Suns’ skid reaches 14
Bagley has 32 points to help Kings hand Phoenix 14th straight loss
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Marvin Bagley III was more than a little excited playing against Phoenix for the first time. The Sacramento rookie grew up in Tempe, Arizona, and was briefly high school teammates with the Suns’ Deandre Ayton.
Phoenix passed over Bagley with the No. 1 overall pick in last summer’s draft, taking Ayton instead. Bagley fell to the Kings at No. 2 — a little added motivation there, too.
Bagley had another strong game off the bench with a career-high 32 points and six rebounds, and Sacramento beat Phoenix 117-104 on Sunday to hand the Suns their 14th straight loss.
“I love playing against the Suns,” said Bagley, who missed the Kings first
two games against Phoenix due to a knee injury. “It’s fun playing against Deandre, the whole organization, everybody involved. I got to meet them when I went there for my pre-draft work and I met a few of those guys. So it was good competing against them.”
Buddy Hield scored 18 points, De’Aaron Fox had 17 points and nine assists, and Nemanja Bjelica added 10 points and eight rebounds to help Sacramento to its fifth win in six games.
The Kings inched closer to ending the longest current playoff drought in the NBA. Sacramento, which last made the postseason in 2005-06, pulled within a half-game of the idle Los Angeles Clippers for the final playoff spot in the West.
It’s also the fastest the Kings (30-26) have reached 30 wins since 2004-05 when they did it in 43 games.
Devin Booker had 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists in his return from injury for Phoenix. Ayton added 16 points and nine rebounds.
The Suns’ losing streak is one shy of its franchise record of 15 set last season. They’ll try to avoid matching that dubious mark Wednesday against the Clippers.