Darius Acuff Jr. Passed His First Test at the California Classic

The California Classic concluded yesterday, so naturally it’s time for some early summer overreactions as we got our first look at Darius Acuff Jr. and Emanuel Sharp, as well as some familiar faces in Dylan Cardwell and Nique Clifford.

Darius Acuff Jr.

There was no doubt that Kings fans were excited to finally get a look at Darius Acuff in action. Throughout the building, there were quite a few fans wearing their old De’Aaron Fox jerseys, but with the name taped over and Acuff’s written on instead.  Some already had their actual Acuff jerseys fresh off the presses. And there was a noticeable buzz whenever Acuff had the ball in his hands or put a shot up, and boy did he put shots up.  In his first game, against the Brooklyn Nets, Acuff took 29 shots on his way to 25 points.  He had a very rough start to the game, especially as the Nets offered up both full court pressure and much bigger, longer and physical defenders.  It took Acuff a while to get into any sort of rhythm but eventually he slowed things down and had some impressive drives to the basket, finishing through contact.  His passing also looked pretty good, although the Kings didn’t particularly field enough shooters to take full advantage of his kickouts; There were multiple times when Acuff would drive and dish but whoever was in the corner wouldn’t take the shot because they weren’t really a shooter.  That won’t be as much of a problem in real games with better players thankfully. I also thought he showed some nice instincts to make the right play, resulting in the game winning three by Nique Clifford when pretty much everybody in the building thought he was going to take the last shot, but instead he found his open teammate who rewarded him by hitting the biggest shot of the game.

Acuff looked a lot calmer and more at ease in his second bit of action against Milwaukee on Monday, and this time his outside shot came into focus as he made 4 of 9 of his three pointers.  He was a bit more turnover prone in this one thanks to some miscommunications with teammates on lobs and other passes, but he also had some very pretty assists, including a couple of one handed skip passes like this one:

this LEFTY skip pass from Acuff is AWESOME! pic.twitter.com/pVCfG7jxC1

— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) July 7, 2026

Defensively, Acuff definitely has issues, particularly whenever a screen comes. I thought he did a fair job competing individually on his man, and he even had a couple of blocks in the second game against the Bucks, but he definitely needs to work on screen navigation.

The biggest thing for me with Acuff though was that he looked like he belonged.  He was able to get his shot off, dealt with intense pressure, and the fact that the other teams spent so much energy trying to stop him already was a big sign of respect for his talents.  He also seemed to handle the pressure well, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he plays next week in Vegas where he will probably face even stiffer competition on a somewhat bigger stage.

Emanuel Sharp

Sharp is another rookie that made his debut, and I thought he played very solid in his two games, showcasing exactly why the Kings felt comfortable signing him to a real contract right out of the gate.  Just like Acuff, Sharp didn’t shoot particularly well, but he wasn’t afraid to keep shooting and more importantly showed off his tenacity on defense.  Against the Warriors, Sharp was essentially the featured player with Acuff, Clifford and Cardwell out, and he responded by leading the team in scoring and steals and finishing second in rebounds and assists as well.  Effort doesn’t seem like it will ever be an issue for Sharp, and I could definitely see him getting real minutes with the team, especially if his outside shooting ends up being consistent.  He was just 6 for 21 from three in his two games, and his form is a little weird with his feet offset to the basket, but he was fairly consistent as an outside shooter over four seasons at Houston so I’m not too worried about it.  I do think he’s purely an off ball player though, and doesn’t look like he can fill in at Point Guard despite his size.  Essentially, he’s our new Keon Ellis, but hopefully with more staying power.

Nique Clifford

I think Nique played well but not great, and did much better in the first game than his second one.  In the first game, Nique was his standard jack of all trades, scoring 16 points on 50% from the field to go with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and solid defense.  He was not as good against the Bucks however, scoring just 8 points on 3-9 shooting, including missing all three of his three-point attempts.  I would have liked to see Nique come in with a bit more aggressiveness as he still plays a bit too passive for me, but I’m not sure that’s the type of player he is.  He’s too unselfish at times and I hope he uses the rest of Summer League to experiment being a little bit more of a primary guy.

Dylan Cardwell

Dylan Cardwell was Dylan Cardwell, and by that I mean he was a relentless ball of chaotic energy.  Over two games, Cardwell had 21 rebounds, 6 steals, 6 blocks and 11 fouls and 6 turnovers.  He set the tone for the Classic off with a thunderous one handed jam and promptly celebrated like it was a game winning dunk.  Cardwell’s energy can seem a bit much at times but it’s completely genuine and it ends up being infectious.  I would have liked to see him experiment a bit more offensively, as he didn’t attempt anything outside the paint, and he struggled with his free throws, going 2 for 7 overall.  I also think he needs to be more aggressive in just going up with the ball at the rim when he soars in for the offensive rebound.  Too often he brought it back down and got in trouble looking for a teammate to pass to, resulting in some bad passes and turnovers.  But this is the same Cardwell we grew to love last season, and I think he’s going to be very fun off the bench this season.

Jonathan Mogbo & Adam Flagler

Of our two new two-way guys, Mogbo was by far the more impressive.  Mogbo has great size for a wing, and he used that size to cause some disruption on defense. Against the Nets he tallied 5 blocks and 2 steals.  He was also one of the few lob threats we had.  It’s clear he can’t shoot though, and that’s really holding him back from being a true NBA player.  Acuff found him wide open in the corner a couple of times, and he didn’t even bother attempting the shot.  But still, I could see the thinking behind getting Mogbo on a two-way, because if he can develop well, he provides a nice alternative option as a big that has defensive versatility.

Adam Flagler left me wondering why we were so keen on signing him though.  Flagler shot just 4 for 17 in his two appearances and didn’t really do anything that really stood out to me.  He wasn’t a particularly great playmaker, and his shooting was lacking as well.  Maybe it was just a rough couple of games though.

Final Thoughts

Overall it was a fun local summer league event. I would have liked to see Acuff and the guys get even more run than they did, but I get that there’s even more games coming up and they don’t want to wear these young guys down just yet.  Take anything summer league related with a grain of salt, but I still think we saw enough from guys like Acuff and Sharp to be at least a little bit justified in our excitement for their future as Sacramento Kings and I can’t wait to see more of them starting this Thursday in Las Vegas.