With training camp just about two weeks out, the Sacramento Kings still sit in a cloud of uncertainty. Plenty of people are already penciling them in near the bottom of the NBA, but that kind of gloom may be selling this group short.
The loudest prediction floating around is that the Kings won’t get past 25 wins, with a lot of projections landing near the 20-win range. That’s not the bar I’d set. Sacramento is coming off a 22-60 season, its second-worst mark in the Sacramento era, and even with all the noise around the roster, there’s reason to think this team can climb well beyond that.
A jump of 13 wins or more is on the table. With Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Darius Acuff Jr., and Keegan Murray in the mix, the Kings have more talent than the consensus seems willing to credit.
Sabonis by himself gives them a floor that starts at 25 wins, and if health cooperates, 30-plus wins feels realistic. A finish closer to 35-47 is in play, too.
That kind of season would also matter in a different way under the NBA’s new lottery rules, which punish bottom-three finishes. A 35-win team could still land in a strong spot for a top pick without living in the league’s basement.
Part of the optimism comes from the rookie the Kings made their own with the seventh pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Darius Acuff Jr. was the player they wanted, and he enters as Sacramento’s hopeful franchise point guard. The 19-year-old may need time to adjust, but he should already be one of the better rookies in the league.
Rookie of the Year is a steep climb, but Acuff Jr. could finish in the top three of the voting. That would mean beating out two of AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson.
His college résumé gives the case some real weight. As a freshman at Arkansas, Acuff Jr. averaged 23.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 44.0% from beyond the arc. He also became just the second player in SEC history to lead the conference in points and assists.
In Sacramento, the ball should be in his hands plenty. As the lead guard, Acuff Jr. has every chance to make noise right away, and a rookie line in the neighborhood of 20+ points and 5+ assists per game would put him squarely in the ROTY conversation.
The other big storyline hanging over this season is the future of LaVine and Sabonis. Since the 2025-26 trade deadline, there has been steady talk about the Kings potentially moving one or both, and it’s become obvious the team doesn’t have a long-term plan built around either player.
Still, that situation may not resolve itself until the 2027 offseason. There’s an expectation that at least one could be traded before next February’s deadline, but the pressure to make a move right now does not seem as intense as it once did. Unless the Kings are buried in last place in the West and one of those stars is boosting his trade value in a way that changes everything, they look likely to stay put.
LaVine is set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, while Sabonis has two years remaining on his contract. With that in mind, Sacramento has no real incentive to force a deal before the deadline unless the return is right.
The more likely path is that the Kings ride out LaVine’s final season and then take another swing at moving Sabonis next offseason, when he would be on an expiring deal.
In Other News...
Kings Are Signaling Doug Christies Vision With Two Staff Moves
The Kings have continued to reshape Doug Christies staff, adding Brendan Suhr and Jason Maxiell as assistant coaches to bolster the bench around their new head coach. Suhr arrives with more than 25 years of coaching and executive experience across the NBA and college basketball, giving Sacramento a seasoned voice with a long track record in the game.
Maxiells promotion from the Kings G League affiliate adds a different layer, bringing a former nine-season NBA player into a bigger role after he had already been in the organizations development pipeline. Together, the hires suggest Christie is leaning into a staff built on both experience and internal continuity, with Sacramento clearly working to strengthen the coaching personnel behind the scenes. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Rebuild Depends On Fixing An Offense Problem That Starts At The Rim
The Kings spent much of last season fighting uphill on offense, and the numbers told an obvious story. Sacramento finished with just 22 wins and sat near the bottom of the league in several key scoring categories, including three-point shooting and attempts at the rim. The encouraging part was what happened when the ball actually got into the restricted area, where the Kings shot well enough to hint at a cleaner offensive base than the overall results suggested.
The bigger issue was simply getting there often enough, something the team missed when Domantas Sabonis was out of the lineup after leading Sacramento in restricted-area attempts. As the rebuild moves forward, the front office is clearly hoping a mix of added interior size and shooting can change that profile, with Darius Acuff Jr. joining rookies Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell as part of the effort to create more balance around the paint and beyond the arc. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Buzz Around Jalen Duren Suddenly Feels Worth Watching
The Kings front office has spent plenty of time looking for ways to reshape the roster around Domantas Sabonis, and the latest chatter points to a name that would instantly change the conversation. Jalen Duren, fresh off an All-NBA Third Team selection, has surfaced as a potential Sacramento target, giving the idea more credibility than the usual offseason rumor mill. The reported connection is not just about fit on paper, either, with Duren said to have interest in landing in Sacramento and a relationship already in place with general manager Scott Perry.
There have also been whispers tying Duren and Sabonis together in possible trade discussions, which is exactly the kind of wrinkle that makes this worth monitoring even before anything concrete develops. For now, nothing official has been confirmed, and that keeps the whole situation in the speculative stage. Still, when a player with Durens profile is linked to Sacramento, and the Kings own top decision-maker is part of the equation, it is a storyline that suddenly feels a lot more real than background noise. [Read more 🡒]