Darius Acuff Jr.‘s Frustration Level Reaches New High After Kings' 1-10 Start

Darius Acuff Jr.‘s frustration level reaches new high after Kings' 1-10 start originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO — The start of Darius Acuff’s NBA career hasn’t necessarily gone as he had hoped.

The Kings fell to 1-10 after losing to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night and still search for their first home win of the season.

It took seven games for Acuff to get a taste of his first NBA victory when the Kings defeated the Dallas Mavericks over a week ago. The Kings had a chance to carry over the momentum as they returned to Sacramento to open a seven-game homestand at Golden 1 Center.

But they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and, most recently, the Magic, to begin this home stretch 0-4.

The Lakers and Spurs games were scheduled losses, but it seems like the Kings had every opportunity to walk away with wins against a struggling Heat team and a lowly Magic squad, or at the very least go 1-3 in that stretch.

Instead, the Kings are one of the three teams in the NBA already with 10 losses on the season.

“1-10 just don’t sound right,” Acuff said postgame.

Acuff, who is known for his even-keeled, cool, calm and collected persona, visibly was frustrated after Tuesday’s loss.

So much so that he couldn’t even find the words to explain what’s gone wrong for the Kings so far this season. The 19-year-old was asked to identify the most frustrating part of these losses.

“When the clock says zero and we lost,” he responded. “I don’t understand. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do, man. I feel like we’re trying. Everybody as a whole. We’re just not coming out with the win. It’s just, I don’t know, man.”

The emotions stem from Acuff’s character and what he’s used to. And that doesn’t, and never has, included losing.

So this is foreign territory for a competitor like Acuff, who is making NBA history seemingly every night and joining the record books with basketball legends such as LeBron James and Michael Jordan, yet his only goal is to win games.

Eleven games into the season, all the losses already are taking a toll on the young point guard.

“A lot,” he said when asked how much of a toll the 1-10 start is taking on him. “I’m not a loser, so it’s not fun. But like I said, it’s an 82-game season, so hopefully something will shake.”

Acuff finished Tuesday’s loss with 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting, with four rebounds, six assists, four turnovers and two steals in 40 minutes.

So far this season, Acuff is averaging 26.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists in a league-high 37-plus minutes played per game.

It is early in the season, and the wins, although maybe not many, eventually will come for Acuff and the Kings. But after Tuesday’s loss, the rookie seemed to be on the verge of tired of hearing that without anything changing.

“I mean, yeah, we’ve been saying that for five games now, so it’s kind of hard to keep saying that without actually doing it,” Acuff said. “We just got to go out there and actually do it. We’re on the court playing. There’s nobody playing but ourselves. Like I said, we just got to get better as a team. And to answer your question, it’s just kind of the second half, it’s kind of frustrating. It’s like the first half we come out with energy, and then in the third quarter sometimes we don’t, and then we do. And then the fourth quarter, the last five minutes of a game, we just can’t put it together as a team.

“I think we’re trying. We’re talking as a staff, as a team. But like I said, when the clock hits zero, we just lose, and that’s the most frustrating part.”

The melancholy mood was the same when Zach LaVine approached the postgame podium. LaVine, who had five turnovers in Tuesday’s loss, said he’s “been in the league too damn long” to turn the ball over like he did.

But while LaVine also might have been disappointed with his team’s start to the season, the 13-year veteran guard offered his own perspective on the current state of the struggling Kings.

“I mean, there’s going to be outside people saying things. There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing,” LaVine said. “I think, for us, we got to try to stay together from the front office down. We all have the same record right now, and it’s us versus everybody else. So that’s how we have to look at it. We have to try to figure out as a unit how are we going to, you know, start putting together more games where we can give ourselves a chance to win. We’re trending in the right area.

“It feels a lot better out there. We’ve done a lot of better things, but we just got to clean up the small mistakes, myself included, to where we put together a full 48. I think then we get that satisfaction to where we win a game, and maybe we can start getting a couple more and more. The situation is what it is, but this is our job, and we have to figure out, at least as a vet myself, to keep guys uplifted, bring it each and every day, bring it in practice, regardless how you’re feeling, I think that’s just part of it. So I’m going to.”

The irritation was apparent in the locker room, too, as most players already had left the arena by the time the media was let in.

De’Andre Hunter did speak in the locker room postgame, and his words immediately matched his demeanor when asked where the frustration level is at right now.

“Very high,” he said, firmly.

He also didn’t sugarcoat his response when asked what the Kings need to clean up in order to turn a corner on the season.

“Everything,” he said. “Just not good enough.”

It isn’t necessarily a surprise that the Kings aren’t one of the top teams in the Western Conference, but this 1-10 start still feels worse than anyone could have imagined.

And judging by the players’ mood postgame Tuesday, the frustration level has reached an all-time high.

There is the possibility that these built-up emotions turn into motivation that the Kings could use to start winning games. And at this point, that really is all they can lean on.

“That’s all we have is motivation,” Hunter said. “With losing, you can’t really build any chemistry. No team camaraderie. But we just got motivation about the next game.”

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