The Kings have signed another two-way player today, making a deal with Adam Flagler, a 6’3 guard who spent the last two seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Flagler was undrafted out of Baylor back in 2023 and has played in just 39 career games. In college he was known as a premiere outside shooter, averaging 39.6% from three over four years on almost 780 total attempts. However in the NBA he has only shot 19.2% from distance, albeit with no consistent playing time and mostly in garbage time.
With the addition of Flagler and Jonathan Mogbo earlier, two of Sacramento’s three two-way slots are now filled. The Kings also announced their roster for the upcoming California Classic today as well:
The Kings will be fielding a team that features rookies Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban, Emanuel Sharp, as well as sophomores Dylan Cardwell, Nique Clifford and Isaiah Stevens (a two-way player last season). The California Classic takes place from July 4th-July 6th, with the Kings playing against the Bucks, Nets and Warriors. Kings assistant Chris Darnell will coach the roster.
Outside of the roster regulars and newcomers Mogbo and Flagler, here’s a little about the rest of the roster:
- Anthony Dell’Orso – Undrafted 2026 rookie guard out of Arizona but originally from Australia. Solid but not spectacular outside shooter.
- BJ Edwards – Undrafted 2026 rookie guard out of SMU. Led the ACC in steals, was also a solid jack of all trades player and posted two triple-doubles in his senior year.
- Haowen Guo – The top scoring Chinese-born player in China last season at 20.6 points per game. Point Forward who gets to the line a bunch.
- Viktor Lakhin – Russian born big who spent three years at Cincinnati and one at Clemson and last year with the Oklahoma City Blue. Can shoot a little bit and is a solid rim protector.
- Mitch Mascari – Undrafted guard out of Drake and spent last season with the Stockton Kings. Shot 41% from three on 5.6 attempts with Stockton over 36 games.
- Elias Ralph – Undrafted wing from Canada who played two collegiate seasons with the University of the Pacific. Good shooter and solid rebounder for his size.
- Jamarion Sharp – Undrafted 7’5 big from Ole Miss who has spent the last two seasons in the G League with the Texas Legends. Elite rim protector who averaged 3.8 blocks a game in just 24.9 minutes last year.
- Marquel Sutton – Undrafted forward from LSU. Defensive minded wing who can guard multiple positions but doesn’t have much range.
Holy crap.
That trade and us signing Flagler on the same day. Quite the whirlwind day in the NBA!
Celtics had to steal the Kings headline news!
Man, this recent spate of star trades has me rethinking the De’Aaron Fox trade. We really didn’t make out too bad all things considering. We got more for Fox than the Celtics did for Jaylen Brown. Also got more than Atlanta got for Trae, Memphis got for Ja and Charlotte got for LaMelo.
I’ve been thinking for a while now as well. Kings got two free and clear unprotected picks at the time of the trade, plus the Hornets’ one that turned into 2 seconds. They contract they got was LaVine. Celtics, however get the same draft capital and eat PG13? That’s nuts.
The new CBA is going to make teams think very hard about taking on a max contract for anyone who isn’t a perennial All-NBA player. The second apron is effectively a hard cap.
But Brown is a perennial All-Star, and All-NBA, and a Finals MVP. All I can guess is he is really disliked behind closed doors and everyone in the league knows it.
I’ve been saying this for a minute. You can no longer give non-superstars max money. It’s also why I’d stay clear of Duren if that’s all he’ll take.
Had already been a reality for small market teams for many, many years. 2nd apron killed the loophole for big market teams.
Wow, WTF is Boston doing?
The East is going crazy. The fact that an Eastern team is the current champ shows that the West is not as invincible as they think they are.
Great trade for Philly, simply getting out of PG’s contract and getting JB is a win, and two FRPs isn’t too steep a price.
JB: 3/$183, 29 yo
PG: 2/$110, 36 yo
I’d argue that BOS as currently constructed has no chance at a deep playoff run, teams in the East are leveling up, this isn’t the East that BOS dominated the whole JB/JT tenure.
I don’t get splitting the two when they made 5 ECFs and are both still young.
Philly now has a nice core of Maxey, Edge and JB.
Wow Boston must really not like Jaylen. Sheesh.
I’ll be there on Sunday. Wish Maxi was playing too but all good.
The league has been incredibly active but Perry seems more interested in signing other team’s castoffs to two-way deals.
Everything he’s done the past few days seems intended to make it appear as if he’s being active while actually not doing anything meaningful. At this point he’s just polishing the turd.
These players must not be the embodiment of the 6 pillars.
I’m just happy we haven’t given up picks to have someone take on some of our bad contracts. Patience is a welcome change.
We are going to suck this year, but we should at least be fun to watch. If Domas can stay healthy and play well with Acuff, he could have some value. Ideally we play out the year and shed bad contracts at the trade deadline or at the end of the year. If you squint, you can see some promise.
Stop the cope, we just gave up a second to get rid of Carter lol
Stop the cope? As a King’s fan, coping is all I know.
Nice for Dallas. Aldama is a The Great Jerry Reynolds favorite too, IIRC.
Our NBA team exists to funnel talent (umm) into our Summer League dynasty.
SP: Whaddya mean i did’nt do anything? I signed… (looks at white board)…3 players in the 1st 24hrs of free agency!
I’m not here to defend Scott Perry or his puppet master. Perry’s first offseason and season were abysmally bad. The Schroder signing was idiotic. Salary dumping him with an asset for more salary was even more idiotic.
Perry drafted Raynaud, so he gets credit for that, but the bar is so low that I was actually relieved that the Kings didn’t trade for Ja Morant or Miles Bridges. They’re actually getting a semblance of credit for not doing the stupidest, most short-sighted thing I could possibly imagine. Low bar is low, as at least one pantsless man has said.
All that being said, this is a team full of ill-fitting, wildly overpaid vets that no one wants. Prior to Acuff, there was almost literally no promising young talent on this team. The Kings were never going to be a player in free agency or in trades this season. The best thing they can do is to dump whatever vets they can, don’t take on long-term salary without receiving real assets, play out the season and try to stay out of the bottom three (good luck.)
None of these peripheral signings matter in the slightest. Yes, sometimes you hit on a Keon Ellis or a Raynaud (or a Jokic or Brunson) but really, I expect nothing from anyone drafted lower than 20. They’re all lottery tickets, and I just can’t make myself care much, because the low single digit percentage of those guys that even stick in the league, let alone become something.
This season is about seeing what Acuff has, seeing if Raynaud is anything more than a backup big, hoping for draft lottery luck next May, and hoping they don’t make any “win now” moves. Vivek has never been able to stop himself from stepping on the same rake over and over and over, so they will, eventually.
I don’t have any real criticisms for Perry THIS OFFSEASON (yet), because right now, it’s just a matter of not making things worse.
This is a good take– I will add that he can’t take much credit for Acuff and Raynaud, as they fell to him. We will take that luck, but his trades so far (Hunter and Carter trade– should have not attached pick and ditched him last year, if he wasn’t part of the development plan), the lack of many trades last year (of Monk for example), the Westbrook and Eubanks signings, the reaching for Karaban and Sharp, and the managment of the cap space has been nore more than average. Nique might be an ok draft, but he really has not done much for the team. He has the next 2-3 months to develop some players, trade or waive DDR, trade Monk and Hunter (I’m ok keeping him for a bit), or signing some younger talent to development or else his C- grade becomes a D or less.
Honestly, if he just let those expiring contracts expire I’d still give him B grade for the season. There are a lot less get of jail free cards available to GMs so simply not screwing up without doing much else is competence.
Will be a different set of grading criteria next offseason, he’s gonna have to start to build something. Taking meetings with restricted free agents he cannot possibly acquire to gets weeks of favorable local media coverage isn’t going fool anyone next round.
It’s what Perry did in NY. He simply sat there and waited. The bad contracts came off the books, the draft picks came back because he didn’t trade them away chasing pipe dreams.
100% agree on Schroder signing. One year deal would have been neutral at worst and maybe turn out smart. Two years you could live with it. Three years contract was idiotic given Schroder’s track record. Plus was already apparent last offseason the new NBA salary structure meant there was no more middle class contracts. Only two tiers of players exists: stars and everyone else on short term, minimum deals.
He had zero control in New York . Leon Rose made all bball decisions and eventually let Perry go since he was a Steve Mills hire . ( the fired Bball head before Rose ).
If the fans’ biggest hope for the GM is that he doesn’t continue to do dumb things, there really isn’t much hope for ever having success, which is unfortunately where we sit.
You are a fan of dumping a second for Carter?
Yeah, that’s a waste of a minor asset (the pick, not Carter). I don’t think Carter is an NBA player, and you can make a good case they either should have played him or let him rot on the bench rather than lose a minor asset to get rid of him. I guess it gives them some space to operate under the tax (assuming DDR goes) so it might turn out OK, depending on what they do. (Best case: Nothing of note.)
It was apparent to me that Perry didn’t like Carter. He wouldn’t even say the guy’s name when talking about the Kings young talent.
The Kings missed on Wagler, so they signed Flagler instead. Kangz.
I guess we finally signed a non-two way contract this offseason?
I’m really surprised he didn’t get a 2-way deal. Not often you see pick #45 get two guaranteed years. This also guarantees the Kings are in the tax and right at the 1st apron level. Still one roster spot to fill and DDR is still on the books.
There has got to be something coming down the pike, because if all they do is cut and stretch DDR and fill the last two roster spots with vet filler (most likely scenario), this is a sub 30 win team and arguably worst in the West. Memphis may give them a go, but that’s about it.
Bad asset management. There’s no need to give guaranteed deals to completely unproven players.
Surprised Bagley is still in the league.
Bagley is already at $75M in career earnings. I guess it pays to have a second jump.
We havent seen AnybodybutBagley for a while now have we?
Crazy to earn that much while mostly just sitting on the bench collecting a paycheck.
Tobias at close to 330 million in career earnings is wild as well.
Even at 330 million, I’d argue Tobias was a better value than Bagley at 75 million, which is nuts.
Empty stat players have it the best. Make loads of $, chuck shots at will, no D required, no expectations for winning and therefore no work related mental stress…continue to cash those checks.
Bagley
Tobias
Lavine
DDR
The list goes on..
These dudes live the good life.
I like that brought Jamarion Sharp to the roster, between him Cardwell the opposing teams won’t be able to get a shot off. He was the G-League DPOY last year, basically G-League Gobert at 7’5″, just a shot-blocking menace.
This is the kind of flyer I like…intriguing players that have a special talent of some sort. Mogbo too, he is an athletic “big” with good ball-handling & driving skills. I like BJ Edwards as a disruptor. Wish they would move on from Stevens and bring in a PG w/ size (6’5″+).
Stevens would be a waist of observation for two season, Mogbo is potentially a decent backup, and Jamarion Sharp should take Flagler’s 2-way spot after summer. Maybe Mogbo gets a small contract and we get another two G Leage players, like Sutton.
Portland’s new owner fielding only 12 players for summer league (the fewest). No other team below 13. Kings have 16 players for SL. And i thought Vivek was a cheapskate.
I expect the Jalen Duren thing to be repeat of the Jonthan Kuminga saga from last Summer and to drag along for weeks/months. Ultimately, he stays a Piston.
This FA season has been filled with surprises- so maybe has to remain in the mix.
A youth core of Duren and Acuff is exciting though, I have to admit. At what price?
The kicker: he said The Magic Words “I want to play for the Kings” which is catnip to Vivek and his blatant insecurity.
Many FRP and either Zach or Sabonis is something they would do.
Is Duren a top 5, 5? top 10? Is he better or just different than Domas, today?
At only 22, I would pull the trigger for Duren.
I would be excited to get an all-NBA player who is younger than most of the players we draft; even with his limitations.
Give me the upside, raw talent and potential over the 5th-year seniors and “glue-guys”.
That being said, I don’t believe Sacramento is in serious contention for Duren’s services.
I can see where Duran could be the ying to Acuff’s yang, but it does come down to price. a potential 5 year S&T near max deal is hard to swallow on a dude that really only had one stand out season.
If Perry can work around the edges, Keegan can become the third banana, then maybe the 3 of them could be a core to build around. The good thing would be you’d have ll 3 of them under contract for a very long time and Acuff’s potential big extension wouldn’t really begin to kick in until Keegan end Duren end their deals. The timing of the contracts could work
It would be an all in move.
Based off the kessler trade, you likely have to give up 2 FRPs at the very least a long with a max contract. I just think that’s too risky for a franchise that always sucks and needs to guard their future FRPs.
If the deal could be done without including any FRPs I would do it and max Duren. But DET isn’t doing us any favors.
The long max contract might be the killer for Detroit. If the sides are as far apart as rumored, why would Detroit take on a contract like Sabonis at $45M per if they are unwilling to pay Duren that amount? Is it the length?
Meh, I think it’s all smokescreen. Duren will end up staying in Detroit at a bit more than he could get in FA and will likely get a PO for a 5th year.
I’d rather have Kessler at $32m/year instead of Duren at $45m+/year.
I’d rather just roll with Maxi and Cardwell and move Sabonis to the Hornets for filler and maybe get some 2nd rounders in return. Grayson Allen, Grant Williams and Tidjane Salaun gets it done and fills out the Kings roster.
I see Duren as a Bam Adabeyo/Ben Wallace mash up.
Ok – I see the apprehension, we are Kings fans after all. How can we trust that this owner and this management team can assemble anything but chaos and disaster. As the Mandolorian would exclaim: This is the Way.
If we step back a bit – is there a better 5 available? I can tell you, it sure as spit ain’t Maxime Raynaud. Personally, and I like RayMax, I would take Nemias Queta. Very different players, no doubt, but in Sacramento they need the D. RayRay is going to give you floaters and the like. Dylan Cardwell you say? I would just tilt down my sunglasses and give you a stare.
Just wait for the right player? Do I have to remind you that means either drafting a better big (who then needs to develop) or getting one in Free Agency. And we are back to square one. This is free agency. Opportunity is knocking.
For me – you rolls your dice and you takes yer chances. The team probably will top out at 30 wins this next season with Coach Doug, but I think Jalen Duren and Darius Acuff, Jr. (Dare and Dure) is an enviable position for the Kangz to be Kings.
That’s not good value– better to wait it out if we don’t get 1-2 of their bigs to go with Salaun. Williams is trash and older, while Allen is dencent, yet another guard.
You are going to include 2 first round picks. That’s a given. Are you willing to do that? I would. The guy at 22 and still improving IMO would be a great addition to the rebuild. Stays at least 5 or more years before reconstructing. Acuff, Clifford, Murray, ? at the 4 and Duren with Raynaud as the backup would be awesome. After next year with expiring contracts with Hunter and Lavine over 70 mil with just those 2 Perry has a lot to work with.
That ? at 4 IMO trade Monk and say the 2031 first for Jarance Walker and Ben Sheppard(expiring contracts). I have checked Walker out quite a bit and he would be the perfect fit between Murray and Duren. If not my second choice would be Kuminga at the 4. Most of you don’t care for him but he also would be a great fit.
If you can’t get Duren then Raynaud would be my choice as starter at center. Might even be better. I checked out the starting five of Acuff, Clifford, Murray, Walker and Raynaud. A great starting five. If Sabonis doesn’t work out for the Kings maybe he goes to the Hornets for Allen, Williams, Saluan and a first. IMO might like that better than the Duren trade, Allen would be a really great fit backing up Acuff at least for 2 years. Good defender and can really shoot the 3. Wil
liams has an expiring contract and Saluan is a project but with upside.
I’m only giving up 2 FRPs for Duren in a SnT if the contract is reasonable.
$40 mill plus a year is a drastic overpay and I don’t see him coming here unless we make that overpay.
Just not worth it imo.
I still think the best route is to let the season play it and let the contracts come off the books and during the next year if teams want to trade for any of sabonis, monk, lavine only take back expirings.
FORGET EVERYTHING I WROTE ABOVE!
I am going to retract what I said about Duren. After going over everything IMO it is best to try and trade Sabonis to the Hornets for say Allen, Williams, Saluan and a first . Now that I sat down and went over things IMO Raynaud and Cardwell sits better for me in the long run over anything Duren might do. Max if he can and I think he can work on his 3 point shot and get some more muscle he is a better fit as he has more things going that just a rebounder.
Trading Sabonis to the Hornets for one of their 3 2027 first rounders especially the Dalles one makes more sense that losing probably 2 firsts for a player like Duren. Grayson Allen s a 40% 3 point shooter and really good defender to backup Acuff for 2 years on his contract. Williams has an expiring contracts(13mil.) and Saluan you are taking a chance on but looks like he has some upside.
Trade Monk and a late first rounder to the Pacers for Jarance Walker and Ben Sheppard. The Pacers would like to have Monk as a spark off the bench(like a 6th. man). And both Walker and Sheppard can’t seem to bteak into the lineup. Sheppard has an expiring contract but Walker would be the catch. He works perfectly between Murray and Raynaud. Good weakside rim protector can stretch the floor(good 3 point percentage) and a good defender. Can switch on 2’s, 3’s and 4’s.
I have checked out the starting lineup of Acuff, Clifford, Murray, Walker and Raynaud. Most people believe this is a great lineup for a starting rebuild.
Backups would be Allen, Sharpe, Hunter, Achuiwa and Cardwell. Not to shabby.
PS Wave Derozan. Only one left is Lavine. He made his bed then just let him lie in it.Waving DDR and the Monk and Sabonis trades will get you both Bare and Mle. Next year Lavine and Hunter both gives Perry over 70 Mil. to work with. Not to shabby.
The one thing I’d consider – is Duren a potentially franchise altering player?
Because the Kings haven’t drafted a franchise altering player in their 41 years in Sacramento.
If Duren can be that, then based on the Kings draft history, he’s probably worth as many FRP’s as the Kings are willing to give Detroit.
Duren at what, $45+m/year? Doesn’t that put the Kings in the same spot they are now? Highest paid player should be the 1A on the team, but is actually someone that should be 3rd best player on a good team (Domas, Fox, Zach, for example).
I can see where it would work, but the role players would all have to hit their high end outcomes and Acuff would need to be the superstar some think he can be.
Going after Duren to pair with Acuff long term is starting to lay the groundwork for a Knicks type roster, which makes sense. But I agree, can’t overpay for Duren.
Potential long term core:
Acuff
SG (next offseason via draft, FA or trade)
Keegan
Max
Duren
I would do Duren at 40 to 42 mil max for 4 yrs, if it cost sabo and 2 1sts. Duren is more athletic and can benefit from PnR action with Acuff. Domas (i do like him), as good as he is setting screens, is not athletic enough as a lob threat and when he rolls, he has to bring the ball down and gets stopped, or he ends up getting an offensive foul. If only he developed a mid range jumper, a fadeaway, or a sky hook, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
If Acuff is as advertised, the two of them reach their prime at the same time and by then, contracts will have ballooned to 60 to 70 mil players. NBA expansion and NBA Europe are in the horizon so profits will go up and what might seem expensive now might be look cheap in 4 years. Lavine is the outlier though, but he comes off the books next year. If Duren wants to really come to Sac, let him take his PO and the Kings can sign him next year with Lavine and maybe Hunter off the books.
Dude, what the hell is Adam Silver doing?
WTF? This is horrible. So, one free throw can get you up to three points except the last two minutes of the game? Just horrible.
How does this effect Free PIzza?
Free Pizza has been traded to the Guandong Southern Tigers.
So, he is teaming with The Jimmer?
Ok, another question:
Will this effect the Doug Christie tanking investigation next season?
I can’t even imagine the amount of foul baiting there will be on 3pt attempts. Why attempt anything inside the arc at this point?
Exactly. Everyone just jumping into every defender and throwing it up without even trying. “Welcome to ESPN, Lakers scored 90 points tonight on 30 free throw attempts.”
If you get fouled on a 3PA, take a FT attempt and miss, does that mean you just missed 3 FTs?
I assume so. Dumbest rule proposal I’ve ever seen in professional sports.
What is the point of this? was the reasoning around this described at all?
They do this in the G league already. Seems that it’s a way to “speed up the game”, lol. If they want less basketball, just make the teams play one 12 minute quarter and call it a day.
People just don’t seem to have the attention span, or are so damn busy that they don’t enjoy sports. Baseball has done this crap and the product sucks because of it.
I remember being a kid at A’s games and never wanting it to end. I hoped for extra innings every game I went to. Fun with the family, hours of time not thinking about life outside of the ball park.
Sorry, rant over.
Tl:d –
Ooh, shiny thing!
It’s pathetic stewardship and shows no respect for the game, the players, or it’s fans. I have no doubt that this is somehow related to Silver’s gambling overlords.
Strangely, this would likely reduce Ad Revenue opportunities as a team can no longer call a timeout between FTs.
Philly signs Simons 2/$12.
Philly dropped Morey and pivoted to a GM who’s name I don’t even know, but this dude must be a G after what he’s pulled off this offseason.
Brown, Maxey, Edge, Embiid, Simons, Wade, Philon.
I’m just praying someone else signs Westbrook so he’s not in a Kings uni next season.
I think he ends up in MIA on vet min
I won’t be convinced until I see Marty smile.
I’m not sure my interest in the Sixers is retrievable.
Ben Mathurin: If he is truly a unrestricted FA, could be do a sign and trade with Monk (Hunter as the worst case scenario)? 3-4 years around 65-80 million?
Mathurin can’t play defense. Enough said,
The roster is filling out!
https://x.com/MikeAScotto/status/2072811381255008623
25 wins here we come!!!
Look out below!
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