The Sacramento Kings may look finished with their offseason work, but they still have one move left to make before the roster is truly set.
After adding three high-level rookies, headlined by seventh-overall pick Darius Acuff Jr., the Kings traded away young guard Devin Carter, waived DeMar DeRozan, and re-signed Precious Achiuwa. That’s a busy summer by any measure.
Even so, Sacramento is sitting at just 13 players on standard contracts, which means at least one more signing has to happen before the season begins. Once that 14th spot is filled, the front office could still choose to leave one opening available to start the year.
The clearest issue on the roster is point guard. Sacramento has plenty of guards in the mix, but it does not have a true ball-handler behind Acuff. That’s why Russell Westbrook has come up as a possible fit, and why a reunion has been floated even though there was an expectation he was headed out of Sacramento after his debut season with the team in 2025-26.
Westbrook would give the Kings exactly what they need in a veteran voice for their new franchise point guard. Still, there is real uncertainty about whether the 37-year-old actually comes back.
Victor Oladipo has also been tied to Sacramento, though he has not appeared in an NBA game since the 2022-23 season. It’s a less exciting option, but it points to the same thing: the Kings want a veteran guard.
That said, Sacramento could also choose to lean more into the rebuild and use its final move on a younger free agent instead. Players such as Brandon Williams (26), Ochai Agbaji (26), MarJon Beauchamp (25), David Roddy (25), and Keshad Johnson (25) are all names to watch, depending on what position the Kings decide matters most. There are other young free agents available too, though several of them look more like two-way candidates than standard-contract targets.
That brings the focus to Jonathan Mogbo. The Kings made a smart move by bringing him in this offseason, but they signed the former Toronto Raptors forward to a two-way contract.
Mogbo, 24, has the kind of tools that could make him a productive NBA forward, and he showed some of that in Toronto as a rookie. Under the two-way rules, though, he would be limited to 50 regular season appearances if he remains on that deal.
Because of that, it would make plenty of sense for Sacramento to simply move Mogbo onto a standard contract. The Kings could use the extra forward depth, then use the vacated two-way slot on another young player. Mogbo brings versatility and can help on both ends when he gets the chance, even if the team may want to see more of it in the G League first.
If the question is which move would matter most, bringing back Westbrook probably tops the list. But if the question is which move is most likely, the answer looks more like elevating Mogbo than adding a new name to the roster.
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Jonathan Kumingas free agency has already become a test of how badly interested teams want to get creative, and Sacramento appears to be one of them. The Kings have been linked to the young forward, but their pursuit comes with the same hard financial realities that have complicated so many of their recent roster-building efforts, leaving them looking for a way to stay in the mix without the freedom to simply outbid anyone.
A sign-and-trade could be the path that keeps Sacramento alive here, with DeAndre Hunter and draft picks emerging as the kind of framework that might get the conversation moving. Even then, the Kings are not operating from a position of strength, and Kumingas attention seems to be drifting toward other suitors such as the Lakers, which only raises the pressure on Sacramento to find a workable answer before the market moves on without them. [Read more 🡒]