Many of the great teams in the NBA have been defined by not only their ability to get to the free throw line but the high clip at which they knock down those shots. Over the last decade, the eventual NBA champion had always finished in the top portion of the league in both free throw shooting and free throw attempts. This season the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are one and two in both categories. The Sacramento Kings are no where near these teams.
The Kings are worst in the league at free throws attempted (16.9 per game), and they rank in the bottom three in free the percentage (72.4%). Those numbers aren’t just bad for this season; they would put Sacramento on pace for its worst free throw shooting season since 2010, when the Kings went 25-57.
This poor free throw shooting is actually costing Sacramento games. Out of the Kings’ 21 losses this season, six of them have been decided by a margin less than the amount of free throws they missed.
There doesn’t seem to be any Kings who are victimless in Sacramento’s poor free throw shooting epidemic. Out of players who’ve been active in the majority of games this season, Buddy Hield (90%) is the only King to be making better than 80.5% of attempts.
Several Kings players are experiencing career lows in free throw shooting. George Hill (career average 80.2%) is making just 76.5%, Kosta Koufos (career average 60.5%) is making just 45.2%, and Justin Jackson (averaged 74.8% during three years in college) is making only 63.6%.
This tweet from Sacramento’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 2nd is a common occurrence in many of the Kings’ games this season.
This isn’t to say that poor free throw shooting is the only reason the Kings are near the bottom of the league, but it is a glaring issue. If Sacramento is going to start moving with this young core towards the upper epsilon of teams, getting to the free throw line and then making most of those shots is something that has to be addressed.
