Exclusive: Sources offer inside look at Sacramento Kings’ NBA draft prep by the numbers
A photographer from The Sacramento Bee recently spotted Kings general manager Monte McNair and his staff when they stepped out of their Golden 1 Center offices for a scoop of ice cream in the Downtown Commons corridor.
Aside from that chance encounter, the Kings front office avoided the public eye over the past few weeks while locking in, hunkering down and sometimes fanning out to prepare for Thursday’s NBA draft. Behind the scenes, sources said, the Kings have worked diligently in their preparation for the draft, conducting private workouts with more than 80 draft prospects.
The Kings have conducted more than 125 player interviews dating back to the NBA combine in June. They met with or worked out 28 of the top 35 players on ESPN’s list of the 100 best available prospects. One source described the work of McNair and his staff as smart, aggressive and focused.
The Kings go into draft day with the No. 9 pick — a hot commodity in a loaded draft with intriguing talent throughout the top 20 — but trade winds are swirling in Sacramento. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported there were “a lot of teams knocking on the door for Sacramento” at No. 9, noting there’s a high price to move into the top 10 in this draft.
Meanwhile, there were multiple reports that the Kings were discussing a deal that would send Buddy Hield to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Philadelphia 76ers and other teams were also showing interest in the Bahamian 3-point bomber. Late Wednesday night, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported the Lakers had “stepped up their efforts” to acquire Hield by adding the No. 22 pick to a package that would include some combination of Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Kings forward Marvin Bagley III, who came out of Duke as the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, is another player who could be moved in a draft-day deal.
Whether the Kings keep the Nos. 9 and 39 picks or not, they appear to have done their homework. They met with almost every player in and around their projected ranges and conducted private workouts with several highly rated prospects, including Arkansas guard Moses Moody, Turkish center Alperen Sengun, Duke forward Jalen Johnson, Gonzaga forward Corey Kispert and Tennessee guard Keon Johnson.
The Kings interviewed Australian point guard Josh Giddey and sent a contingent to Las Vegas to watch him workout with the Australian national team, a league source told The Bee, confirming a report from NBC Sports California’s James Ham. The Kings are also believed to have interest in Moody, Sengun and Michigan forward Franz Wagner. Most mock drafts have Sacramento picking Wagner at No. 9, but he is one of the few players whose pre-draft process and interactions with the Kings remained a mystery on the eve of the draft.
