Well, the Sacramento Kings still need a backup point guard. And they are reportedly working out some players starting tomorrow.
The Kings will begin a series of veteran workouts tomorrow by hosting Cam Payne, sources say. We’ve already reported Sacramento’s interest in Victor Oladipo. Another experienced ball handler the Kings are considering, per sources, is Elfrid Payton.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) August 20, 2026
Ok.
Cameron Payne is a 6’2” combo guard. He is 32 years old and last played for the 76ers in the 2025-26 season. He appeared in 22 games that season and averaged 7.4 points, 2.6 assists, 2 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He shot 37% from the field and 33% from three in 17 minutes per game. He hasn’t played 20+ minutes per game since the 2022-23 season.
Elfrid Payton is a 6’3” point guard. He is a 32 year old and last played in the NBA in the 2024-25 season. In that season, he played for the New Orleans Pelicans and Charlotte Hornets and averaged 3.5 points, 6.9 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1 steal in 21 minutes per game. He averaged 32% from the field and………16% from three……
The 34-year-old Oladipo is a 6’3” combo guard. He has been working toward an NBA comeback after being sidelined since the 2022-23 season, when he suffered a torn left patellar tendon. He played for the Miami Heat that season and averaged 10.7 points, 3.5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1.4 steals and shot 39% from the field and 33% from three in 26 minutes per game.
These are people who played point guard in the NBA.
Per the video released by the Kings, in the 2014 draft it was down to Stauskas and Elfrid Payton. Same as it ever was.
Elfrid Payton is already 32 years old? Damn time flies.
The good news is that all of the point guards are Vivek- centric type of players and one of the players is not a true point and hasn’t played in a NBA game In 3 years. Cam Payne can teach Acuff all of the latest new dances whenever he scores.
Dammit Adam.
I read the interest in these three being candidates to be plucked out of the day-old bin by the Kings, and came to post that same tidbit. One of the King’s great what-ifs, when you think about it.
I am all-in on this. The Kings have lacked identity most of their existence, quite well illustrated by the recurring & quite wonderful summer series detailing past seasons most thought hoped to be forgotten from the one who must remain pantless, Mr. Hessing.
This might help cement this franchise, and innate Vivek’s star-glazing persona, as a retirement home for well known NBA players. Nay, it could even scale a peak few dared to contemplate and even fewer knew existed – an actual Hospice for NBA careers.
Filled with loud and adoring fans, calloused to loss and directionless ownership, the players get to wind up their careers with a green light regardless of efficacy.
As much unearned playing time as they want, even if a young player with promise sits at their expense.
No worries about clutch time performance, the grind of competitive games, or any sort of pressure to win. Players of any and every ilk can end their career peacefully in Sactown. There is no crown less heavy than of the one worn being a Sacramento King.
Any of those three mentioned above can join the roster, former stars to long time role players and journeyman, there is room for all. There could even be bit of a shrine posted by the Jimboy’s, a bit of frivolity of gazing upon the gassed whilst the aroma wafts about.
Westbrook. Derozan. Vince Carter. Hall of Famers tipping their caps on the way out.
Zach Randolph. Jae Crowder. JaVale McGee. Matthew Delladova. Caron Butler. Andre Miller. Shariff Abdur-Rahim.
Our own Bobby Jackson & Corliss Williamson. Doug McDermott. Mo Harkless. Corey Brewer. The beloved Kosta Koufus. Ty Lawson. Reggie Evans. Carl Landry. Travis Outlaw. The unforgettable five game career capper from Desmond Mason, the seven game stretch from Calvin Booth. K-9 himself, Kenny Thomas. Vitaly Potapenko!
For twenty years now, this franchise has been a final respite for legends, stars, storied role players, likable veterans, some has-beens, and a few who never were. Taking a moment to bask in the Sacramento sunshine, while wallowing about in the relentless mediocrity of this franchise. Unburdened for the first time in their careers of the pressure to be successful.
Your Sacramento Kings. The veritable Oakmont of the NBA.
Return of the Mack, big time.
The Kings are the MLS of pro soccer leagues.
Look we got
Westbrook and DeRozanMessi and Beckham!!!Championships to follow.
speaking of point guards, so ridiculous that the only thing that prevented the kings from themselves and signing Russell Westbrook was him retiring
but I’d rather have any of these guys than Westbrook
Not that it’s gonna matter
Oh-and Vivek… did you see how much money the Lakers just went for?
Hint hint….
I get it, but man do these new owners coming into the league leave something to be desired. Grass ain’t always greener.
That’s true. Dickheads and hedge funds and sovereign funds. The asshole in Portland and Phoenix.
But I don’t think the grass can get much Browner than with Vivek
At least Perry won’t have to take on salary and attach a 2nd round pick to get rid of whichever retread PG he brings on this year.
I don’t understand where the King’s need an old player to mentor Acuff. Don’t you have assistant coaches to do what they were hired to do? Work with younger players to help them accurate to the NBA. If it is for one year maybe OK but if you are going to use them for 10 or 12 minutes a game than IMO Monk could do the job. GO COACHES! do your job.
Yo, (assistant) coach,
The funny part is, the Kings are still down an assistant coach with BJax leaving. They haven’t even filled that spot yet.
To Jack’s point, I’ve never bought into the the “player mentor” thing. There are an army of coaches on the sideline that can and should be helping they young guys. Did Westbrook mentor anyone last year? It seems all he did was yell and Maxi on the court every time he bumbled one of his passes. The look of disgust is all I remember from Russ when it came to the young guys.
Define “funny”?
It’s a time honoured Kangz tradition to cover stale, overpaid veterans with a generous ladle of mentorship sauce.
I’m sure it can be categorized under one of Perry’s pillars.
Remember the good old days when Vivek’s Kings would sign a washed vet to one last NBA contract? Now the Kangz are looking at signing vets who have already left the league.
What’s Mitch Richmond doing these days?
Maybe BJax left his coaching position so he can return to playing and be a mentor to Acuff. After all, a player mentor is much better than a coaching mentor.
I say let’s go for Oscar Robertson.
A step in the
rightdirection!Almost rather have BJ Armstrong suit up
https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/2090226803969257512?s=20
Any info on the Kings 2nd round pick here?
Was it ours or already traded previously?
If ours, did we get anything in return?
AI says the 2032 pick was already given away (along with our 2nd round picks in 2028 and 2030).
Kind of tough to rebuild when you give away your ability to draft young talent – the one and only thing that Perry seems to be competent at.
Also from AI…
Young like the 23 year old Karaban, the 23 year old Nique, or the 22 year old Sharp?
I don’t think this team is using late first or second round picks on young talent.
I’m 56. 22-23 year olds are very young to me!
Talent? That’s a different question, of course.
It was one of the 2 second rounders Perry traded away in order to move up and get Karaban.
The Kings currently do not control ANY of their future 2nd round picks until 2034.
2027’s 2nd rounder and the Hornets’ 2nd rounder are tied up in the 2027 first round pick from San Antonio that’s locked in a holding pattern with OKC. Should the Kings get the Spurs pick (they won’t) they have to give both 2nd rounders to OKC.
The most likely scenario is OKC gets the Spurs pick (17-30) and the Kings keep their two 2027 second rounds, but it won’t be determined until the end of the season. Thus, they picks are currently “untradeable.”
That move up to get Karaban? I’m dubious
Just like the Green Day song, wake me up when September ends.
500 David J Stern Walk – “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
Vivek – “American Idiot”
You mean when April ends. So we can get another crack at the lottery. And bypassed the painful shit in between. 🙂
It would be appropriate to be able to call G1C the “House of Payne.”
According to Bill Simmons, Elfrid Payton’s comp on draft day in 2014 was Gary Payton. Therefore, he should be the guy the Kings go after. That Stauskas guy comped pretty good as well.
Absolutely ridiculous for a dude that is about to turn 37 and really hasn’t had much success in the playoffs.
We’re just lucky we didn’t have cap space
Let’s have a little fun heaven knows we need some once in a while.
I have picked 10 plyers from next years free agency listed in 3 catagoties. Look at the 3 catagoties listed below and pick one from each< except power forward and show it here and explain why it might help the Kings next year. Here goes.
Point guards: Daniss Jenkins, Anthony Black, Scottie Pippen Jr., Carson Wallace.
Small Forwards: RJ Barrett, Bilal Coulibaly, Jamie Jacquez Jr,.Brandon Miller, Brice Sensabaugh.
Power forward: Jarance Walker.( sorry only one coming to mind).
Have some fun.
We will next summer. Give it time.
This Harden contract is going to age like those contracts Morey gave to PG and Joel. Some contracts look hideous upon signing and this is one of them. It amazes me how some GMs ever even made it to a FO in any capacity. Life is mostly luck.
We’ve heard rumblings of employee mistreatment. Let’s hope this is the tip of the iceberg that encourages others to come forward and leads to Vivek and Matina moving on: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49672947/ex-kings-trainer-files-suit-alleging-pregnancy-discrimination
Uhhh, which pillar is that again, Scott? “The suit alleges Lee met with Kings general manager Scott Perry, who is not listed as a defendant, in May 2025 about her claims and that she was told “complainers will not be tolerated.” The following week, Lee informed the Kings’ vice president of human resources, Stacy Wegzyn, about her complaints.
The following month, the suit alleges, Perry and Wegzyn fired Lee and “the reason for her termination was an alleged failure to meet performance expectations,” including not updating expense reports.”
“Complainers will not be tolerated.”
I guess every single Kings fan would be fired too.
Matches up perfectly with “We want volunteers, not hostages.”
Sigh. Negative interactions with Doug Christie when he was an assistant and Scott Perry telling her “complainers will not be tolerated.”
Look on the bright side. At least Anjali isn’t the father.
Looks like Christie is also alleged in this.
“Christie glanced up and down her figure, ending his inspection of her body by saying, “Don’t report me to HR.”
Now these are just allegations as of now, but nonetheless, not a good look for DC.
Another tidbit, Mike Brown’s son allegedly harassed Lee to spend time with him outside of work despite Lee consistently rejecting his advances.
What a clown show of a franchise LMAO.
Sell the team already.
Where was that written? I didn’t see it in the article linked above.
I believe it’s from this Reddit post that quotes the the actual filing.
Nothing will come of this. It rarely does in sports. They’ll find a way to settle out of court and make it all vanish like a fart in the wind.
Agreed. If nothing came of the Anjali / Chance Comanche situation, then nothing is going to come of this, sadly.
And I say that as someone who has worked in HR for nearly 30 years.
And as someone with that much HR experience, I can tell you right now that the following statement is a form letter with the blanks filled in:
Here you go:
______________ categorically deny/denies these allegations and reject the characterization of the organization and its workplace reflected in these claims made by a disgruntled former employee.
_______________ take(s) allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously and are committed to maintaining a workplace where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. The organization intends to vigorously defend against these claims through the legal process and will not comment further on the pending proceedings.
You can add literally any company into the blanks and it still reads correctly. Takes all of 5 seconds to fill in the blanks and fire it off.
Like this:
Bozo the Clown categorically denies these allegations and reject the characterization of the organization and its workplace reflected in these claims made by a disgruntled former employee.
Bozo the Clown takes allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously and are committed to maintaining a workplace where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. The organization intends to vigorously defend against these claims through the legal process and will not comment further on the pending proceedings.
Sad and pathetic.
At this point it sounds like her words versus the Kings words. Unless there is any factual evidence, this will just be a settlement, maybe. I think emails, recorded conversations, texts, etc. would help, but I doubt any of those exist for her to make her case.
Another Kings offseason where non-basketball news is the headliner. So tired of this organization.
In the filing I posted above, another female employee made a complaint about Brown’s son to Wilcox.
Oh, I assume the allegations are legit. It’s just that there needs to be evidence of it happening for anything to be done, legally
What was that about building culture in this organization that I hear about so often? Yeah, not a good look for the Kangz. Just another feather in the cap for Vivek and co.
Let’s hope. Definitely the tip of the iceberg as I have seen people with dealings with the kings being treated horribly. Not to mention the employees.
of course, this (bad employee treatment) goes all the way up to Vivek, but will the rest of the iceberg ever be shown/brought to light
employee lawsuits are ultimately what brought Dan Snyder down. Finally and thank God. Maybe we get lucky with this owner.
Dan Snyder was pressured heavily by national NFL media, and it took over a decade. There is none of that pressure here.
Not surprisingly, not a peep of this on the sacbee home page.
Here’s a link to the Bee article dated August 20:
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/former-sacramento-kings-trainer-alleges-005901086.html
Other teams: We have added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown this offseason
The Kangz: We might get Victor Oladipo and (allegedly) fired a trainer for getting pregnant
Kangz gonna Kangz
Off subject should Sac State recruit exNBA and exNFL players who have eligibility left?
Is there a has been that this team won’t work out. Other teams will take a chance on younger players who might need a change of scenery. Not the Kings though
Demarcus Cousins?
He was drafted by the Kings under a different front office. This Front office just wants to bring in guys who are seemingly out of the league, its like they have no ideas. hmm?
They are all vying to be the next vet player that comes to the Kimgs, gets their last NBA contract, and then plays overseas or retires.
Same as it has been for years. Standard operating procedure.
OT: So what exactly is going on with the ownership groups in the NBA this offseason? Feels like there have been more teams sold in the past few months then there have been free agent signings.
Flip this Org? Is that going to be the new reality series on NBA TV?
I’ll watch EVERY episode of that if it’s about the Kings!
You don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. I’ll leave it at that.
Not a fan of any of those options but if I had to hold my nose and pick one, I’d take Oladipo. He was good at one point. The other two never were. How old is Isiah Thomas?
DDR to the Nugs.
Zach Randolph on Nugs!
Klay to the Heat.
That’s okay, we have something more important….the 6 Pillars!
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I wonder if he’ll end up glazed or ceramic. Can’t be good for his flexibility.
I really don’t like that for the Nuggets. They need shooting and defense. DDR provides neither and takes the ball out of Jokic’s hands. Klay would have been better for them.
Also, can the Kings still stretch DDR’s deal?
Hoops Rumors says August 29th.
I’m guessing Denver got him of Offense off the bench, but yeah not really a great fit.
Well, the Kings will have to stretch his deal or make a trade by then because right now they are over the tax and have just enough for a vet minimum deal to fit under the first apron. That’s just to get to 14 rostered players.
If my math checks out, they could stretch is $10M to $3.3M over three years which would give them more than enough space for two vet minimums and/or first year players and still remain under the tax.
For some reason I thought per the CBA they had to make the decision to stretch DDR’s contract BEFORE he signs with a new club.
I have no clue about that. Does the Denver money get subtracted from the Kings’ liability? They waived him right?
I believe there is a “set-off” rule in the CBA which means Denver pays his full $3.9M vet minimum deal, but the the Kings get a slight rebate on the $10M they owned to DDR. I’m not sure how much comes off the $10M but I’m guessing it’s less than $2M. That’s a Bobby Marks question.
It could be why the Kings have waited to make the stretch decision. His new contract likely determines how much the Kings have to pay of the $10M.
You’re right, it’s around an $850K offset. DDR’s remaining total salary obligation is now a little over $9.1M.
The offset is 50% of the amount over a 1-yr vet min w/ 2+ yrs of service (which Google says is currently $2.18M), so (3.877-2.18)/2=.8485) or $849K.
I think the point of bringing in DDR is the non-Jokic minutes. Its been a deficiency of DEN for the past 4-5 yrs.
I doubt DDR starts, I think they’re going with Jokic/Gordon/Spencer Jones/Braun/Murray. Maybe they stick with Cam Johnson in the lineup instead of Jones or Braun. Backups are Tyus Jones/DDR/Julian Strawther/Cam Johnson/Zeke Naji or DaRon Holmes (or even Bagley).
Not great, but this team goes as Jokic and Murray go. They really need to trade Murray’s salary IMO.
DEN has been terrible at putting talent around Joker. He’s so selfless that he hasn’t asked out. Reminds me a little of Dirk and the Mavs and even KG in Minny with those franchises never giving their all timers a fellow star.
If the Nuggets take the ball out of Jokic’s hands for more DDR touches, then the entire front office and coaching staff should be fired.
My guess is that they just want a 3rd option to alleviate the high usage of Jokic/Murray throughout the season.
Damn, bad luck for Portland.
Good thing they have a ton of guards.
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