KINGS’ BOGDANOVIC PROVIDES SPARK
SACRAMENTO — The Kings had lost six in a row when coach Luke Walton moved Bogdan Bogdanovic into the starting lineup in place of Buddy Hield, the Bahamian sharpshooter who signed a four-year, $86 million contract extension in October. The move was somewhat risky given that Hield has been known to speak his mind on other matters, but the results so far have been encouraging.
The Kings beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-109 on Monday night at Golden 1 Center, improving to 4-2 since Walton made the lineup change. Bogdanovic has paired well with De’Aaron Fox in the starting lineup and Hield has rediscovered his stroke as the second unit’s primary scorer.
“One of the things I love about Buddy is his desire to just go nonstop, and it seems like it’s easier as a group to kind of channel that right now with that second group,” Walton said. “With the first group, a lot of what we’re trying to do is De’Aaron Fox, and we need more guys who are just going to hold space and run the offense mainly through De’Aaron. When Buddy comes in so far with the second group, we start calling most plays for him instantly when he comes on the court, and then if he’s having one of those brilliant shooting nights,we just keep going with it.”
Walton has repeatedly said his decision to bring Hield off the bench is not “punishment” and isn’t “permanent,” but Fox, Bogdanovic and Hield all seem to be benefiting from the change. Fox scored 31 points to lead the Kings (19-31) over the Timberwolves (1534) after pouring in a career-high 34 points in Thursday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bogdanovic scored 23 points against Minnesota with masterful efficiency, needing only seven field-goal attempts. He finished 5 of 7 from the field, 4 of 5 from 3-point range and 9 of 11 from the free-throw line.
Hield added 16 points, one of the quieter nights he’s had since moving into a backup role. He had a career-high 42 to lead a historic comeback against the Timberwolves on Jan. 27 in Minnesota, his second game off the bench.
Over these last six games, he has averaged 22.2 points while shooting 52.2% from the field and 48.4% from 3-point range. Those numbers are up from his season averages of 20.3 points on 42.7-percent shooting from the field and 37.6-percent shooting from beyond the arc.
“Buddy’s been great,” Walton said. “... He’s done a really nice job of embracing that and helping the team get better as somebody we can look for and that group can really lean on to provide a scoring punch.”
Bogdanovic started at shooting guard for the Kings in 2017-18 while Hield came off the bench. Hield won the job in 2018-19 after Bogdanovic missed the start of the season due to injury.
“We can both play both spots,” Bogdanovic said. “That doesn’t matter, honestly. He’s better as a scorer. I’m better as a playmaker, so maybe for our team it’s better right now, but we still have to figure out how to win on next level.”
Fox said it’s good to see both of his teammates thriving.
“I just think they’re both playing at a high level,” Fox said. “No one put their head down when the roles were reversed. They’ve just come ready to play. Buddy’s been a great spark for us off the bench. I think that’s all there is to it. Everybody’s playing well right now and we’re just trying to keep that up.”