Dylan Cardwell #32 of the Sacramento Kings celebrates against the Los Angeles Clippers in the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center on February 06, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

SACRAMENTO–Losers of 10 straight games coming into Friday, the Sacramento Kings played host to the Los Angeles Clippers at 7 p.m. PST. The Kings fell to the Clippers 114-111 on Saturday night.

In the first quarter, neither team’s starters did much to begin the game. The Kings and Clippers were tied at 14 with just over three minutes left to go in the quarter before the Kings bench lit the spark to go on a run to end the quarter. Malik Monk came in and scored nine points in the quarter to lead the bench unit to outscoring the Clippers bench 15-5. With the help of the bench, the Kings outscored the Clippers 27-17 to take the early lead in the game. The Clippers didn’t take very good care of the ball in the first quarter as they committed six turnovers that led to seven Kings points.

In the second quarter, the Clippers got back the deficit they lost in the first quarter. The Clippers’ offense picked up its production in the second quarter as they outscored the Kings 31-22. However, the Kings maintained the 49-48 lead going into halftime. John Collins led the resurgence for the Clippers with eight points for the club in the second quarter alone, as Kawhi Leonard added six for LA. Dylan Cardwell led the scoring in the second quarter for the Kings as he finished the frame with six points.

In the third quarter, the Kings and Clippers mainly traded baskets as the Clippers outscored the Kings again, this time 31-28, to head to the fourth quarter leading 79-77. Neither team had seized control of the game up until this point, and it was anyone’s for the taking in the fourth quarter. The Kings’ leading scorer through the first three quarters of action was Malik Monk with 15 points. Kawhi Leonard paced the Clippers through three with 24 points.

In the fourth quarter, the Kings ran out of steam against the Clippers. Led by Kawhi Leonard’s seven points in the quarter, the Clippers outscored the Kings 35-34 to defeat Sacramento 114-111. Leonard led all scorers in the game with 31 points in the contest as the Clippers improved to 24-27 on the season. Dylan Cardwell led the way for the Kings with 14 points and 14 rebounds in the losing effort as the Kings lost their 11th straight to fall to 12-41 on the year. Malik Monk and Nique Clifford added the best scoring efforts for the Kings in the game as they scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, for the Kings.

After the game, Doug Christie spoke on the growing pains of playing young guys as a team out of playoff contention.

“Yeah, times like this get tough. You can look back at all the different things, and there’ve been a lot of them, but we don’t — I don’t come in and make excuses,” Doug said after the game. “… We begin to grow, and that’s what we want to do in the last 31. We want to make sure that we are growing and building a swell and the momentum that takes us into the offseason.”

The Kings will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers and host the return of Keon Ellis since his trade away from the Kings on Saturday at 7 p.m. PST inside Golden 1 Center.