Kings Make Roster Decision, Waive Five-Year NBA Veteran on Wednesday

Davis was a fan favorite and had a bunch of highlight plays during his previous stint with the Kings. Sacramento brought Davis in from the Toronto Raptors in 2021 as a bench piece, but Davis ended up averaging 15+ minutes per game over his two and a half seasons with the team. 

Davis was out of the NBA in 2023-24, but signed with the Kings again last season, where he appeared in just one game. Davis wasn’t a bad player by any means, but his skill set was extremely redundant on the Kings’ roster. 

What will the Kings do now?

The next question is what the Kings will do with the roster spot/cap space. The most likely scenario seems to be signing Russell Westbrook, who has been linked to Sacramento for a while now and remains unsigned. 

While Westbrook is a legend, adding him to the Kings just doesn't make a ton of sense. Schröder will be handling the starting point guard role, and there are only so many minutes to go around for Monk, Carter, Keon Ellis, and Nique Clifford, who all are expected to be important players going forward. 

Signing Westbrook isn’t the end of the world, but it would make a lot more sense for the Kings to look at other options when it comes to the roster spot. 

Another scenario involves Sacramento keeping the spot open and using the savings from Davis’ deal to extend Keon Ellis. The caveat to this is that the team would only have just over $5 million left before they hit the salary tax threshold, according to Spotrac.com, and the team hasn’t spent over that threshold since before Vivek Ranadive took over the team. 

There remains the possibility that the team woke up and realized how important Ellis is to them, but the chance of Ranadive being interested in the extra spend without a real chance at a championship seems low. 

An additional outcome is the Kings using the roster spot/cap savings to take on an extra player in a trade. With 15 rostered players before releasing Davis, the Kings were unable to take back two players for one in any prospective trade. Now, the team has the flexibility to do just that should a trade partner need to move a second player to facilitate a trade. 

As I mentioned, the likelihood of the Kings ending up with Kuminga feels low. Still, there have been conversations about the Golden State Warriors needing to move multiple players in any sign-and-trade involving Kuminga. Both Moses Moody and Buddy Hield have been discussed as guys that would need to be moved for a Kuminga trade to come to fruition, but there are complications from the Kings' side. 

First, this move would clearly involve the Kings paying into the luxury tax. Kuminga was expected to make at least $20 million in any sign-and-trade deal, which would put the Kings well over the threshold. Second, the team likely has no interest in taking on Buddy Hield, who would be extremely hard to utilize given the current roster. 

The Kings could get involved in a trade outside of California, with teams like the Philadelphia 76ers looking for ways to shed salary before the season begins. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond have both been brought up by NBA insider Jake Fischer as possible departures in the team’s quest to re-sign Quentin Grimes. 

When it comes to the Kings, it’s challenging to figure out what they’re thinking exactly, and if a trade like this is even on the radar. Drummond wouldn’t be the best use of the roster spot, but Oubre could be a very useful depth piece for a team needing wing defense. 

There is likely to be a ton of speculation on how the Kings will use their open roster spot, but it would be pretty surprising to see them leave it open for long. Davis’ deal wasn’t guaranteed until the start of the season, so it seems peculiar that the team would waive him today. 

Whether it’s Westbrook, taking on a salary dump from a team like Philly, or using the funds for an extension, the Kings are very likely to do something. Keep your eyes out for the next move as the team looks to sure up the roster for the upcoming season.