Are Sacramento Kings an NBA playoff team following offseason moves by GM Monte McNair?
Kings general manager Monte McNair vowed to use every tool at his disposal to improve the team’s roster through the NBA draft, trades and free agency.
McNair has seemingly achieved that goal, executing a series of offseason moves to add shooting, depth and versatility, all of which should serve Sacramento well as the Kings seek to end their NBA-record 16-year playoff drought.
Sacramento brought in significant firepower this summer, drafting Keegan Murray, trading for Kevin Huerter and signing Malik Monk as a free agent. New coach Mike Brown has to find a way to improve a defense that ranked among the league’s worst last season, but the Kings could be a top-10 team at the offensive end.
Shooting was identified as one of the team’s biggest needs after the Kings finished 24th in 3-point percentage (.344) and 25th in 3-point goals per game (11.4) last season. McNair addressed that issue with virtually every move this summer. Improved shooting and spacing could optimize the dynamic duo of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, who are entering their first full season together after Sabonis was acquired in the February trade that sent Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield to the Indiana Pacers.
David Aldridge of The Athletic ranked the Kings sixth on his list of teams that made the most impactful offseason moves, suggesting Sacramento could be a real postseason contender. ESPN’s Marc J. Spears went even further on “NBA Today,” predicting Murray will win Rookie of the Year, in large part because the Kings will, indeed, make the playoffs.
“He is going to be on a playoff team,” Spears said. “The Kings are going to end the streak, have the best record of all them rookies, so Keegan Murray is going to be Rookie of the Year.”
“Entertainment Tonight” co-host Nischelle Turner said she, too, believes the Kings will make the playoffs during a recent episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq.” Shaquille O’Neal, a former minority owner of the Kings, and former Kings guard Kenny Smith scoffed at that notion, but there is enough optimism in Sacramento to give fans a renewed sense of hope with training camp set to begin Sept. 27.
Playoff picture
Only six teams in the Western Conference will earn automatic bids to the playoffs. Two more will secure spots through the four-team play-in tournament before the real playoffs begin. Simply getting to a play-in game would not end Sacramento’s playoff drought, but it would represent progress for the Kings.
Last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs qualified for the play-in ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings and Portland Trail Blazers. The Timberwolves and Pelicans advanced through the play-in to qualify for the playoffs.
Sacramento finished behind 11 teams in the West last season. Barring injuries, the Phoenix Suns, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Lakers, Timberwolves, Clippers and Pelicans all appear to be playoff-caliber teams. The Kings and Blazers are wildcards who could have to claw their way into the play-in.
The Utah Jazz is rebuilding after trading Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves and Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Jazz, Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets could find themselves in a race to the bottom with prized prospect Victor Wembanyama coming out as the projected No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft.
That leaves 11 teams vying for a total of 10 play-in and playoff spots in the West. Projecting where the Kings will finish among those teams is difficult given their new additions and the fact that Fox and Sabonis only played 13 games together last season, but in all likelihood they will be fighting for a play-in spot.
Brown, who spent the past six seasons as Steve Kerr’s lead assistant with the Golden State Warriors, believes Fox and Sabonis are already one of the three best pick-and-roll duos in the NBA. They will be even more lethal with a collection of 3-point shooters around them. Huerter, Monk, Harrison Barnes and Murray should get lots of good looks and all four are capable of shooting close to 40% from long distance.
Assessing the competition
The Timberwolves and Pelicans should be formidable again. Minnesota added Gobert to a group that features Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards. New Orleans returns CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and Zion Williamson, who missed the 2021-22 season due to injury.
The Clippers could return to the top tier in the West after playing the entire 2021-22 season without Kawhi Leonard and much of it without Paul George, who missed 51 games. The Clippers also have Norman Powell and Robert Covington, both acquired in a February trade with the Blazers, and John Wall, who signed a two-year deal with Los Angeles after reaching a buyout agreement with the Rockets.
The Lakers struggled last season with LeBron James (56 games) and Anthony Davis (40 games) missing significant time due to injuries. With better health, plus the addition of Patrick Beverley, and maybe better synergy with Russell Westbrook, they should be much improved over last season’s 33-win campaign.
The Blazers will be better after winning only 27 games last season. Damian Lillard was limited to 29 games and Josh Hart appeared in only 13 after arriving in Portland in the deal that sent McCollum to New Orleans. The Blazers will also benefit from the return of Jusuf Nurkic and Anfernee Simons and the additions of Jerami Grant (trade), Gary Payton II (free agency) and Shaedon Sharpe (draft).
The Kings should be better, too, after going 30-52 to finish 12th in the West last season, but how much better will they be? Can they outlast a team like the Blazers to earn the final play-in berth? Can they vault past multiple teams like the Lakers, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Mavericks or Nuggets to become one of the top eight seeds in the West?
Only time will tell, but some are beginning to believe.
