Kings' Rookie Reveals Why He Wanted to End Up in Sacramento

It makes sense that Raynaud is a fan of Domantas Sabonis, as they have a lot of similarities in their game. Both players have high basketball IQs and do a good job of creating offense for others as bigs, while still being scoring threats.

Sabonis is about as good a mentor as Maxime could ask for, and that was a big reason he liked the idea of ending up with the Kings. After reportedly trading Jonas Valančiūnas, the centers on the roster are Raynaud, Sabonis, and recently signed Drew Eubanks. While Eubanks is a solid backup, Raynaud seems confident that Sacramento trusts him and Nique Clifford to play this season.

“They were a good fit in the sense that I think they trust me and Nique”

During the beginning of the interview, Raynaud spoke about the process of being picked in the second round, which feels a lot more like free agency than it does a draft. Maxime mentioned that teams will call the players and ask about the prospective “fit,” which is what led Raynaud to the Kings.

He later talked about the uniqueness of being an older prospect, but still the youngest on the team at 23, and how that played into his desire to play for the Kings. In his first action against the Orlando Magic, Raynaud showed off some of that maturity he’s bringing as a four-year college player. 

While Raynaud looked great and ready to compete in the regular season, it is just one game, and Summer League tends to be a different animal. However, if Maxime puts together another few good performances, he may end up on Tyler Rucker’s “Too Good” for Summer League list.

Maxime does have some things to improve on, including his conditioning, as he did seem to run out of gas a bit toward the end of the game against Orlando. As he continues to play in Summer League and get more reps in during practice, he should start to get back into game shape after not playing a competitive game in a while. Along with that, I’m looking for Raynaud to show some more aggressiveness in the second half of game two against Chicago. 

One of the great things about Raynaud is that he won’t be expected to jump in and start right away with Sabonis holding down the 5 spot, but he also has the ability to jump in with Domas should coach Doug Christie push that button.

While Sacramento did bring in Devin Carter last season, Raynaud (and Clifford) shouldn’t have to deal with the same positional logjam that Devin did last season and will have more opportunities to contribute earlier on. Fans can catch more of Raynaud in Vegas this summer, but the real test will be when the regular season kicks off.