Kings 2022 Offseason Blueprint

The Sacramento Kings have been one of the worst franchises of sports for almost the past decade. The last time the team made the playoffs or even won 40+ games in a season was 17 years ago in the 2005-2006 season. To put that in perspective, potential number 1 overall pick Chet Holmgren is just 3 years older than the Kings’ last playoff berth. The front office has botched pick after pick after pick and end up in the same spot they’re always in: bottom of the barrel. Sacramento traded for Pacers stretch forward Domantas Sabonis at the trade deadline to try and make a push for the play in tournament but ended the season with a 30-52 record, thus, adding another disappointing season in the books. With the hiring of former Warriors’ assistant head coach Mike Brown to take the helm to coach up stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, what can the Kings do to move forward and break their playoff drought?

Current Roster

The chart below shows the current state of the roster. It displays how many players the team have at each position. The players in the first row are the starters. Here’s the key to better understand who’s a free agent and who’s still under contract.

Key:

Unrestricted Free Agent

Restricted Free Agent

Player Option

Team Option

Salary Cap

The last article about the Chicago Bulls explains the terms used below. Salary cap is a set limit of money that teams have to sign players. The luxury tax is a second limit for teams over the cap, but for every dollar spent over the luxury tax, teams have to pay a tax. The mid-level exception is for teams over the cap but below the luxury tax and can be used to sign players for up to 4 years. The bi-annual exception is for teams under the luxury tax that didn’t use this the year before and can be used to sign players for up to 2 years. A trade exception is when a team renounces more salary than they received in a previous trade. Here’s an in-depth look at the Kings’ financial situation.

• -$34.8M in salary cap

• $10.2M mid-level exception

• $4M bi-annual exception

• $4M Tyrese Haliburton trade exception (expires Feb. 8th, 2023)

• $1.6M Marvin Bagley trade exception (expires Feb. 10th, 2023) 

Draft Picks

Sactown currently holds 3 draft picks: the fourth pick in the first round, and the 37th and 49th picks in the second. The franchise is clearly in a rebuilding stage but they’re trying to make the right moves to become a playoff team. It seems most likely that the Kings will draft a young guard at 4 unless they become enamored with a trade offer, but the team should try to get younger and develop a core for the future.

Key Players

When you’re rebuilding, the most important thing is to find that core to build around for longterm success. Listed below are the key and important players on the Kings. This does not include free agents.

In-House Free Agent Extensions

The Kings don’t have any players of prominence to bring back as they could make significant upgrades at shooting guard and center. They should however bring back Donte DiVincenzo to be their backup shooting guard. Sacramento acquired him from a trade with the Bucks and he’s been a solid role player up to this point in his career. The extension seems unlikely as DiVincenzo and his camp are rumored to be unhappy with the Kings. Reports came from his team saying that he believes the organization is limiting his free agency value by not giving him significant minutes, especially down the stretch of the season. The guard only started in 1 of 25 games for the Kings but he’s averaged 26.6 minutes per game with them. He might just be unhappy with the team, especially since he came from a championship team in Milwaukee. Besides this, the Kings shouldn’t feel the need to bring back any free agents.

Trade Assets

The Kings showed that they are willing to make big trades to better the team. Here are some other trade assets that the team could use in another trade.

• Harrison Barnes (29-30 years old, 1 yr/$18.3M left)

• Richaun Holmes (28-29 years old, 3 yr/$36M left with $12.8M player option in final year)

• Davion Mitchell (23-24 years old, 1 yr/$4.8M with 2 yr/$11.4M team option & $8.7M qualifying offer)?

• 37th pick

• 49th pick

Biggest Needs

The biggest needs and priorities for the Kings is wing help, defense, an upgrade at center, and depth. Sacramento ranked 27th in points allowed in the paint per game (51.3), 29th in points allowed per game (115.8), 28th in opponent field goal percentage (47.9%), 27th in defensive rating (115.3), and 24th in rebounds per game (51). Also with De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis being their two key players, they need help on the wing with 3 of their 7 wing players being unrestricted free agents, all of whom are shooting guards. Harrison Barnes is a good and starting quality small forward but is going on 30 and doesn’t fit the rebuild that Sacramento is going through. The Kings are in great position to draft a shooting guard at 4, so they can focus free agency on signing or trading for a small forward. Richaun Holmes is also a solid center but is going on 29 and the team could easily make an upgrade at center.

Potential Free Agents

Below is a list of potential free agents the team could sign. This list consists of players who would fit what the Kings are looking for based on skillset and affordability.

• T.J. Warren (SF, 28-29 yers old, Pacers)

• Derrick Jones (SF, 25 years old, Bulls)

• Josh Okogie (SF/SG, 23-24 years old, Timberwolves)

• Cody Martin (SF/SG, 26-27 years old, Hornets)

• Nicolas Claxton (C, 23 years old, Nets)

• Jusuf Nurkic (C, 27-28 years old, Trailblazers)

• Mo Bamba (C, 24 years old, Magic)

• Bol Bol (C, 22-23 years old, Magic)

• Mitchell Robinson (C, 24 years old, Knicks)

• Gary Harris (SG, 27-28 years old, Magic)

• Lonnie Walker (SG, 23-24 years old, Spurs)

Possible Trade Targets

Sacramento can develop a great core to make a playoff contender with drafting a young wing and making another trade for another star caliber player. Speculation around the league has people believing that the organization could trade the 4th pick to gain immediate help for a win now situation. Here are some players that Sactown could trade for to put the team in the right direction.

Potential Draft Prospects

With the 4th overall pick, we know who’s not going to be there: Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith, and Paolo Banchero. After the top 3, there’s a plethora of wings that the Kings could take. Let’s take a look at some possibilities at 4 and later with their second rounders.

• 4th overall:

  • Jaden Ivey (G, Sophomore, Purdue)

  • Bennedict Mathurin (SF/SG, Sophomore, Arizona)

  • Shaedon Sharpe (SG, Freshman, Kentucky)?

  • Keegan Murray (PF/SF, Sophomore, Iowa)

  • Johnny Davis (SG, Sophomore, Wisconsin)

• 37th and 49th overall:

  • Christian Koloko (PF, Junior, Arizona)

  • Isaiah Mobley (PF, Junior, USC)

  • Kofi Cockburn (C, Junior, Illinois)

The Sacramento Kings have some young pieces to build around in Fox, Sabonis, and Mitchell. In order to take the next step to become a play in or playoff team, they need to nail this draft and take the right 2 guard to pair with Fox in the backcourt. From there, they can make additional moves to launch this franchise back into relevancy soon.