The Sacramento Kings made a strange choice in their latest loss to the Spurs, and it wasn’t the kind of move that made much sense on the surface.
With De'Andre Hunter out because of illness, Sacramento could have turned to one of the players already on the main roster who were waiting for minutes. Instead, the Kings started recent two-way addition Leaky Black at small forward. That decision stood out immediately.
This isn’t a knock on Black himself. The Kings made a smart move bringing him in, and he could still become a meaningful developmental piece for them if they handle his growth the right way.
That part matters. But the bigger issue is who Sacramento chose to play him over.
Black is a two-way player who has only been on the roster for a few weeks. The Kings passed over players on standard contracts who were also looking for opportunities, including Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban, and Daeqwon Plowden.
The minutes distribution made the decision look even more unusual. Black ended up playing nearly 40 minutes.
Karaban got more than 10 minutes off the bench, Clifford logged four and a half minutes in garbage time, and Plowden didn’t play at all after being a healthy scratch. It was the kind of rotation choice that didn’t just fail to swing the game - it also left other young players on the outside looking in.
That’s where the frustration around Sacramento starts to build. The Kings went after a first-round pick in the 2025 draft specifically to land Clifford, and they did the same thing in 2026 to secure Karaban. Yet both players have mostly been stuck in garbage-time roles this season, with Karaban’s heavier run in the second loss to the Spurs last night standing out as the exception.
From the start of the season, fans and pundits have been asking why Clifford and Karaban have barely seen the floor. Plowden has faced the same issue. These are young players the Kings clearly invested in, but the actual development plan has looked thin, at best.
That’s what makes this latest choice so hard to square. Last season, Sacramento used injuries as an opening to give Clifford real run alongside Dylan Cardwell and Maxime Raynaud.
Plowden, then a two-way player, also received more minutes. Those chances helped Cardwell and Plowden earn main roster contracts.
The Kings could be trying to do something similar with Black, and that’s fair enough. But last season’s situation was different: Sacramento had no real alternative.
This time, they do. And those other young players are still waiting for a real shot to grow.
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