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Skal Labissiere emerges from the depth chart, gives Kings fans a reason to love again

ben rohrbach
Senior NBA writer

Skal Labissiere was once considered the top high school talent in the country, unseating Ben Simmons from the No. 1 spot in some prognostications, but his draft stock plummeted during a disappointing freshman season at the University of Kentucky. Still, he declared for the NBA Draft, and after sliding to the bottom of the first round, the Sacramento Kings finally took him off the board with the 28th pick.

Technically, Phoenix drafted Skal, but the Suns already had a deal in place to send pick Nos. 13 and 28 to Sacramento for No. 8, which means even the Kings passed on the Haitian big man earlier in the first round. So, when Labissiere scored 21 points in Wednesday’s fourth quarter against the Suns on his way to 32 points, 11 rebounds and his first career double-double, it took a lot of folks by surprise.

Except for Skal, who always knew he had this in him.

“I’ve been working,” Labissiere told reporters, via the Sacramento Bee’s Jason Jones, after a 107-101 win over the Suns. “Ever since I set foot in Sacramento, I started working. I wasn’t surprised at all. I’m looking forward to the future. I take it game-by-game … watch a lot of film, spend a lot of time in the gym. I wasn’t surprised at all.”

And maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, you don’t get to be the top high school player in the country by accident. The list of No. 1 prep prospects may not always be headlined by an Andrew Wiggins or Anthony Davis, but they’re rarely complete busts. (The jury’s still out on Emmanuel Mudiay.)

Still, Labissiere was either inactive or a DNP-CD in 49 of Sacramento’s 57 games entering the All-Star break. He averaged 2.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in all of 6.5 minutes over those first eight appearances, stuck behind DeMarcus Cousins, Kosta Koufos and Willie Cauley-Stein on the frontcourt depth chart.

So, if you say Wednesday night’s performance coming, you might be from the future.

Skal Labissiere had his day on court. (AP)
Skal Labissiere had his day on court. (AP)

Granted, Skal’s production had increased along with his minutes after Sacramento traded Cousins. The 20-year-old averaged a respectable 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds in 15.6 minutes a night over his first 10 games after the All-Star break, but he still hadn’t eclipsed more than 15 points in any one outing.

Then, Labissiere scored more than that — from everywhere on the court — over a span of 5:02 in the fourth quarter against the Suns. His first career 3-pointer, with 6:21 remaining, capped a string of 16 straight points that turned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead and a second straight victory.

Remarkably, Labissiere’s 32 points made him the first member of the Class of 2016 to score 30 or more points this season, which has to feel like redemption for a kid who was passed over 27 times in the first round. So incredible was his effort that he joined a list of 11 other players to up 32 and 11 at age 20 or younger: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Lamar Odom, Amar’e Stoudemire, Karl-Anthony Towns, Antoine Walker and Chris Webber.

Not bad company.

Let’s not send Skal to Springfield just yet, but Wednesday’s output was an encouraging sign for Kings fans who felt their team was fleeced again in the Cousins trade. Combined with Cauley-Stein, who added 14 points and 11 rebounds against the Suns and is averaging 14 and seven since the All-Star break, Sacramento appears to already have a formidable frontcourt of the future on the roster.