Maxime Raynaud already looked like a useful piece for the Sacramento Kings last season. Now, after photos from his recent run with the French National Team, he looks like he spent the offseason turning that frame into something even more imposing.
The seven-footer posted images from his time in France, and the message was pretty clear: Raynaud has added muscle and appears more settled than ever on the floor. For a player who was already making real noise as a rookie, that’s an encouraging sight for Sacramento.
Raynaud’s rise last season was one of the more impressive developments on the Kings’ roster. The French center was taken in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft with the 42nd overall pick, a spot plenty of teams passed over.
Scott Perry took the swing, and it paid off quickly. Raynaud climbed from the bench to regular minutes and eventually into the starting center role.
That progression wasn’t subtle. His confidence grew, his game sharpened, and by the end of the season he had become one of the top rookies in the league. For the Kings, that kind of jump from a second-round pick is a massive win.
It also leaves Sacramento in an interesting place at center. The question now is whether Raynaud or Domantas Sabonis should be starting there. The answer, at least in this telling, is simple: Raynaud is the permanent starter, with Sabonis moving to power forward.
The offseason work only adds to that case. Raynaud missed the California Classic, where the Kings went undefeated, because he had prior committments to the French National Team. Fans in the United States didn’t get to see him in that setting, but the photos he shared from France did the talking.
He looked stronger. He looked more confident. And for a Kings team that has already seen him grow from a reserve into a starter, that’s exactly the kind of development they wanted to see.
Raynaud even had to deal with Victor Wembanyama last season and came up a little short. If this version of Raynaud is the one Sacramento gets next, that matchup could look a lot different. For the Kings, a bigger and badder Mad Max is a very good problem to have.
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One Sacramento rookie, the No. 45 pick, led the way with a game-high 21 points while adding defensive disruption and taking care of the ball, a useful sign for a player trying to carve out a role quickly. The Kings also had another summer league performance worth noting in a separate win over Orlando, where a different young player filled the box score with scoring, rebounding and rim protection, giving the front office a little more to track as the summer rolls on. [Read more 🡒]