Zach LaVine

The surface had been scratched during his seven-game open in the Sacramento Kings’ black-and-purple threads. But, as evidenced by both teammates’ playful jeers and the game-by-game box scores, one question loomed steady over northern California: how far into the future was one of Zach LaVine’s trademark, Windy City-style offensive takeovers? As if spurred on by the aura of Sacramento’s vintage-themed court, LaVine raised Golden 1 Center’s decibel levels to 2002-like levels on February 24, 2025, starting with a rapid-fire pull-up triple to extend an already-formidable fourth quarter lead. Something past sizzling by then, Sactown’s recently-acquired All-Star returned just seconds later, pairing his teammate’s steal with a transition leak-out and ultimately, back-to-back “heat check” triples. By the time the smoke had settled on LaVine’s flame-throwing night of record-setting proportions, the box score had encouraged 42 points, three rebounds, and one steal, alongside double-take-worthy efficiency overall (16-of-19) and from deep (eight-of-nine). It left LaVine as a literal one-of-one, as he became NBA history’s first to ever produce multiple 40-point demonstrations on a 100-plus true shooting percentage.