Before Wednesday night’s season opener, Precious Achiuwa said the Sacramento Kings have to get Zach LaVine and Darius Acuff Jr. involved early, a sign that the team’s opening-night offense is already being shaped around players who were limited by injuries last season. The forward said the priority is simple: get the new and returning scorers moving from the start.
“We got to get Zach going early in the game. That’s number one priority,” Achiuwa said, adding, “We gotta get Darius going as well.” The Kings spent much of last season dealing with significant injuries to key players like Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and LaVine, and the shift back toward health is changing how the lineup is expected to function. With LaVine and Acuff in the picture, the early offense is not supposed to lean as heavily on one player carrying every possession.
That also changes Achiuwa’s job. Last season, he signed a veteran minimum deal and became a high-energy bench piece for Doug Christie, finishing with a career-best 10.1 points per game and 6.7 rebounds. He said his focus is not on padding his own scoring numbers. “For me, I don’t really care offensively,” he said. “It’s just my job here is to make these guys better…”
That line only goes so far, though. In the final game of the season, Achiuwa scored a game-high 27 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, and he averaged over 15 points per game in April for the second consecutive month. He also improved in nearly every category after the All-Star Break, which is part of why the Kings rewarded him with a two-year deal worth $11.2 million after the season. Doug Christie has said he is coachable, team-focused and willing to win, and Achiuwa now looks set to spend more of this season doing the gritty work that keeps the offense moving rather than trying to carry it.
The real test comes right away. If the Kings get the early spark they want from LaVine and Acuff, Achiuwa can slide back into a cleaner frontcourt role as one of the team’s top defenders and an anchor on the backline. If they do not, the burden will shift back toward the same group Sacramento is trying to protect, with Sabonis healthy and the Kings still trying to prove their reshuffled attack can start faster than it did a year ago.
