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#3 Sacramento had an unreliable bench
The Sacramento Kings had a solid offense in the 2020-21 NBA season led by De'Aaron Fox. The offense ranked 11th in Offensive Rating with 113.6 points scored per 100 possessions, but the bench did not have much to do with that, even with rookie Tyrese Haliburton playing tremendously.
On the other end, the Kings had a tragic defense, and the bench had a lot to do with it too.
Offensively, the Sacramento Kings' ranked only 25th in the NBA, though they had decent effectiveness from the field. The bench unit was 25th in plus/minus, at -2.4, and was not great defensively. They ranked last in defensive rebounds per game, 15th in blocks, and 13th in steals.
#2 Rebounding
The Sacramento Kings were not a good team in the rebounding area, which is a simple but important aspect of the basketball game. The Kings did not have a single player averaging at least nine rebounds per game, and were last in the entire NBA in rebounds per game as a team.
Moreover, they allowed the 11th-most rebounds per game to the opposition. The Kings were last in defensive rebounds per game and 22nd on offensive boards.
The advanced stats also proved the point regarding the Sacramento Kings' rebounding, as they were 29th in Defensive Rebound percentage and 21st in Offensive Rebound percentage.
#1 The Sacramento Kings had the worst defense in the NBA
Bottom line, the Sacramento Kings had the worst defense in the entire NBA. The team ranked 30th among the 30 NBA teams in Defensive Rating after allowing 117.2 points per 100 possessions to the opposition.
Usually, the team with the worst Defensive Rating in the entire NBA wins around 20 games or less in a 72-game season, and the reasons for the struggles come from everywhere on the court.
But the 2020-21 Sacramento Kings' glaring issue was solely on the defensive end. The team won 31 games even after posting the worst defense in the NBA, a rare 'feat' that last happened in the 2009-10 season, when the Toronto Raptors won 40 games while having the worst Defensive Rating in the league.
Guess the Lakers players!
