Malik Monk is still technically a Sacramento King, but the way his preseason has unfolded has left plenty of questions hanging over his status and his role.
Monk, one of the most popular players from the Beam Team era, built his reputation as a jolt off the bench and was a Sixth Man of the Year finalist the season Naz Reid won the award. Under Doug Christie, though, his usage dropped sharply. Night to night, there was no telling whether he would even get on the floor, and the organization never offered much of an explanation.
That uncertainty carried into the 2025 offseason, when the Kings reportedly explored trades for Monk. The effort appeared to continue into the regular season, but Sacramento’s asking price was too high and nothing got done. Eventually, the front office stopped shopping him.
The preseason has only added to the confusion. Monk spent the entire exhibition slate on the bench, and at first no one could get a clear answer from Christie.
Some believed he was dealing with an injury. The Kings later said Monk was bothered by ankle soreness, though the description remained vague and there was no real return timeline.
The timing matters, too. Monk is a veteran, but he still needs reps to knock off offseason rust and get back to NBA speed.
He also has to build chemistry with a roster that includes a lot of new faces he has not yet played with in a real game setting. The preseason is usually where those kinks get sorted out.
Instead, Monk has watched from the sideline while the reason for his absence remains fuzzy. That has fueled speculation that the Kings could be trying to move him again, or perhaps pushing him toward considering his player option.
However it is being handled, the end result so far looks like a strange use of a talented bench scorer who can jump-start a stagnant offense. After what the Kings went through last season and in this preseason, more Monk might be exactly what they need.
In Other News...
Doug Christie Is Quickly Becoming A Serious Kings Problem
Doug Christie inherited a messy situation when he took over as Kings head coach in 2024 after Mike Brown was fired, and his first full season did not exactly offer much breathing room. Sacramento was dealing with a poorly balanced roster and a run of injuries, and even with some roster improvement since then, the early signs around this preseason have not been encouraging for a team trying to stabilize itself.
Christies approach has also reportedly rubbed some players the wrong way, adding another layer to a job that already looked fragile from the outside. Now there is growing speculation that he may not be the coach by the end of the current season, which leaves the Kings facing a familiar question: whether they can find any real traction before the season slips further out of reach. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Enter Opening Night With One New Concern Up Front
The Kings trimmed their roster to get to opening night, waiving Viktor Lakhin, Tristen Newton and Elfrid Payton as they finalized the group that will start the 2026-27 season. Sacramento will carry 17 players into the opener against the L.A. Clippers, a standard enough move at this point in the calendar, but one that also leaves the frontcourt picture a little more fragile than the team would like heading into the first week.
The bigger concern is Maxime Raynaud, who suffered a right patellar subluxation and will be reevaluated in about two weeks. For a team already sorting out its opening-night rotation, any setback up front matters, especially with the season about to begin and the margin for early lineup stability already looking thinner than the Kings probably hoped. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Face One Early Concern Even With Sabonis Ready
The Kings head into the regular season with a healthier roster than they had at times during camp, and that alone should ease some of the anxiety around a preseason that ended 0-5. Domantas Sabonis is back in the mix and says he feels good health-wise, while Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and Ben Simmons are also available as Sacramento tries to turn a revamped group into something workable right away.
Even so, the biggest early question may be less about who is on the floor than how often each piece gets to stay there. With so many potential contributors and plenty of roster change to sort through, the coaching staff has to establish rotations on the fly while also being mindful of smart minutes management, something Sabonis pointed to as the group settles into the grind of the season. [Read more 🡒]