The Sacramento Kings are hoping their first real rest is the cure for their uneven start

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The strangest stretch of the Sacramento Kings’ condensed early-season schedule came a few weeks ago. They had four games in five nights that sent them from Sacramento to Utah to Atlanta to Toronto. The Hawks and Raptors road games were back-to-back, which wouldn’t have tired the Kings as much if they returned to California after the Toronto game, or at least didn’t follow their flight path.

But they instead turned southeast again, flying from Toronto back over Atlanta and landing in Miami for the fourth game in a packed, logistically confusing road trip.

“I’m sure I’ve had (a crazier stretch),” 17-season veteran DeMar DeRozan said. “I played in a lockout (back-to-back) year.”

Fast forward two weeks, and an air of relaxation was palpable in the Kings’ practice Thursday afternoon. They opened their season with 15 games in 25 days. After a Monday loss to the Hawks — who missed DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk with minor injuries — the Kings became the last team in the league to finally receive a multi-day break between games. They took Tuesday off completely, went live briefly on Wednesday and had a light session on Thursday.

Through 15 games, the Kings have a somewhat disappointing 8-7 record considering the recent string of beatable opponents and narrow defeats. But it felt like a refreshed team with reinforcements on the way. DeRozan and Sabonis, who have missed the past few games with back strains, practiced fully and should return against the LA Clippers on Friday. Monk, who has missed a handful of games with a bad ankle sprain, is also on the precipice of a return, doubtful for Friday but not out of the question.

“Using this to reset, get a rhythm back shooting the ball,” DeRozan said. “Get everyone’s legs back under them.”

There’s a reason DeRozan specifically mentioned shooting. The Kings are currently sitting at 34 percent on 3s, ranked 24th in the league. They were dead last about a week ago and recently only ticked up because De’Aaron Fox has been blazing hot everywhere and Keon Ellis made nine 3s in one game recently.

But the collective is still in a team-wide recession. Kevin Huerter, a career 38 percent shooter from deep, is at 31 percent and went 1 of 10 on 3s in a one-point loss to the Hawks. He’s been back nearly a month since his offseason shoulder surgery, missed a few games with an illness he said has swept the team, but said he believes this time of rest and reset could give him possibility to create a little more consistency.

Monk was 12 of 43 from 3 before spraining his ankle. Fox was sitting just under 30 percent before this latest hot streak bumped him up to 35 percent. But the biggest current shooting concern is Keegan Murray, the catch-and-shoot threat who set an NBA rookie record with 206 made 3s in his first season (with 41.1 percent accuracy). His percentage has decreased as his responsibilities have increased.

Murray bulked up the last two seasons. He has become a versatile defender who is now often given the toughest perimeter assignment. The Kings want him to test himself offensively with more off-the-dribble action and occasionally pit him against smaller defenders.

But opponents mostly fear Murray as a tall catch-and-shoot weapon with a quick release from out to nearly 30 feet in a half-court setting. This is where he entered the scene as a rookie. This is also where he is currently struggling.

“He’ll be fine, man,” DeRozan said. “We’re all going to have a time in the season where we have a slump, we have a struggle. It’s a matter of not letting it bleed. We’re all going to have games where you’re all going to question some of us. It happens.”

Kings coach Mike Brown specifically cited a hesitant Murray possession from the fourth quarter of the Hawks loss. The ball was swung to him in the corner and the smaller Bogdan Bogdanović closed late with his hands down. Murray had a clear window to fire up a barely contested corner 3. Instead, he pumped, drove into traffic and threw up an off-balance missed fadeaway floater.

The Kings prefer him to just take the catch-and-shoot 3 in this type of situation.

This is not a terrible moment for the Kings. The numbers actually give them a level of internal optimism. They still rank sixth in the NBA in offensive rating (115.9) despite shooting inaccuracy that they believe will even out. They’re also a respectable 16th in defensive rating (112.6), but know tougher tests lie ahead.

Brown called their transition defense against the Hawks the worst he’s seen in his three seasons as the Sacramento head coach, but said he didn’t want to “panic” about it because they had generally been solid in that area this season.

Even without Monk, Sabonis and DeRozan, the Kings almost won that Hawks game. Fox, who went for 60 and 49 points in back-to-back nights recently, had a drive at the buzzer to win it but was stripped by Dyson Daniels. Narrow losses — including overtime losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Raptors — have dropped their record to 8-7 when the numbers might suggest they should have nine or 10 wins at this point.

Heavy minute totals for DeRozan and Sabonis may have led to the tight back leading to lost time. The Kings have four players (Fox, Murray, DeRozan, Sabonis) currently in the top 14 in minutes played per game. Brown said he’d like to scale them back to a maximum of 35 and said he feels like he’s getting a little more feel and confidence in his bench to allow that.

In strategic meetings, Brown’s staff likes to divide their season into five-game subsections. Through 15, they are 8-7. This stretch of necessary days off allowed for a reset. Their next five: at the Clippers, at home against the Nets and Thunder, at the Timberwolves, at the Blazers gives the Kings a fair chance to gain some traction.

(Photo by Keon Ellis, Mike Brown and De’Aaron Fox: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)