For nearly two decades, the Sacramento Kings were the laughing stock of the NBA. 16 years without a playoff appearance will undoubtedly break down a franchise, but the Kings managed to build back up and break the absurd drought. The Kings made an incredible run in 2023, winning 48 games and making the playoffs for the first time since 2006, but have fallen again.
Since their 2023 trip to the postseason, the Kings have missed out on playoff basketball two years in a row, and are coming off an underwhelming 40-win 2024-25 season, which included trading away star point guard De'Aaron Fox and firing head coach Mike Brown, two pivotal pieces in their 2023 run.
The Kings now have a new general manager in Scott Perry, and the veteran executive has his hands full as he attempts to fix this franchise. This offseason, the Kings were expected to shake things up as they head in the right direction, which included trading at least one of DeMar DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis, or Zach LaVine. However, the Kings seem to be running it back with nearly the same team, with the exception of adding Dennis Schroder, Drew Eubanks, Dario Saric, and a few rookies.
Kings offseason addition
— DeMarvelous (@SecurinDaBagley) July 21, 2025
*Dennis Schroder
*Nique Clifford
*Maxime Raynaud
*Drew Eubanks
*Dario Saric
Kings offseason subtraction
Jonas Valanciunas
Trey Lyles
Jake LaRavia
Jae Crowder
Markelle Fultz pic.twitter.com/V8kit0VDn9
NBA analyst Zach Lowe, of The Ringer, recently took to his podcast to slightly put the Kings on blast for their hectic situation.
"One of the talks of Vegas... what happened to the Kings?" Lowe said. "Just a complete disaster across the board."
Lowe claims that the "disaster" in Sacramento is what many people in Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League were talking about. While the Kings are not in a great spot right now, it is a bit of a concern that NBA circles are actively questioning what is going on with the Kings.
Of course, from the outside, things look horrible for the Kings, but there is a good chance that Scott Perry knows what he is doing in there. Perry was put in a horrible position with a star trio of LaVine, DeRozan, and Sabonis, especially after the Kings openly welcomed LaVine's absurdly horrible contract in the same trade that sent away their franchise point guard. The Kings traded for a player that 29 other teams in the NBA did not want, and are now stuck with him until the 2027 offseason.
Perry has simply been put in an impossible situation to try to fix it all in year one, so time will tell how much trouble the franchise is truly in. If the Kings can wait out LaVine's contract, or trade him away once he's on an expiring, they will have much more flexibility, assuming they also part ways with DeRozan before then as well.
The Kings have $90.1 million tied up between Sabonis and LaVine next season, and $95.6 million the season after that, which is not a great situation to be in with two players that many argue do not help the team win as much as they would hope. Regardless, the Kings are undoubtedly a "disaster" right now, but there is room to fix it.
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