Watch extended highlights of Sacramento’s 108-102 loss to the Portland Trailblazers on February 6, 2025, at Moda Center.
Settling in with the Chicago Bulls, former Kings guard Kevin Huerter recently was brutally honest about his fit with Sacramento.
"Sacramento was a little up and down,” the seventh-year veteran told reporters Friday (h/t Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe). “I didn't really get much opportunity there the last couple months. The flow and the rhythm of the game, I think it was very choppy the past year-plus.
“The fact that we're going to play up and down here (in Chicago), the ball is going to move side to side, no one's really gonna dominate the ball and we're not going to run the same action over and over again -- it feels like it's a place that I should be a better fit in."
Huerter was a King since the 2022-23 season before being part of the blockbuster three-team trade that sent De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs and Zach LaVine to Sacramento. Huerter, known for his streaky sharpshooting, initially thrived with the “Beam Team” Kings that snapped the franchise’s 16-season NBA playoff drought in 2022-23 but struggled in California’s capital city ever since.
The 26-year-old made a career-high 40.2 percent of three-point shots in his first season with the Kings, but Huerter’s strong figure fell to 36.1 in 2023-24 and to an unplayable 30.2 in the current 2024-25 NBA season.
“I had a really good first year,” Huerter said. “[The Kings] changed a lot over the last two years and went away from some of the stuff we were doing the first year. Sometimes that happens.”
Largely due to Huerter’s career highs, Sacramento led the NBA in 2022-23 with a 118.6 offensive rating and 60.8 true shooting percentage, also making a fifth-best 13.8 triples per game. But those Kings are different than today’s Kings.
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Huerter cited the organization’s changes -- possibly hinting at Sacramento’s commitment to two-pointers with the offseason addition of DeMar DeRozan and the firing of coach Mike Brown, who Huerter peaked under -- as reasons for why things didn’t work in the end.
Nonetheless, Huerter’s game should be better suited in Chicago than in Sacramento.
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“The first two games, getting to sit and watch and see what they’re about, I’m really excited,” Huerter said about joining the Bulls. “They move the ball. They play side-to-side. They want to play fast, get up 3s.
“That fits me.”
The Bulls are third in the NBA with 835 made triples and have attempted a second-highest 2,237 attempts, making an eighth-best 37.3 percent. Conversely, the Kings are 23rd in made triples with 628 and have attempted a ninth-lowest 1,816, making a fifth-worst 34.6 percent; though, the sharpshooting LaVine ideally will drastically improve Sacramento’s 3-point statistics as he stacks games.
On paper, Huerter should bounce back in the Windy City. But then again, Sacramento once looked to be his long-term home, too.
Regardless, Huerter was pretty rough in his assessment of his Kings (25-26) fit and seems to be animated about a change of scenery. The Bulls (22-30) certainly hope he returns to the 37.5 career 3-point shooter he is.
