Jordan Poole and the Wizards pull off rare win with victory over the Kings

By Canadian Press on April 2, 2025.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jordan Poole scored 23 points and the Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings 116-111 Wednesday night to split the season series between the teams.

Bub Carrington and AJ Johnson each added 19 points for the Wizards, who entered Wednesday tied with Utah for the fewest wins in the NBA with 16. Tristan Vukcevic had 17 and Anthony Gill added 10.

DeMar DeRozan scored 20 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter trying to rally the Kings from a 14-point deficit after three quarters. The Kings outscored the Wizards 34-25 in the fourth, but never got closer than 111-109 inside the final minute.

Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Kings. Keegan Murray and Zach LaVine had 18 apiece.

Takeaways

Kings: They have lost three straight to start a six-game road swing that is their last of the season. The Kings needed this win trying to hold onto a spot for the play-in tournament. Sacramento came in at No. 10 with only two games left against teams either eliminated already or below the Kings in the Western Conference standings.

Wizards: They snapped a three-game skid to improve to 8-30 at home this season, which still is the fewest home wins in the NBA this season.

Key moment

JT Thor made one basket when it mattered most. DeRozan had scored 18 points to pull the Kings to 111-109 with 55.6 seconds left. Thor, called up from the G League earlier Wednesday and playing his 16th game with the Wizards, made a 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining. DeRozan missed a short layup, and Carrington added two free throws with 28.2 seconds to go.

Key stat

The Wizards made 17 of 43 3-pointers while the Kings struggled outside the arc, making only 10 of 39.

Up next

Sacramento visits Charlotte on Friday night. Washington wraps up a homestand Thursday night agsinst Orlando.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The Associated Press