Another long off-season is officially behind us as of today.
Tonight, the Kings take on the Suns to open up their 2025-26 season, and there is certainly a lot to talk about, though not all in a good way.
Young Talent
Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud
I’ll begin with the easier portion: The Kings have talented young players, and it will be incredibly fun to watch them develop over the course of this season. Nique Clifford shone in the Summer League, and with the injury to Keegan Murray (more on that later), it’ll likely open up some rotational minutes for him to show us what he’s got.
In that same vein, fellow rookie Maxime Raynaud will also likely be getting some good run in the beginning of the year, likely stepping in to help out at the 4 with Murray out.
Keon Ellis
At this point, I’m not sure if you can lump Keon Ellis in as a “young guy looking to make an impact”, but Keon is 25 and has been consistently improving each year as a guy the Kings can rely on simply to make things happen. If his offense isn’t there, you know his defense will be, and seeing him check into a game will continue to be a breath of fresh air.
Keegan Murray
Also on the brighter side of things, the Kings backed up the Brinks truck for Keegan Murray, inking him to a 5-year, $140 million rookie extension. In a vacuum, this is great. The Kings lock up an obvious piece they need, ensuring that they will employ at least one 1 forward for the foreseeable future. Did Murray have a stellar year last year? Not at all; his offensive woes completely overshadowed any defensive prowess he might’ve shown.
That said, 2 years as a net-positive offensive player outweighs 1 year of terror, and his off-ball and defensive improvements continue to build.
Is it an overpay? Probably. But it’s well worth it for a team like this.
“A team like this” – that sentence begs the golden question of this season: Who the hell is this team?
Season Expectations
Three years removed from the most memorable season in Sacramento in the last 20 years, the Kings are almost unrecognizable. They’ve gone from being young and fun to being old and bland. The “Bulls West” moniker doesn’t look like it’s leaving anytime soon.
Let’s go back to Keegan Murray for a minute. He’ll be out a minimum of 4-6 weeks to start the year after undergoing surgery to repair a UCL tear in his left thumb. Thankfully, this isn’t his shooting hand, so the Kings didn’t necessarily dodge a bullet, but the bullet missed an artery, so to speak.
So, that begs the question: do the Kings have a viable answer to play the 4 for the first month or two of the season? Reader, this is where the article gets bleak.
Offense + Defense in the West
No! Unless Raynaud (a 7’1 center) or Sabonis (a 6’11 center) can adequately make up for Murray’s absence, the Kings have virtually no consistent options at forward, and even less depth. With Murray healthy, the forward depth was already a problem — it has been for the last 5+ seasons — and now it is completely barren. In a Western Conference that’s already an uphill battle even for the good teams, the Kings have fallen so far behind in terms of talent that not even the reincarnation of 2000 Chris Webber would be able to save this team.
Credit: Sacramento Kings-FacebookAfter months of trade rumours surrounding the Kings’ obvious desire for the Warriors’ Jonthan Kuminga, nothing came of it, as Kuminga re-signed with Golden State. Despite the Kings’ glaring desire to trade Malik Monk, he’s still on the roster.
Let me be very clear: Having Malik Monk on this team is a good thing. Under no circumstances have we seen Kuminga be an impact player that would benefit this roster more than Monk will. I’m not too sure why that trade ever got as close as it did, and thank the basketball gods it didn’t happen.
Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schrӧder are Kings now. Neat.
Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis will continue to be the mainstays of this team, for better or worse. Could it work? In theory, yes. The current best version of all three players could give the Kings just enough offensive spark to be a capable offensive engine.
The real question is: Is the best-case-scenario offense good enough to overcome the defense?
As I mentioned, without Murray, there are 0 defensive wings on the roster. With the additions of Westbrook and Schrӧder, that brings the total number of defensive guards on the team to, let me check my math, one. Keon Ellis. Maybe Devin Carter will add his name to that list, but for now, it’s just Ellis. Sabonis can play adequate interior defense, but the minute he gets pulled out of the paint, teams will start licking their lips. This defensive unit might be, far and away, the worst in the league.
Devin Carter
I haven’t even mentioned Devin Carter, really, either. That’s mainly because we still don’t really know what he brings to the table. He spent most of his rookie season injured, and when he was healthy, his performance was about average in his limited opportunities.
All offseason, the Kings tried to package him with Monk for Kuminga, and he’s still being talked about as one of the main trade pieces for a team expected to go nuclear at the trade deadline.
In short, this is shaping up to be one of the most forgettable seasons in a franchise that specializes in being forgettable. All the faith Kings fans have is in the rookies to take a leap and play well above expectations, but even then, would that be a fun season? Another 10-11 place finish in the west would do nothing but continue to hold the fans’ joy at knifepoint, extending a purgatory where there seems to be no desire to escape.
I want this team to be fun. I would LOVE it if this team proved people wrong and had an unexpected year of success. But even then, where would that leave us for the future? I will root for this team until the sun burns out, but the inevitable Spurs-Pacers finals that’ll happen within the next 3-5 years might break me into a million pieces.
Today, before tip-off, I’m going to sit back and enjoy the moments of calm before the storm, where all possibilities of how the future could turn out are equal. I’ll try to force myself into thinking only about the positives. I’ve been a big Russell Westbrook fan for most of his career. Seeing him play for the Kings will be fun.
I truly believe Clifford and Raynaud are talented, contributing rookies this year. I want to see a beam lit bright above Golden 1 Center. How often will we see that—who knows—but the imagery burns bright in my mind.
Let’s just not let our minds wander too much into reality.
