The Sacramento Kings are still carrying the weight of 20 years without back-to-back winning seasons, and that history has made them an easy punchline around the league. One strong year hasn’t been enough to change that.
Their 2023 run was the outlier. De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis drove a 44-win team to the No. 3 seed, and Sacramento finally broke a 16-year playoff drought. For Kings fans, it was the kind of season that felt like a long-awaited payoff, with Golden 1 Center rocking behind the cowbells.
Then came the matchup with Mike Brown’s former team, the Golden State Warriors, and the Kings were pushed out in seven games. Stephen Curry’s 50-point explosion outscored the combined 48 points from Sabonis, Fox and then-rookie Keegan Murray.
Since then, the noise has only gotten louder. ESPN’s Zach Kram labeled Sacramento "noncompetitive with their own pick," and ESPN projects the team to win three fewer games next season even with a healthy roster.
That leaves the Kings with a simple reality: respect is going to have to be earned the hard way.
General manager Scott Perry is already laying the groundwork, and he appears ready to swing bigger later. He drafted Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban and Emanuel Sharp to add youth to the roster, with Acuff standing out as a player who could grow into a franchise cornerstone if he embraces the playmaking side of his game right away.
Sacramento also made some low-risk additions in free agency, bringing in Ben Simmons and Elfrid Payton.
The real pivot point, though, is the 2027 offseason, which Perry views as "make it or break it." His top target is Jalen Duren, the 22-year-old center with All-Star upside.
Duren is reportedly looking for $40 million per year on his rookie extension with the Detroit Pistons, while Detroit is offering $35 million. Perry, meanwhile, sees him as a max player and would be willing to pay what he wants.
To get there, Duren would have to gamble on next season by taking the $9.6 million qualifying offer. That deal would give him a de facto no-trade clause and set him up to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
In Other News...
Russell Westbrook Could Still Have One More Kings Chapter
Russell Westbrooks lone season in Sacramento might not end up being just a brief late-career stop after all. After finishing his 17th NBA season with the Kings, Westbrook stepped away from playing and has since shifted into business ventures and basketball-related work outside the league, but his connection to the organization has remained a point of curiosity for fans who watched him bring his usual energy to a new setting.
What makes the Kings interest worth following is the path that opened up at the end of his playing days. Westbrook chose retirement after being asked to embrace a mentoring role behind a rookie point guard, and the idea of him staying tied to Sacramento in a different capacity has already started to circulate. A coaching role would be a very different chapter, but it would also fit the sense that his Kings story may not be finished yet. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Let A Former First Round Pick Become This Player
Davion Mitchells path has come full circle in a way the Kings probably did not envision when they took him ninth overall in 2021. After three seasons in Sacramento, he was dealt first to Toronto and then to Miami, where the young guard has steadily reshaped his game by soaking up lessons from veteran teammates and carving out a bigger role than the one he had early in his career.
Miamis decision to keep him around says plenty about how far he has come. Mitchell finished a breakout season as the Heats starting point guard and followed it with a two-year contract extension, a sign that the player Sacramento once drafted for his defensive edge has grown into a much more complete piece for a contender. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Face A Darius Acuff Jr. Debate That Could Shape Both Timelines
Darius Acuff Jr. has already given the Kings something worth weighing carefully: a rookie guard with real scoring ability and a college track record that included leading the SEC in assists. That blend makes him intriguing in Sacramento, where the long view and the win-now push are always overlapping. The temptation is obvious, because a young guard who can get downhill and create for others can eventually become a central piece of a teams identity.
For now, though, the cleaner path appears to run through Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis as the offensive anchors, with Acuff developing into more of a facilitator alongside them. His ability to penetrate defenses and generate assists is the part that could matter most over time, since it gives the Kings a chance to grow him into a playmaker rather than rush him into a role that asks for too much too soon. The debate is less about whether Acuff belongs in the picture and more about how quickly Sacramento wants that picture to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]