Are Sacramento Kings out of 2024 NBA Playoffs? Closer look after Play-In Tournament loss to Pelicans 

The Sacramento Kings played the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday in the final Western Conference Play-In game to determine the No. 8 seed. New Orleans won 105-98, which essentially means Sacramento’s season ended and it won’t make the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

The Zion Williamson-less Pelicans were able to handle their business at home and will now play OKC Thunder in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The series begins on Sunday in Oklahoma.

The Sacramento Kings made it to the game after blowing out the Golden State Warriors, 118-94 on Tuesday. The Kings, however, were unable to recreate such a performance on Friday.

De’Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 35 points, while Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and 14 rebounds. The New Orleans Pelicans were led by Brandon Ingram’s 24 points, Jonas Valanciunas’ 19-point, 12-rebound double-double and Tre Murphy III’s 16 points.

What went wrong for Sacramento Kings? Taking a closer look after 2024 NBA Playoffs exit

The Kings got off to a competitive start as they led 24-22 after the first quarter. However, a lackluster second quarter saw them being outscored 32-21. Sacramento never recovered after that and eventually lost the game.

Bench scoring was another area where Sacramento was outplayed by New Orleans. The Kings had only 12 bench points, whereas the Pelicans had 34. This was expected as the team was without its primary bench scorer Malik Monk. Monk, who is a candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award, is recovering from an MCL sprain and missed the entire Play-In Tournament.

One of the main reasons why the Kings were able to dominate the Warriors was the play of Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis. Murray had 32 points and Ellis had 15 points in Tuesday’s win. Sadly for the Kings faithful, they were nowhere to be found against New Orleans, especially Ellis.

The two-way player had 0 points on 0-of-5 shooting. Murray wasn’t great either, as he had just 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-7 from the 3-point line.

There are many things that the Sacramento Kings could have done better to qualify for the 2024 NBA Playoffs but all those are now in the past. There’s no doubt that the absence of Monk and Kevin Huerter handicapped their offense, but the Pelicans were without Zion Williamson as well.

With the whole offseason ahead of them, the Kings need to regroup and plan for the upcoming draft and the 2024-25 season.