Christie called a meeting with the starting five after the game to discuss their effort and communication.

Kings Are In Trouble After Embarrassing Loss To Warriors On Friday

The Kings are trying to find their footing after trading away their star point guard. De’Aaron Fox essentially forced his way out of Sacramento earlier this month, as his wish of being shipped to San Antonio was granted. They’ve attempted to replace their leading scorer by putting more of the responsibility on guys like Malik Monk and DeMar DeRozan, as well as integrate newcomer Zach LaVine into the fold.

It hasn’t gone well. Their record since the trade doesn’t look terrible at 3-3, but two of the victories came against the floundering Pelicans, and the other was an overtime win over the depleted Mavericks.

It was thought that the long break that the team had during the All-Star festivities would give them time to practice and figure things out, but a 24-point loss to the rival Warriors proved that there was no marked improvement over the last 10 days. The turnover issues that plagued the team since the trade continued, with the Kings committing 24 on Friday night, which turned into 38 points for Golden State. They made just 11 3-pointers compared to the Warriors’ 20, and their bench was outscored by 27 points in the contest.

Sources: After Kings suffered 24-point loss at home to Warriors last night, interim head coach Doug Christie called for a meeting with his starters. I take you inside that meeting. #haynesbriefs

Brought to you by @MoveInsoles pic.twitter.com/T8UQvhx4x4

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 22, 2025

Christie, who is now 15-10 after taking over the head coaching reins from Mike Brown, gathered his starters after the game for a sit down talk. He stressed the looming issue of ball security, and how the team has been compromising on defense. Communication was also apparently a major talking point, as he challenged his players to challenge each other in order to yield some positive results.

With the loss, the Kings have fallen behind the Warriors in the Western Conference standings. Sacramento is now sitting at 28-28, and are in the 10th seed, just 1.5 games up on the Suns. Things won’t get any easier, either, as they are tied for the 4th-toughest remaining schedule in the entire NBA.

They’ll look to start a positive turn around on Monday evening when they host the lowly Charlotte Hornets.