Wednesday brought a little bit of everything to Sacramento: new laws, a loud labor rally at the Capitol, and another round of roster moves for the Kings.
On the statehouse side, 10 new California laws took effect July 1. One of the biggest changes is a gas tax bump of 2.2 cents per gallon under Senate Bill 1, which pushes the excise tax to 63.4 cents. The new laws also cover self-driving car citations, school cellphone bans, all-gender restrooms and standardized food date labels.
The Capitol was also the scene of a major protest from state workers and union employees. More than 2,500 of them rallied on the first day of Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order. SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls said the Newsom administration turned down the union’s telework and pay proposals, and that the only offer on the table was a previously negotiated 3% salary increase in 2027 instead of the union’s requested 20% raise.
Over at the Kings, the team continued filling out its roster by agreeing to sign former Toronto Raptors forward Jonathan Mogbo to a two-way contract. Mogbo, 24, was the 31st overall pick in the 2024 draft and posted 6.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20 minutes per game across 63 games as a rookie in Toronto.
Sacramento is also signing guard Adam Flagler to a two-way deal. The 26-year-old shooting guard spent two years in the Oklahoma City Thunder organization, picked up an NBA championship ring in 2025 and then played for the Austin Spurs last season.
In Other News...
Kings Seem Ready To Move On From Two More Veterans
The Kings have already spent part of the free-agent period reshaping the back end of the roster, dealing Devin Carter in a salary-dump move and picking up the second-year team option on Killian Hayes. Those decisions have given Sacramento some flexibility as it continues sorting through the rest of the depth chart, especially with the front office still looking at a handful of available names to see which fits best around the current group.
Drew Eubanks and Doug McDermott appear to be the next veterans on the way out of the picture, even though nothing has been formally announced yet. Sacramento is still weighing other free agents such as Precious Achiuwa, Daeqwon Plowden and Russell Westbrook, with Achiuwa and Plowden emerging as priorities as the Kings try to keep the roster moving toward a cleaner fit and a little more balance. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks Explored A Franchise Shifting Move After Giannis News
DeMar DeRozans situation is now one of the more watchable roster questions on Sacramentos summer board, especially as the Kings continue weighing whether theres a workable trade path or whether they have to take a more drastic route. Salary cap limits make a clean deal tough to engineer, and around the league, teams are still sifting through fluid conversations on a few fronts, from Dorian Finney-Smith to possible multi-team constructions involving Marcus Sasser, Isaiah Stewart and others.
For the Kings, the timing matters because the front office is still trying to sort out how to move on without creating a bigger financial mess down the line. If a trade never materializes, waiving DeRozan remains the most realistic escape hatch, but the bigger picture is the same one hanging over several teams right now: the market is active, the ideas are layered, and some of the leagues most ambitious roster talks are still at the stage where interest has not yet turned into action. [Read more 🡒]