SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The strangest stretch of the Sacramento Kings’ condensed early-season schedule came a couple weeks ago. They had a four-games-in-five-nights stretch that sent them from Sacramento to Utah to Atlanta to Toronto. The Hawks and Raptors road games were back-to-back, which wouldn’t have fatigued the Kings as much if they turned back toward California after the Toronto game, or at least didn’t retrace their flight path.

But they instead turned southeast again, flying from Toronto back over Atlanta and landing in Miami for the fourth game of a packed, logistically confusing road trip.

“I’m sure I’ve had (a crazier stretch),” 17-season veteran DeMar DeRozan said. “I played in a lockout year (when there were back-to-back-to-backs).”

Fast forward two weeks and an air of relaxation could be felt in the Kings’ Thursday afternoon practice. They opened their season with 15 games in 25 days. After a Monday loss to the Hawks — which DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk missed due to minor injuries — the Kings became the last team in the league to finally receive a multi-day break between games. They took Tuesday completely off, went live briefly Wednesday and had a light session on Thursday.

Through 15 games, the Kings have a slightly disappointing 8-7 record, considering the recent string of beatable opponents and narrow defeats. But it felt like a refreshed team with reinforcements on the way. DeRozan and Sabonis, who’ve missed the past couple games with back tightness, practiced in full and should return against the LA Clippers on Friday. Monk, who has missed a handful of games with a bad ankle sprain, is also on the precipice of a return, doubtful for Friday but not ruled out.

“Using this to reset, get a rhythm back shooting the ball,” DeRozan said. “Get everyone’s legs back under them.”

There’s a reason DeRozan specifically mentioned shooting. The Kings sit at 34 percent on 3s currently, ranked 24th in the league. They were dead last about a week ago and recently ticked up only because De’Aaron Fox has been scorching hot from everywhere and Keon Ellis made nine 3s in a game recently.

But the collective is still in a team-wide slump. Kevin Huerter, a career 38-percent shooter from deep, is at 31 percent and went 1 of 10 on 3s in a one-point loss to the Hawks. He’s been back nearly a month from his offseason shoulder surgery, missed a few games with an illness he said has swept through the team, but said he believes this time of rest and reset could allow him to generate a bit more consistency.

Monk was 12 of 43 from 3 before he sprained his ankle. Fox sat just below 30 percent before this recent hot streak blasted him up to 35 percent. But the biggest current shooting concern is Keegan Murray, the catch-and-shoot threat who set an NBA rookie record with 206 made 3s in his first season (at 41.1-percent accuracy). His percentage has fallen as his responsibilities have heightened.

Murray bulked up the last two seasons. He’s become a versatile defender who now often gets the toughest perimeter assignment. The Kings want him to test himself offensively with more off-the-dribble action and occasionally post him up against smaller defenders.

But opponents most fear Murray as a tall, quick-release catch-and-shoot weapon from out to nearly 30 feet in a half-court setting. That’s where he busted onto the scene as a rookie. It’s also where he is currently struggling.

“He’ll be fine, man,” DeRozan said. “We’re all going to have some point of the season where we have a slump, we have a struggle. It’s a matter of not letting it bleed over. We’re all going to have games where y’all gonna question some of us. It happens.”

Kings coach Mike Brown specifically mentioned a hesitant Murray possession from the fourth quarter of the Hawks loss. The ball was swung to him in the corner and the smaller Bogdan Bogdanović closed out late with his hands down. Murray had a clear window to fire up a barely contested corner 3. Instead he pump-faked, drove into traffic and threw up an off-balance missed fadeaway floater.

The Kings prefer he just takes the catch-and-shoot 3 in this type of situation.

This isn’t a dire moment for the Kings. The numbers actually deliver them a level of internal optimism. They’re still sixth in the NBA in offensive rating (115.9) despite shooting inaccuracy they believe will even out. They’re also a respectable 16th in defensive rating (112.6), but know stiffer tests are ahead.

Brown called their transition defense against the Hawks the worst he’d seen in his three seasons as Sacramento head coach, but said he wouldn’t “panic” about it because they’d generally been solid in that area this season.

Even without Monk, Sabonis and DeRozan, the Kings nearly won that Hawks game. Fox, who went for 60 and 49 points in back-to-back nights recently, had a drive at the buzzer to win it, but was stripped by Dyson Daniels. Narrow losses — including overtime defeats to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Raptors — have sunk their record to 8-7 when the numbers might suggest they should have nine or 10 wins by this point.

Heavy minute totals for DeRozan and Sabonis may have led to the back tightness that led to missed time. The Kings have four players (Fox, Murray, DeRozan, Sabonis) currently in the top 14 in minutes played per game. Brown said he’d like to scale them back to 35 maximum and said he feels like he’s getting a bit more of a feel and trust in his bench to allow for that.

In strategic meetings, Brown’s staff likes to split up their season into subsections of five games. Through 15, they are 8-7. This stretch of needed off-days allowed for a reset. Their next five: at Clippers, home against the Nets and Thunder, at Timberwolves, at Blazers, give the Kings a reasonable chance to gain some traction.

(Photo of Keon Ellis, Mike Brown and De’Aaron Fox: Rocky Widner / NBAE via Getty Images)

A Série A do Campeonato Brasileiro de 2025 terá a presença inédita do Mirassol e o retorno do Sport Club Recife e do Ceará. As três últimas vagas na elite do futebol nacional foram definidas com emoção de sobra na noite deste domingo (24). O líder Santos, que já garantira o acesso com duas rodadas de antecedência, selou o título de campeão da Série B esta noite, ao somar 68 pontos, seguido de Mirassol (67), Sport (66) e Ceará (64).

O gol da vitória: estamos na Série A! 🅰️❤️‍🔥 pic.twitter.com/ALlk5Fd24E

— Sport Club do Recife (@sportrecife) November 25, 2024

O maior placar da noite foi do Sport, que retorna à primeira divisão do futebol nacional após três anos na Segundona. O Leão entrou em campo na Ilha do Retiro ocupando a quinta posição na tabela, com 63 pontos, atrás do Ceará, com mesma pontuação, mas com 19 vitórias, uma a mais que o Leão.. Apesar da situação complicada, os donos da casa levaram a melhor: contra o já classificado Santos, por 2 a 1, com gols do atacante Lucas Lima – um deles de pênalti. Wendel Silva diminuiu para o Peixe. O placar poderia até ser maior para o Sport, não fosse o meio-campista Barletta desperdiçar uma penalidade aos 39 minutos da etapa final, defendida pelo goleiro Brazão.

VITÓRIA E ACESSO! No Maião, o @mirassolfc venceu o jogo e garantiu o acesso! Em 2025 o Leão vai jogar o @Brasileirao! ⬆️🦁🔥 pic.twitter.com/EKahLjmXIA

— Brasileirão Betnacional – Série B (@BrasileiraoB) November 25, 2024

O primeiro a balançar a rede nesta noite foi o Mirassol. Jogando em casa contra a Chapecoense (15ª colocada), o time do interior paulista abriu o placar com Yuri Castilho aos 15 minutos da primeira etapa.  Os paulistas administraram o resultado até o apito final e depois foi só comemoração com o acesso inédito na história do clube.

Paralelamente, dois times visitantes que precisavam vencer fora de casa – Novorizontino (3º) e Ceará (4º) – seguiam empatados sem gols na primeira etapa. O panorama favorecia o acesso da equipe paulista, que enfrentava o Goiás na Serrinha. No entanto, Paulo Baya marcou aos 37 minutos do segundo temo para o Esmeraldino e selou a vitória dos donos da casa, por 1 a 0,  impedindo o acesso do Novorizontino à Série A de 2025.

Silêncio… está passando no seu feed a SELFIE DO ACESSO! 🤳🏼 #ceArá pic.twitter.com/Op2dzMeL17

— Ceará Sporting Club (@CearaSC) November 25, 2024

O resultado na Serrinha favoreceu o Ceará a retornar à elite do futebol no ano que vem. O Vozão não saiu do 0 a 0 com o Guarani, último colocado na tabela, jogando no Brinco de Ouro, em Campinas. 

Além do Guarani, lanterna com apenas 33 pontos, outros três times foram rebaixados para a Série C de 2025: Brusque (19º), com 36 pontos; Ituano (18º) com 37 pontos; e Ponte Preta (17º), com 38 pontos. 

The youngest child of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr didn’t want Donald Trump to become the next president — but Dr Bernice King believes Trump’s inauguration taking place on the same day as the federal holiday honoring her father is a small win.

“I’m glad that if it was going to happen, it happened on the King holiday, because Dr King is still speaking to us,” she told The Independent. She sees the January 20 event as a wake-up call for the country and an opportunity to stand up to the incoming administration’s charged agenda items.

“We cannot retreat or recoil,” King said. “We have to commit ourselves to continuing the mission of protecting freedom, justice and democracy in the spirit of my father.”

King had been excited about the prospect of seeing Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Black and South Asian heritage, become the country’s first female president on MLK Day.

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She’d hoped the US would elect someone who embodied the values her father did. Not “someone who’s spewing hateful rhetoric, who’s not been very kind-hearted and whose policies are not humane in their approach,” as she described the president-elect.

She later added: “A Trump win could potentially set in motion a perilous and oppressive presidential administration that would undermine and deny the hard-fought battle for civil and human rights for which my parents and so many others sacrificed.”

Civil rights leaders like her are worried the incoming administration will attempt to scale back those rights. Trump has proposed a mass deportation plan, vowed to go after his enemies, and intends to implement discriminating federal policies against LGBTQIA+ people and people of color.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and NAACP have announced their commitment to fighting what may come next.

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“We are entering a new era of civil rights for better or worse,” Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP, said. “We have not seen an assault on civil rights like I believe is about to happen since the ‘50s, maybe even the ‘20s.”

The group is working to ensure Trump’s power does not go unchecked by bolstering its legal and lobbying teams. Griggs said he’s willing to give the president-elect a chance, but is concerned about some of his recent actions, like appointing former congressman Matt Gaetz as his pick for US attorney general. Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration on Thursday.

Under Trump, Griggs fears the Department of Justice’s civil rights division will be weaponized against minority groups.

“We have to be ready right now,” he said. “We are already having organizational meetings, both on the national level and the state level, to prepare the units for what’s about to happen.”

In a news release distributed the day after the election, the ACLU promised to defend against Trump’s deportation plan, provide counsel to whistleblowers and challenge any discriminatory policies and regressive plans on reproductive freedoms.

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King knows any pushback against the incoming administration will require the same level of dedication seen during her father’s movement, before the country had a Civil Rights Act or a Voting Rights Act.

In the weeks after the election, she’s been comforted by his famous words like, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred,” something he said while delivering the famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

“I know a lot of people are angry right now,” King told The Independent. “But we can’t let that rot in us.”

Thousands of protesters are expected to descend onto the streets of Washington DC ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

The “People’s March on Washington” is scheduled for January 18. A coalition of organizations, including the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the National Women’s Law Center, are planning the event to protest Trump’s stances that they fear will undermine civil rights.

On Inauguration Day, Al Sharpton’s National Action Network plans to hold a rally in the city.

“There has never been a more important time to peacefully mobilize and organize,” Sharpton said while announcing the event on MSNBC last week.

MLK Day has been celebrated on the third Monday in January since its establishment in 1983, while Inauguration Day has been set as January 20 since 1937. The late civil rights icon was assassinated in 1968.

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Griggs and King will spend the holiday attending events commemorating the late King’s legacy. As Trump takes the oath, Griggs wants the incoming president to consider the importance of the late icon in American history and not forget people in King Jr’s birthplace, Fulton County, are still waiting for an explanation on charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In August 2023, Trump was charged with racketeering and conspiracy for allegedly urging Georgia officials to sway the results in his favor. The case has been delayed after a December 5 hearing in the matter was canceled until further order from the court.

“It’s interesting,” Griggs said of the upcoming holiday. “The juxtaposition of a man of immense greatness, humility and concern for the community, with Donald Trump.”

Only two presidents have taken the oath on the holiday before: Barack Obama in 2013 and Bill Clinton in 1997. Obama used a Bible belonging to the civil rights leader in the ceremony.

The Independent emailed a Trump spokesperson asking whether the president-elect would incorporate King’s legacy into the ceremony but did not get a response.