Skal Labissiere hits game-winner in Kings win over Knicks

Skal Labissiere came up huge for the Kings last night for a win.

The Kings’ second-year forward had made just 10 3-pointers all season, but he drilled one with 1.6 seconds remaining to give the Kings a 102-99 victory over the Knicks on Sunday.

The Kings have not done much of that this season, and it is one of the few bright spots in what I thought would be a breakout season for Labissiere.

The second-year forward ended his rookie season playing some good basketball for a Kings team with nothing to play for. The Kings decided to try and win this season by signing some veterans in the off-season to bolster the young players already on their roster.

What they ended up doing was robbing players like Skal of getting the chance to play. Skal has appeared in more games than his rookie season, but he is still under 20 minutes per game for the season. Looking at the Kings roster, there are not too many players that should play ahead of him.

The Kings as a franchise are a mess. Unfortunately, Skal and other young players are going to feel the brunt of the Kings’ ineptitude. Hopefully, the rest of the season will be a chance for Skal to get more minutes and some consistency. He is a big with great athleticism and nice touch. He will turn 22 in March and you have to give players like him a chance to develop.

He has only played more than 30 minutes four times this season and three of those have come in the last six games. Skal’s minutes should continue to go up for the remainder of the season and it could be a nice audition to prove to the Kings that he is their guy going forward.

However, with the Kings’ front office involved they will more than likely draft another player at his position or sign an aging veteran in the off-season.