The Sacramento Kings chose Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic this summer. The young core is supposed to create enthusiasm – but it will probably be a while before a bad series ends in California’s capital.
As expected, Iman Shumpert ($11 million) and Kosta Koufos ($8.7 million) withdrew their lucrative player options and stayed with the Kings, as did Garrett Temple ($8 million), who was sent to Memphis in July for Deyonta Davis, returning Ben McLemore, Cash and a future second-round pick.
During the draft the Kings could decide for themselves who they wanted to draft in second place, and decided early on Big Man Marvin Bagley – in addition, they picked 37 Gary Trent, who, however, was still traded to Portland on the draft evening (for cash and two future second round picks).
The Kings were also active in the Free Agency. Yogi Ferrell was engaged from Dallas (2 years, 6.2 million), Sacramento took Nemanja Bjelica (3 years, 20.5 million) after he had cancelled the Sixers at short notice (curiously like Ferrell in Dallas). Sacramento RFA made an offer to Zach LaVine in which the Bulls participated (4 years, 78 million).
Nigel Hayes and Davis, who had been fetched in the temple trade, were released in the meantime. Vince Carter joined the Hawks as a free agent, Bruno Caboclo is now trying his hand at the Rockets.
The Kings haven’t reached the playoffs for twelve years and there are no illusions for the next season either. Instead, they concentrated on acquiring even more young talent. This would have been worth quite a lot of money to them, as the very high estimate for LaVine proves.
Instead, Bagley, De’Aaron Fox, Willie Cauley-Stein and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who will be absent for four to six weeks after a knee operation, will ensure that playoff basketball can be seen in California’s capital at least in a few years’ time. The decision for the Power Forward and not for Luka Doncic was controversial.
Bagley was a stat machine in college and should quickly get good figures in the NBA, but defensively he missed a lot. The Kings are still quite overstaffed in the front court – so it will be an interesting task for coach Dave Joerger to satisfy everyone involved.
Ferrell and Bjelica both have some experience and shooting, what the Kings were missing in the end and what they should fit well next to the dynamic Fox. McLemore can also throw, otherwise he has not yet passed the NBA test. But if it still doesn’t work at this attempt, it’s not a drama: the contract will expire anyway.
According to ESPN, the Kings will also provide their salary cap (another $11 million) to get a pick for the upcoming draft, as their own will go either to the Sixers or to Boston. Sacramento will try to be the third team to join a Jimmy Butler trade, take on a lousy contract (like Gorgui Dieng’s) and be rewarded with a pick.
*=Camp Invite
The Kings are still thin on the wing, apart from Justin Jackson there is no nominal Small Forward in the squad and neither Bogdanovic, nor McLemore or Buddy Hield have proven so far that they can defend at NBA level threes. Shumpert could do that once, but (rightly) doesn’t play a big role in the planning of the Kings anymore.
Gaps in the squad are everywhere – last season Sacramento had the second worst offensive rating (103.7) and the third worst defensive rating (111.1). That also speaks in favour of a lack of balance. On the big positions various inexperienced talents and last year’s top scorer Zach Randolph are on each other’s feet, a lot was missing in the backcourt.
At least the offense should get better. Fox has already shown good results and should become calmer in year two, Bagley also brings good offensive qualities and should help with the rebound, where Sacramento last ranked 28th. Nevertheless there is still no shooting in the squad, last year only two teams shot less often from downtown than the Kings.
Fox and Bagley are to be mentioned here of course, also Bogdanovic after his strong rookie season. Perhaps the most interesting talent in the squad is Harry Giles, if the Big Man can confirm the strong impressions from the Summer League. Which is a big if, of course, after Giles had to skip his entire rookie season.
Last year’s No.20 pick, however, has almost limitless potential and was considered a potential No.1 pick before his injury problems. Jayson Tatum of the Celtics, for example, confirmed over the summer that a fit Giles was by far the best player of his year. Meanwhile, he has torn the cruciate ligament in both knees, torn the meniscus and torn the inner ligament.
The Kings therefore gave him the entire last season to strengthen and stabilize his knees. There are no guarantees that they will hold now, but the impressions from Las Vegas and Sacramento were promising. With a little luck Giles could also become part of a more positive future in Sacramento.
In the end, a lot depends on how Bagley will perform compared to Doncic. The Kings now have some exciting talents together, but whether and how they will ever fit together is unclear. Lineups with Fox, Cauley-Stein and Bagley, for example, will always have spacing-problems for the time being, although Fox and Bagley at least have approaches here.
The rest of the summer’s activities do not necessarily speak for a clear line. With the LaVine offer, Sacramento may even have been lucky that Chicago was pulling along why McLemore should be interesting to Sacramento again. If you can still get a pick via butler trade, this would improve the note a little bit.
Despite everything, the Kings should play at least a little more handsomely next season, thanks to their talents. However, much more victories than last season (27) are not to be expected, even if there is no incentive to refuel this time.
The grade: 4+