Malik Monk confident Kings will ‘surprise' doubters in 2026-27 NBA season
Malik Monk confident Kings will ‘surprise' doubters in 2026-27 NBA season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
It would not be bold to claim that the Kings likely will finish towards the bottom of the standings in the 2026-27 NBA season.
Many national analysts claim as much. ESPN, for example, predicts Sacramento to finish last in the Western Conference.
Kings guard Malik Monk, speaking with NBC Sports California’s Deuce Mason and Morgan Ragan during the team’s Media Day, offered his own bold prediction.
“I feel like if we’re all healthy, we can sneak into the playoffs…” Monk stated. “…I think we’re all bought in right now — it looks like everybody has bought in. I think we can surprise a lot of people.”
It’s a surprising statement given the Kings finished last season at 22-60, tied with the Utah Jazz for the worst record in the Western Conference. But Monk pointing out health as a big factor is valid.
Domantas Sabonis played just 19 games last season due to a torn meniscus. Zach LaVine played just 39 games and Keegan Murray played in 23 games. That is 165 combined games missed between just three starters.
Murray points to chemistry as a key factor for the Kings; something that the team was not able to build last season due to injuries.
“Every team starts 0-and-0. And I mean, we have any chance like any other team…” Murray said. “So, everyone laces their shoes the same way, everyone in the NBA has talent. It’s just a matter if your chemistry can continue to grow.
“And if we can do that, we can be a pretty good team.”
Sabonis, similar to his teammates, dismissed the gloomy predictions.
“Eleven years in it, you have so many predictions, so many people are so wrong,” Sabonis said.
Despite those predictions being outlandish to Sabonis, he sees a potential benefit to them being made.
“If anything, it helps to find some kind of fire in there,” Sabonis explained. “I know it’s driving [Kings owner] Vivek [Ranadive] and [coach] Doug [Christie] crazy – which is good. It’s obviously driving us crazy.
“We want to go back to where we were in those ‘Beam Team’ years, and we’re excited.”
The upcoming season will be the fourth since the Kings broke the franchise’s 17-year NBA playoff drought. It feels like it’s been much longer.
But despite the departure of the coach and key role players who brought the franchise back into playoff contention, a part of that skeleton remains in Sacramento in the presence of Sabonis, Murray and Monk.
“Going what we went through last year, it’s just all the pieces,” Monk said. “Ben [Simmons] has been disrespected a lot. We are getting disrespected a lot. Scott [Perry] is getting disrespected a lot. Vivek gets disrespected a lot. Doug, you know what I’m saying?
“I got forgotten about, they forgot about Keegan, they forgot about Domas. So, I think we got a chip on our shoulder this year.”
It’s easy to forget about the players who helped light the beam so frequently in years past because of their missed time.
But, if Monk is right, the NBA world could be in for a reminder.
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