Emanuel Sharp didn’t take long to get a read on Sacramento’s crowd.
After just two Summer League games with the Kings, the rookie guard said the fan base has already shifted how he views the experience of playing in front of an NBA audience. The energy, he admitted, has been stronger than he expected.
“Yeah, it was amazing. Great feeling,” he said during his Summer League press conference.
“I don’t know why I keep underestimating these fans before I step out there on the court. But I’m familiar now.
Great, great fan base.”
Sharp, 22, has quickly become one of the more interesting young names on Sacramento’s Summer League roster. The 45th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft arrived after a four-year run at Houston, where he built a reputation as a high-IQ defender and elite shooter. In Sacramento, though, the immediate connection with the fans has stood out just as much as his skill set.
“I’m so happy that I’m here and get to play for them,” Sharp added. “Every time I step on there, I want to leave it all out there on the floor.”
He also singled out the way Sacramento supporters engage with the team during games, pointing to Dylan Cardwell as a specific example of what has caught his attention.
“Just seeing the way they interact with the team, especially with Dylan, it’s an inspiration,” Sharp said. “It makes you want to play hard.”
That mindset didn’t start in Summer League. It’s been part of Sharp’s basketball life for years.
He grew up around the game. His father, Derrick Sharp, played professionally in Israel for nearly two decades and became a legend with Maccabi Tel Aviv. His mother, Justine Ellison Sharp, also had a long professional career after starring at the University of Toronto.
That family background set a standard early.
“They always had standards,” Sharp recently said about his parents. “There’s nothing better than going through a career where both your parents have gone to the top level.”
Sharp also had to battle through a major setback before his senior year of high school, when he suffered a broken fibula and dislocated ankle in a leg injury that kept him out for nearly 18 months. He said coming back from that stretch changed how he sees challenges.
“Seeing myself overcome that, I kind of told myself I could overcome anything,” Sharp said.
He carried that resilience to Houston, where he developed into one of college basketball’s better guards. By his senior season, he had earned First-Team All-Big 12 and All-Defensive Team honors while emerging as one of the conference’s top perimeter shooters.
Now he’s trying to bring that same edge to Sacramento.
And based on his first few outings, the Kings’ crowd is already giving him a boost.
“I feel like they run the engine a little bit,” Sharp said about Sacramento supporters. “Love Sac fans.”
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