The Kings Herald Show returns with Jerry Reynolds, Will Griffith, and Tony Xypteras to break down the latest Sacramento Kings rumors and speculation on the eve of the 2026 NBA Draft.
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Happy Draft Day!
Please screw up less than I think you’ll screw up!
Happy Draft Day!
The climax of another Kings season is here..
IT’S DRAFT DAY! IT’S DRAFT DAY!
Exciting times. The picks, the trades, the wonder.
To me, the Sacramento Kings are like a second round pick:
We hope they can produce something, but don’t expect much.
Welp, one of my draft night trade scenarios is out the window. I thought with the massive cap space the Bulls had, and them likely drafting Caleb Wilson, that Sabonis made a lot of sense for them. Now they they have traded for Claxton, that’s out the window.
As to the draft and podcast, it sounds like Acuff is the guy since Brown Jr and Wagler cancelled their meetings with the Kings. Smells of a promise from the Clips and Nets.
Man, if the Kings go into camp with Acuff, LaVine, DDR, and Sabonis as starters, the team may score 130 a night, but will likely give up 140. Like the guys on the pod said, if Acuff is the guy, then Perry had better put the right guys around him.
With Acuff, LaVine, DDR, and Sabonis, they will not score 130 a night. Too many differing styles of offensive play, 2 ball hogs, a big man that is now in a “system” that doesn’t value his skill set, and a rookie that is probably taking a back seat to the vets. Nothing on this roster makes sense.
As for the giving up 140, that might be a bit low for this group.
We could see them give up 200 in a triple-overtime game.
Wouldn’t that be something to see….
I’d be happy drafting Acuff and retaining these overpaid vets and let their contracts come off the books at season’s end. As for Sabonis, Perry may have to accept the fact that he’s not getting a 1st in return for him, just cap relief, which I’m fine with.
Which is why in not an Acuff guy. I dont trust this FO and Vivek to construct the right roster around Acuff that he would need to where he can flourish.
Exactly. Threading that needle with the right roster construction will be challenging and take time. Vivek wants results now and will not wait around.
Flemings, Wagler, Brown Jr. are probably easier to build around.
Well good thing is there is close to zero chance ddr is on the team come regular season
Kangz draft day. Where hope is the first step to disappointment.
Brown Jr. was the pick for me. On a Kings team that runs a “flow” offense that lacks any kind of structure, Brown Jr. is the best PG in the draft to create assists outside of a structured offense. No structure, then you need some one that can read the defense and manipulate things to get his teammates open.
Acuff, Wagler, Flemings don’t do that nearly as well. They know what the plays are, who is supposed to be where, and can get those “system assists”.
Which ever PG they choose, I will root for them to do well because I want the team to be good again. Basketball is much more fun to watch when your favorite team is good.
In the 2nd round, go get some shooters. Karaban, Conwell, Sharp.
Hoopshype reporting that Kings likely to waive AND stretch DDR’s $10M guaranteed deal. Also not pursing Morant as they intend to draft a PG.
Whew, that’s some good news.
Makes sense to me. Waiving + stretching DDR gets them below the tax. I don’t think they want to take any money back in a deal, and I don’t think any team wants to give up something for DDR. Let him go find a team that will sign him for the MLE or less.
I really hope the Ja interest continues to fade away.
It just feel like an incredible waste of DDR’s contract. A lot of teams could use the $15M in cap relief he could potentially provide. The tax doesn’t kick in until this time next year, so waiving and stretching him now just seems like a surrender type move. It’s not like it’s going to give them any more spending power in free agency.
The DDR acquisition in Sac will go down as the catalyst to one of the shittiest eras in Kings history, and will end with a whimper.
Does getting them below the tax line open up the dreaded Non-tax MLE?????? We saw how that played out last season.
What I fear is they are doing this to so they can overpay to bring Precious back while using a good chunk of that MLE. That is why they may be doing it before the NBA calendar turns.
That would be asinine for them to do.
Solid year on a bad team. Let someone else pay him. His role can be replaced via the draft.
The Big Sneeze will return. I liked him and he got better throughout the year, IMO. I don’t know how much of the MLE he will get (not all of it, maybe $25M/3 years or $8M/season) but I think he is a clean fit – a known quantity and a good dude.
$8m for the 4th or 5th “big” seems crazy for a 20 win team with salary issues.
Who’s the current Kings Power Forward?
Yes.
Keegan.
Even if that is the case (he can defend, but little else. Is is it me, or has he become worse each season? Remember when we fantasized about him being Khris Middleton or Paul George?) he needs a back up. PAchiuwa will be the first big off the bench, if not the starter (if you are not starting DDR at the 3 and Keegan at the 4).
So consider it a done deal, then?
Yup
I don’t think that anyone wants him at current contract, not even as a buyout option. The Kings will give him $10m to go away and he will sign a vet minimum / Aspiration type deal with the Clips.
Yeah, no one wants him at $25, but plenty of teams could send out near equal in contracts, then cut him, eat his $10M and re-sign him on the cheap to save $10M overall.
I guess my dream scenario is the Kings helping a tax/apron team in that kind of fashion in order to get draft capital or a prospect. Denver, Cleveland and Orlando come to mind.
I don’t think ANYBODY wants ANY of the Kings players including Sabonis. I think the Kings are stuck with these guys unless they are going to give up assets to move them. Waiving Derozan and eating the 10 million always seemed like the most likely scenario with him. I’d literally tell Zach Lavine to go home and hang out for the rest season and he’s off the books. I’d move Hunter for a bag of chips. They should take their medicine this year and have an expensive roster of worthless pieces and then reset after the 26/27 season when all this money comes off the books.
I suspect though, that the Kings will not do that and try to do things to make them competitive this season which would be a massive mistake.
Exactly, just stacking poor asset management moves on top of last years for perry. Dude looking way in over his head
It’s almost as if they don’t understand there are better ways to do these things, because those ways are too complex, and are beyond their capabilities to understand them
My God, if that’s true…
Has Perry ever shown anything to suggest he’s actually a competent executive? I’m not sure why anyone would think he’s going to be successful here.
If the Kings are sending out $10 million in guaranteed money and taking back ~$25 million in guaranteed money how are they going to get under the tax at all?
May also signal that Acuff is the man and no one is taking touches away from him, especially not an overpaid vet
I wonder if the Bucks package #10 and #13 to the Nets for #6. Then the Bucks select Acuff. Kangz wouldn’t know what to do at that point, lol.
If the Bucks are hosting a firesale, Adam’s dream of getting Kuzma is getting closer to reality. Buckle up Adam!
There is still time for Perry to pull a turd out of his hat and get both Kuzma and Poole in Kings uniforms.
And RJ Barrett. Perry loves him some RJ Barrett.
DDR for Kyle Kuzma and Jericho Sims works on the Trade Machine.
MIL will probly keep Sims off trades as part of their retool. He’s a good player, that’s why Kangz are never getting him. Besides, they can just wait and bid for DDR once the Kangz waive him. He will be their stopgap scorer now that Freak is out.
Is there anyway we can get Derrick Jones and Mathurin if we waive DDR? Or even just Jones? If we get Acuff, we can hide him on defense better if Jones was there.
But Flemmings, Mathurin, Jones, Murray, and Sabonis? That is a DHO dream for Sabo.
I don’t think the Kings have cap space to sign Mathurin, even by waiving DDR. I guess they might be able to do a sign and trade with the Clippers to get Mathurin? I just don’t know the details of how that works anymore.
Can’t wait to see how either:
For as long as I can remember, the draft for the Kings has always landed on one of the above outcomes.
Which will it be this year?
Acuff falls to us.
We draft Acuff.
Fans rejoice.
Kings draft Acuff and Domas for Ja.
Kangz.
Ridiculous. You didn’t even mention that the Kings would send picks to Memphis too!
That is absolutely the opposite of brilliant!
Can’t picture the Kings doing anything else now…
There is definitely a non-zero chance of that happening.
Remember, Perry was here when the Kings drafted Fox and then went out and signed George Hill.
Which is basically the same thing that happened with Schroeder. Overpaid, unnecessary vet guard that shouldn’t have been signed, didn’t work out almost immediately and moved at mid season.
Maybe don’t do the thing in the first place?
Micah Nori to Head Coach the Trailblazers
One year deal with team options for the next two seasons.
Not a great vote of confidence but more of a “we’ll see what we think” but it is an opportunity for a 1st time position after being in the League for 28 seasons.
Wish him Good Luck
(even Doug Christie got a multi-year deal)
One year deal? The new owner really is a piece of work.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a one year deal for a HC, maybe Vivek has done it.
The Blazers are headed the King’s way under this new owner. Kings Northwest.
It’s John Fisher all over again. The owner wants to move the team to whatever city will build him an arena, and I think Portland is the least likely major city in the country that’s going to do that.
He’s doing it so that he can buy Basic Economy seats for his 2-ways, and to pay their Uber rides to their Motel 8s and the game.
Heck, even SMF-PDX’s credit card can pay for that. Vivek wanna-be up north.
Would ne nice to get HB back since he will be UFA. An ultimate pro and a good vet to mentor our rookies and sophs, because Lavine, RB, or DDR wont cut it. He wont be expected to start, so we can finally stop pulling our hair each time he goes 0 for 2 in 15 mins of action. Whether HB wants to go back to hell is totally different though.
Signing HB would be the type of move the kangz would make, so it may just happen.
One would think that Barnes would like to end his career with an NBA franchise, so that pretty much eliminates the Kings.
I finally figured out how to post GIFs. Apologies to everyone as I abuse my newfound power tonight…
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