Dario Saric Calls Out the Kings After Deadline Trade

The Sacramento Kings made a head-scratching move last offseason when they traded Jonas Valančiūnas to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Dario Šarić. Valanciunas is arguably the best backup center in the NBA, and they shipped him away for a player who would make just five appearances in a Kings uniform.

Šarić, 31, was put into the Kings' lineup in each of their first three games of the 2025-26 season, but would go on to make just two on-court appearances over the next three months. Not to mention, he went scoreless in four of his five games. The Kings ultimately traded him to the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline. He was then re-routed to the Detroit Pistons and ultimately waived.

Šarić is now out of the NBA and sitting in free agency, but amid the madness, he took a jab at the Kings for how they handled his situation in an interview with Croatia's Jutanjri.

"It's a shame that some people in the NBA, who bring you in, say that you'll have a chance and that you'll play, and then they don't honor that, that things change. You build your life around that story, you bring your family, and it would be better if they told you back in August, 'we don't want you, we're going in a different direction.' And then I fly from Šibenik, come to San Francisco, drive two hours to Sacramento, fall asleep from jet lag, wake up at five in the morning, get a medical, then back to San Francisco and fly back to Europe. They forced me to do that," Šarić said (h/t EuroHoops).