Rookie Darius Acuff Jr. Is Chasing Michael Jordan's Pace as the Kings Sink to 1-10

Darius Acuff Jr. is doing something no NBA rookie has done since a young Michael Jordan took the floor in Chicago. He just has not been able to make it count in the standings.

The Sacramento Kings fell 107-100 to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night in Sacramento, dropping to 1-10 on the season. It was the Kings' fourth straight loss, and they are still looking for their first win at Golden 1 Center after six tries, according to Newsweek. ESPN reported that Sacramento sits last in the league, tied with Utah and Chicago for the NBA's worst record.

Acuff, the 19-year-old point guard the Kings took seventh overall out of Arkansas in June, scored 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting with six assists against Orlando, but he also committed four of the Kings' 20 turnovers, ESPN reported. Newsweek said he played 40 minutes and added four rebounds.

Through 11 games, Acuff is averaging 26.2 points and 7.3 assists. His 288 points are the most by a rookie through 11 games since Jordan scored 289 for the Bulls in 1984, according to ESPN. Bleacher Report noted that Oscar Robertson is the only rookie in league history to average at least 25 points and seven assists.

The volume is enormous. Acuff is taking 22.8 shots a game, tied for third in the league behind only Anthony Edwards and Luka Dončić, according to Bleacher Report, which noted that the shot count has drawn criticism. Newsweek reported he took at least 20 shots in each of his first 10 games, a stretch it said the league had not seen since 1983.

His veteran teammates are not complaining. Zach LaVine, who led the Kings with 31 points against Orlando, has defended the rookie's shot volume. "Darius is special," LaVine said, according to Newsweek. Bleacher Report added that Acuff and center Domantas Sabonis reportedly get along well despite early questions about how the two would fit together.

Outside Sacramento, the rookie race is taking notice. Heavy ranked Acuff third in its own Rookie of the Year rundown, behind Cam Boozer and Yaxel Lendeborg, and noted the Kings have not been fully healthy.

The record is the problem. Bleacher Report pointed out that 1-10 ties the worst 11-game start in franchise history, last seen in 1990-91, when that team went on to win 25 games. Sacramento went 22-60 last season, ranks in the bottom five in both offensive and defensive rating, and has lost seven of its 10 games this season by double digits.

Acuff did not dress it up. "I'm not a loser, so it's not fun," he said after the loss, as quoted by ESPN. He said the losing is weighing on him heavily and that the team has to clean up its mistakes and learn to close out games in the fourth quarter. Newsweek reported that he has talked about picking up a few lessons every game, including after a Nov. 8 loss to Miami, and that he told reporters the team has been repeating the same message for five games. LaVine, for his part, told reporters that everyone in the organization, from the front office down, owns the same record.

When a team starts 1-10, the conversation usually turns to draft lottery odds and next year. Sacramento fans have earned their impatience after last season's 22 wins. But the best thing about Acuff's start is not the scoring line. It is that he is angry about losing.

A 19-year-old on a struggling team could pad his numbers, collect a trophy in the spring and call it a successful season. Acuff is instead saying out loud that a 1-10 record does not sit right with him. That is character, and it is the kind of attitude that turns a rebuild into a winner. Scripture says suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope (Romans 5:3-4). A long winter in Sacramento will test all three.

The harder questions belong to the coaches and the front office. Is a young guard taking 22-plus shots a night the road to winning games, or just the road to big numbers? Can the Kings stop beating themselves with turnovers? Twenty giveaways against Orlando in a seven-point loss says plenty.

What to watch from here: the turnover column and the fourth quarter. If Acuff can turn 29-point nights into close wins, the Jordan comparisons will mean something real. Until then, they are a remarkable footnote on a team that has a lot of work ahead of it.