NBA Cup play will conclude for the Sacramento Kings and the Utah Jazz on Friday in Salt Lake City, each looking to break through for a win in West Group A.
Both teams own 0-3 marks in Cup action, having lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves. Sacramento and Utah are eliminated from the possibility of advancing to the knockout round.
The Jazz are hoping to end a four-game skid, the team’s third slump of at least three consecutive losses since starting the season 2-1. A 134-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday in San Francisco marked Utah’s third time allowing at least 134 points in the past four contests.
The Jazz rank second to last in the league in scoring defense, surrendering 125.5 points per game. They have allowed an average of 133 points in their three NBA Cup outings.
Despite the team’s struggles a little more than a month into the 2025-26 regular, Utah CEO Danny Ainge praised its progress during an appearance on KSL Sports on Wednesday.
“Will (Hardy, the head coach,) is doing a really good job with the guys,” Ainge said. “I feel like they’re playing hard, and he’s trying to experiment and figure out which lineups are going to work to accentuate our best players.”
Hardy has started nine different players — though the loss of center Walker Kessler for the season to shoulder surgery has necessitated some of the Jazz’s lineup shuffling.
The key contributors thus far have been Lauri Markkanen, who is averaging 28.5 points per game, and Keyonte George. In his third NBA season, George is having a breakout campaign thus far, averaging 23.4 points, 7.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game — all career highs.
George has scored 20-plus points in the last five outings, including a 33-point effort in a double-overtime win at Chicago and a 34-point outing against the Los Angeles Lakers. He has also recorded a pair of double-doubles on the season, including an 18-point, 10-assist performance in Utah’s previous meeting with Sacramento on Oct. 24.
The Kings earned a 105-104 decision in that contest, countering Markkanen’s 33 points with 31 from Zach LaVine.
LaVine leads the Kings in scoring at 20.1 points per game, but he has slowed significantly from a red-hot start. He scored 30-plus points in five of Sacramento’s first six games, but he has not scored more than 26 in the last 11 appearances.
LaVine has been held to single-digits scoring four times since Nov. 7, and he is coming off a 13-point game on 5-of-14 shooting in a 112-100 home loss to Phoenix on Wednesday. The two-time All-Star shot 1-for-6 from 3-point range for a third consecutive game — though the Kings won the first two in that stretch.
Sacramento’s 128-123 victory over Denver on Saturday and 117-112 overtime win against Minnesota on Monday gave the Kings their only consecutive triumphs of the season. Before those contests, they had lost eight in a row.
Keegan Murray, who missed the first month due to injury, has averaged 21.3 points in the past three games since stepping into Sacramento’s starting lineup. Murray’s presence comes at a critical time for the Kings’ frontcourt with All-NBA forward Domantas Sabonis sidelined at least another two weeks due to torn meniscus.
With Murray’s return, Sacramento is trying to mold an identity that the forward described following the Wednesday loss.
“I don’t think we’re showing it right now,” he said. “You saw it more in the Minnesota and Denver games, but we want to disrupt teams, play fast, be the aggressor, have the other team be on their heels.”
