The Sacramento Kings have a habit of stumbling into useful young players and then not quite knowing what to do with them. Jonathan Mogbo looks like the latest test case.
Sacramento grabbed Mogbo after Toronto waived him over the offseason, and the move quickly started to look like a win. The Kings gave him a two-way contract, brought him through Summer League, and then watched him carry that momentum into the preseason. He turned enough heads along the way to keep the front office interested.
But once the regular season began, the minutes got harder to come by. Doug Christie has leaned heavily on his veterans and the players he sees as starters, and that has left Mogbo parked on the bench more often than not. Rookie Darius Acuff Jr. has also been part of that mix, and he is basically the only point guard on the roster.
That setup is understandable, but it is also the kind of thing Sacramento has to be careful not to overdo. The Kings are dealing with injuries, sorting through multiple young players, and trying to make sense of a rotation that already feels messy. It has a familiar ring to it from last season, and that is not exactly a comforting note.
Mogbo has given the Kings enough to justify a steadier role. He has been efficient on offense, steady on defense, and useful as a jolt off the bench. No one is asking for him to take somebody’s starting job, but he has clearly earned more than spotty usage.
Through six games, his minutes have swung from zero to 25, with an average of 17.3. That kind of range says plenty about how uneven his role has been. A more stable 10 to 12 minutes a night would make sense, especially in a group that includes Nique Clifford and Alex Karaban.
There is value in letting young players sit, learn, and absorb the game from the bench. But development only goes so far without real court time. The Kings need to give Mogbo that chance before they end up mishandling another promising player.
In Other News...
Jerry Reynolds Sees A Kings Problem That Goes Beyond The Starters
Jerry Reynolds has spent enough time around the Kings to know when a concern is bigger than one hot or cold stretch, and his latest takeaway centered on the way Sacramento is trying to build around its young pieces. The former Kings coach pointed to rookie Darius Acuff Jr. as part of the conversation, stressing that the real value comes from balanced scoring and playmaking rather than simply piling up shots. He also flagged the early-season workload on the starters as something worth watching, especially if the team wants to avoid leaning too hard on the same group every night.
Reynolds bigger point was about depth, not just the top end of the roster. He singled out the bench as an area that needs real development, with Nique Clifford among the players he wants evaluated more closely as the season unfolds. Reynolds also weighed in on a proposed deal involving Anthony Black and Jalen Suggs, saying he prefers Blacks upside and would be wary of taking on Suggs contract, a reminder that Sacramentos roster questions extend well beyond the starting five. [Read more 🡒]
Kings May Be Giving Up On A Young Guard Too Soon
Nique Cliffords second season in Sacramento has taken an unexpected turn, with his minutes dropping enough to raise real questions about where he fits in the Kings long-term plans. The young guard is no longer getting the same runway he had before, and with other developing players sitting ahead of him in the rotation, the front offices handling of its young talent is starting to draw more attention.
For a team that has been trying to balance winning now with building for later, Cliffords situation has become a useful test case. There is already some outside interest, with the Oklahoma City Thunder reportedly looking for help as injuries hit their backcourt, and that only adds to the sense that Sacramento may be deciding too quickly on a player who still has room to grow. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Already Have A Problem In The One Area They Trusted Most
The first six games have already exposed a familiar concern for Sacramento: the second unit has not looked like the safety net the Kings expected it to be. Injuries have thinned the bench, with Ben Simmons, Keegan Murray, Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell all part of the early-season availability issues, and the players left to carry those minutes have not supplied enough punch. Malik Monk and Nique Clifford have both been part of a group that has struggled to score and shoot with any consistency, leaving the Kings short of the kind of lift that can steady a game when the starters sit.
For a team that seemed to trust its depth as one of its reliable strengths, the early returns have raised a bigger question about how the roster was built. The front office appears to have leaned heavily into defense, but the offensive side of the equation has looked undercooked so far, and that imbalance is showing up in the bench numbers. Sacramento still has time to sort it out, but the opening stretch has made clear that the area it counted on most is already under pressure. [Read more 🡒]