Hey there, Last Night In Basketballers — I am, as I do every year, re-appropriating the Three Things I Noticed on League Pass format to preview the upcoming season. Instead of three things I noticed, it’ll be something more along the lines of three things I’m looking forward to, interested in, or want to see. Some of them might be narrative-based, some might be stats, and some might include video. But they'll all be focused on the 2026-27 campaign.
The schedule for those posts will be as follows (podcasts previewing each division with Mo Dakhil are in parentheses):
- Atlantic Division (BOS, BKN, NYK, PHI, TOR) (Podcast)
- Central Division (CHI, CLE, DET, IND, MIL) (Podcast)
- Southeast Division (ATL, CHA, MIA, ORL, WAS) (Podcast)
- Pacific Division (GSW, LAC, LAL, PHX, SAC) (Podcast)
- Northwest Division (DEN, MIN, OKC, POR, UTA) (Podcast)
- Southwest Division (DAL, HOU, MEM, NOP, SAS) (Podcast)
So without further ado, let's get to the Sacramento Kings, who may or may not still be the league's most depressing team.
Just a heads up: the next few editions of this preview might be shorter than usual because I am currently out of town on a personal trip.
Darius Acuff, sink or swim
This is something I'm hoping for, but that I don't necessarily expect. I really want the Kings to just hand Acuff the keys to the car and let him drive it, full-time, right away. There's really nothing to lose by doing so. They're probably going to be a pretty bad team either way.
For what it's worth, Acuff started and played 27 minutes in the first preseason game, scoring 19 points on 17 shots and dishing out 4 assists against 5 turnovers. That's fine! That's honestly the kind of line that I want to see him work through and improve upon as the season goes along. Let him make mistakes and then let him fix them.
He's explosive as a scorer (23.5 points per game at Arkansas with ridiculous shooting numbers: 48.4% from the field, 44.0% from three, and 80.9% from the line on 6.1 attempts per game) and he's a willing, creative passer (he also averaged 6.4 assists per night) who leverages his ability to get whatever shot he wants to create openings for his teammates. He does have the potential to be a pretty special offensive player if it all comes together.
He's also a brutal defender due to his relative lack of size, which means that he's going to have to be fulfill all of his offensive potential and be a true game-changing engine type of player in order to become a star-level contributor. The work of fulfilling that promise might as well start right away, veteran guys' touches be damned.