Richaun Holmes faces uncertain future in Sacramento after Kings trade for Domantas Sabonis
Richaun Holmes suddenly faces an uncertain future in Sacramento as the Kings come out of the All-Star break after making a blockbuster move to acquire Domantas Sabonis before the NBA trade deadline.
Holmes seemed to have an established role as the team’s starting center for the foreseeable future when he re-signed with the Kings last summer, but nothing has gone as planned. The situation in Sacramento has changed with the Kings failing to meet expectations this season, and now the roster has changed, too, leaving Holmes in limbo as the organization charts a path forward.
The Kings signaled a commitment to Holmes in August when they signed him to a new four-year, $46.5 million contract with a 15% trade kicker, but now a trade looks like the most likely outcome. League sources told The Sacramento Bee the Kings worked right up until the trade deadline to explore all possibilities, but general manager Monte McNair will have to wait until this summer before he can make any more deals.
Holmes now finds himself in a backup role behind Sabonis, but interim coach Alvin Gentry reasserted that the Kings will still need Holmes when they reconvened at their practice facility Tuesday after five days away for the All-Star break.
“We’ve talked a little bit about it,” Gentry said. “He’s been here for the whole week. He’s coming in every single day, the whole week, and I think he understands that we love him as a player. You think about everything he did for us last year, and hopefully he’s over all of these crazy injuries that he’s had, and he’ll have a good 20 games.”
The Kings (22-38) are 13th in the Western Conference as they prepare to face the Denver Nuggets (33-25) on Thursday at Golden 1 Center. They are 3 ½ games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in spot with 22 games remaining. Gentry acknowledged that getting into the play-in tournament will be a “monumental task,” but the Kings still believe they can do it.
Holmes will play a part in that if the Kings can pull it off, but he will have to adjust to a new role as a reserve after starting 136 of 142 games over three seasons in Sacramento. Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said the Kings have to keep Holmes involved whether he is starting or playing a backup role.
“We want to continue to play the way we play when he was starting or when he’s coming off the bench — try to get him lobs and things like that to keep him in the game,” Fox said. “Because, I think, as any player, having a role that becomes a little bit smaller is definitely hard, but we’re all professionals, so he’s going about it in a professional way, but I think when he’s out there, just having him more involved will definitely be great for him and us as a team.”
Holmes, 28, produced career years in his first two seasons with the Kings, establishing himself as a fan favorite with his energy and enthusiasm. He averaged career highs of 14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.6 blocks last season. His numbers have been down a bit as he dealt with multiple injuries and illnesses over the first half of the season, but they have dropped dramatically since the Kings acquired Sabonis.
“I’ve talked to him some, and obviously I’ll talk to him more, but he’s a guy who’s been a starter since he got here,” Gentry said. “He started 130-something straight games, I think, so it’s an adjustment for him, too. We’ve just got to keep trying to figure it out and work it out.”
Holmes came off the bench behind Sabonis in the four games leading up to the break, averaging 3.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in 15.3 minutes per game. He went 5 of 13 (.385) from the field, unfamiliar territory for a player who ranked second in the NBA last season in field-goal percentage (.637), fourth in true shooting percentage (.669) and sixth in offensive rating (129.9).
Gentry was asked about Holmes after he was held scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting in a 125-118 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 16, the team’s last game before the All-Star break.
“Well, hopefully, when we come back from break, we can get him back to being the old Rich,” Gentry said. “It’s been tough on him. Sabonis is playing a lot of minutes and (Holmes) is not usually playing the minutes he usually plays, but some kind of way, we’ve got to get him back to playing at the level he was. We have the break to do that and then we’ll have two really good days to have two good hard practices and try to figure everything out.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
