@thesportsontap: Darius Acuff Jr. plays point guard for the Sacramento Kings. He is a rookie and he is still a teenager. On Saturday night he scored 38 points against Memphis and made nine three pointers, which tied the record for the most threes a rookie has ever made in one game. Earlier in the week he had 34 points and 14 assists against New Orleans. Three rookies in league history had ever gone for 34 points, 14 assists and six rebounds in a game. Michael Jordan, Trae Young and Steve Francis. He is averaging 26.3 points a game. His father is Darius Acuff Sr., who played point guard at Detroit Pershing and then at Eastern Kentucky, and who started something with his son that most parents would never think of. "I actually taught him how to do film, since fourth grade." Fourth grade. Nine years old, watching tape. His uncle is Rashad Phillips, who is 5 foot 8 and scored 2,319 points at Detroit Mercy, and who manages him now. Phillips was asked when he first noticed. "Since he was three or four years old, man." He remembers watching Acuff at about 10 against eighth graders. "I've never seen a 10-year-old like him." As a sophomore at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Acuff led that school to a state championship. Only one other sophomore has ever led a Detroit school to a state title. That was Chris Webber. Be straight about where all of this is landing, because the record is ugly. The Kings have lost all six of their games by an average of 19 points a night. A teenager is putting up 26 a game for a team that has not won yet. He turns 20 on November 16. And the thing his father gave him first was a habit. Sit down and watch the tape. He was in the fourth grade. #NBA #nbanews #nbabasketball #hoops #kings

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Monday 02 November 2026 17:29:36 GMT