With the 2026 NBA Draft in the rearview, Sacramento’s roster picture got crowded in a hurry - and Devin Carter ended up as the odd man out.
The Kings went into the draft with a clear mission: find a new lead guard. They did exactly that by taking Darius Acuff Jr. with the No. 7 pick. Acuff still has work to do on the defensive end, but Sacramento clearly sees him as the real point guard answer it needed.
Then came another guard addition in the second round, when the Kings grabbed Emanuel Sharp out of Houston. Sharp is expected to spend more time in the G League early on than Acuff, but he brings real upside as wing depth. Sacramento also gets a player who fits the 3&D mold, and that’s an area the roster badly needs.
The problem for Carter is that Acuff and Sharp both add to a guard group that was already overflowing. Sacramento’s backcourt and perimeter mix now includes Russell Westbrook, Nique Clifford, Malik Monk, Killian Hayes, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Isaiah Stevens, and Daeqwon Plowden. That is a massive logjam, and Carter was the first one pushed toward the door.
He also hadn’t done enough to force the issue in his favor. Carter never quite matched the expectations Sacramento had when it drafted him, and his production had only ticked up modestly over two seasons.
The Kings were carrying 21 players right after the draft, while NBA teams are limited to 15 standard roster spots plus three two-way contracts. That left Sacramento with no choice but to start trimming.
Carter’s exit was the first move, and it makes sense given how the roster is being reshaped. He can still be developed into a solid backup point guard, but that opportunity now belongs to the Atlanta Hawks.
There is some context to Carter’s struggle in Sacramento. The Kings did not handle his first season of development especially well, and they only began taking it seriously late in his second year.
By then, though, the window had already closed. With the draft changing the direction of the team, moving Carter was the inevitable call.
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