Kings Near Bottom of Western Conference Power Rankings

General Manager Scott Perry and his front office team followed up on that success with a couple of smaller moves that moved the team further in the right direction: signing undrafted big man Dylan Cardwell, and picking up the team option for Isaac Jones. This is where the moves, and the team’s vision for the future, began to get a little less clear and harder to understand.

Fans were surprised when the team chose to pick up the team option on Keon Ellis rather than signing him to an extension. Locking the young guard up at a team-friendly number for this season makes sense, and the Kings will still have the opportunity to sign Ellis to a contract extension during the upcoming season.

However, the odds of Ellis hitting unrestricted free agency went up significantly with this move, as did the chances of Ellis signing elsewhere next summer. 

Signing veteran point guard Dennis Schröder filled a stated need, and was a solid (if uninspiring) move. The jury is out on whether he is the starting-caliber point guard the team lacks. Sacramento then lost one of their own free agents, as wing Jake LaRavia signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, and traded away a significant piece from their frontcourt rotation when they sent Jonas Valančiūnas to the Denver Nuggets. 

Meanwhile, the Kings have found themselves embroiled in the seemingly unending tug-of-war with the Golden State Warriors over their young wing Jonathan Kuminga. All parties involved have been posturing and proposing trade parameters for months now, and the latest reporting on the subject seems to indicate that a trade is unlikely to happen this offseason. 

The Kuminga situation has also limited, if not completely nullified, the Kings’ ability to make any other deals involving big-name players. Any notion of the team being able to sign veteran guard Russell Westbrook appears to be directly tied to the Kuminga trade.

Similarly, Sacramento’s desire to trade guard Malik Monk and move DeMar DeRozan to a bench role both look to be pipe dreams unless the moves are tied to a trade that brings Kuminga in. 

As such, the Kings are likely done making significant moves this offseason. Barring any new developments in Kuminga’s availability - and Golden State’s willingness to do a deal - there will not be a resolution to that particular drama this summer.

The Sacramento Kings need to upgrade their roster before the season starts, and they are running out of time (and ways) to do so. The NBA.com piece rightly points out the glaring deficiencies on defense.

Specifically, the combination of Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan is a disaster on that end of the floor, and essentially a death knell to any notion of the Kings improving upon their ninth-place finish in the West last season.