How the Kings Can Trade Into the First Round of the 2025 NBA Draft

The key column is the far right, which represents what each team gave up for the first they received. As you can see, there are a few routes teams can go to acquire a first-round pick in the range Sacramento is looking for. 

For additional context, here is an outline of the Kings’ current draft capital: 

Future Firsts

The most clear path to acquiring a first-round pick is by offering a future first. The uncertainty surrounding teams’ long-term outlooks in the apron era makes distant first-round picks very enticing. 

There is no better example of this route than Minnesota’s trade for the 8th overall pick last year. The Spurs received swap rights on Minnesota’s 2030 first-round pick and Minnesota’s unprotected 2031 first-round pick, which the Kings now own as part of the De’Aaron Fox trade. 

Since it does not appear that Sacramento is trying to move all the way into the lottery, their trade package would probably not require two distant firsts as Minnesota had to give there. 

Sacramento could use the Minnesota pick as their main chip to try to get into the first round. Considering the franchise’s history, though, teams may want to short the Kings’ long-term prospects instead, and ask for Sacramento’s own firsts instead of Minnesota’s, which is fresh off two deep playoff runs with a superstar signed long-term in Anthony Edwards. 

This is the package that teams looking to sell their picks in the 20s will probably ask for. Sacramento’s front office needs to think long and hard about how willing they are to deplete their future assets before agreeing to part with their own future firsts to move into this year’s first round. 

Multiple Seconds

Acquiring a first by sending multiple second-round picks is the preferred route. This could be done similarly to how the Oklahoma City Thunder acquired the 26th overall pick from the New York Knicks last year. There, Oklahoma City parted with five second-round picks to select Dillon Jones. 

New York needed to re-accumulate some draft capital after parting with most of their draft picks in the Mikal Bridges trade. The trade also saved them some money by not having to pay a first-round pick’s guaranteed salary. 

There are plenty of potential trade partners in the 20s who may want to avoid paying a first-round pick. Oklahoma City and Orlando own picks 24 and 25 and are young teams who will get expensive quickly and may want to cut costs on the margins. Both teams could want to follow in Indiana’s footsteps as their young stars’ extensions kick in. 

The Kings have traded most of their distant seconds, but are well stocked over the next couple of years. Sacramento owns the 42nd pick this year, and has two second round picks in both the 2026 and 2027 Drafts (their first conveyed to Atlanta this season, meaning Sacramento has their own seconds, and the protected Charlotte first acquired in the De’Aaron Fox trade did not convey, so it has converted to two second-round picks in 2026 and 2027). So, the Kings certainly have the ammunition to make this sort of move. 

Salary Dump

The route that would not require parting with draft capital is one that Sacramento was on the other side of several years ago. In 2023, the Kings traded their first-round pick (24th overall)  to the Dallas Mavericks for every Kings fan’s favorite player, cash considerations. Sacramento sent Richaun Holmes and the remaining 2 years and $25M on his contract to Dallas as well. 

This opened up a good amount of cap space that ultimately allowed the Kings to renegotiate and extend Domantas Sabonis to his current contract after he earned All-NBA honors and helped Sacramento end its 16-year playoff drought.

Kings are currently over the salary cap and about $21M below the luxury tax. Absent some serious roster reconstruction that opens up additional flexibility, acquiring a first-round pick through this route is not feasible for Sacramento. 

In sum, Sacramento has the ammunition to trade into the first round. It is ultimately a matter of (1) how badly they want the players who could be available in this range, (2) their willingness to pay the going rate for a first round pick and potentially deplete their future draft capital, and (3) how creative they are willing to get with the package they are offering. The only thing we can be remotely sure of right now is that the front office acknowledges that there is work to be done and is not leaving any stone unturned while beginning to re-shape the roster.