The Sacramento Kings have most of their starting five figured out. Darius Acuff Jr. and Zach LaVine are in the backcourt, while Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis hold down two frontcourt spots. That leaves one opening, and the choice comes down to De’Andre Hunter or Maxime Raynaud.
It’s the kind of decision that says a lot about what Sacramento wants to be. Go with Hunter, and the Kings lean into a wing-heavy look built around perimeter defense and spacing. Go with Raynaud, and they bet on size, offensive upside and the idea that he can fit next to Sabonis in a two-big setup.
Chris Watkins made his preference clear on "The Matt and Kayla Show" on Sactown Sports 1140. He wants Hunter in the lineup, and he sees a familiar template in the way the New York Knicks won their first NBA Finals in over 50 years.
“Keegan and De’Andre Hunter are your OG (Anunoby) and Mikal (Bridges),” Watkins said. “Obviously, there’s levels to it, but just using that as the one-for-one makes the most sense for how basketball is played.”
That logic starts with defense. Acuff is listed at 6-foot-3, and LaVine is not a great isolation defender, which leaves Sacramento vulnerable against quick, crafty scorers such as Anthony Edwards or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Putting Hunter on the floor gives the Kings another sturdy body on the perimeter, and at 6-foot-7 he has the strength to absorb contact and turn what looks like a clean drive into a contested shot.
The shooting question matters, though. Hunter struggled from deep last season, hitting just 30.5% of his threes, but that number stands out as an outlier when measured against the rest of his career. He has shot better than 35% from beyond the arc in seven of his first eight seasons.
Raynaud brings a different kind of appeal, but the fit is messier. He and Sabonis overlap in a lot of the same areas, especially as pick-and-roll operators, and Sabonis is clearly the more advanced playmaker after averaging 4.1 assists last season. A lineup with both bigs would give Sacramento a massive edge on the glass - the two combine for 18.9 rebounds statistically - but it also creates a spacing problem if one of them has to drift out to the perimeter.
That’s the part Sacramento still has to prove. Raynaud did experiment with the three in Las Vegas Summer League, going 2-for-5 in a blowout loss to the Washington Wizards, but the sample is tiny.
If the shot is real, the door stays open for him to start. The 7-foot Frenchman will get training camp and preseason to show he can stretch the floor and make the Sabonis pairing work.
For Doug Christie, the choice is hardly simple. Hunter is the proven veteran who already understands his role.
Raynaud is the younger player, fresh off an All-Rookie Second Team honor, with more room to grow. And with the NBA’s new “3-2-1” lottery reform making tanking less of a path, Sacramento has to be ready to win games and avoid finishing with a bottom-three record next season.
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