Sacramento Kings’ second-round draft pick makes NBA All-Rookie Team. Here’s why
Sacramento Kings rookie Maxime Raynaud was not selected for the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend, but at season’s end he received the recognition he deserved.
Raynaud, a 7-foot-1 center who came out of Stanford as a second-round pick in the 2025 NBA draft, was one of 10 players named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Team on Wednesday.
Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks headlined the All-Rookie First Team along with the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel, Philadelphia 76ers’ VJ Edgecombe, San Antonio Spurs’ Dylan Harper and Memphis Grizzlies’ Cedric Coward.
Raynaud was named to the All-Rookie Second Team along with the New Orleans Pelicans’ Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears, Utah Jazz’s Ace Bailey and Toronto Raptors’ Collin Murray-Boyles.
The All-Rookie Team was chosen by a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Players received two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote. Raynaud received 26 First Team votes and 58 Second Team votes, tying Queen for the sixth-most points with 110.
Raynaud’s rookie campaign represents an early win for Kings general manager Scott Perry, who is trying to reconfigure an aging, expensive and poorly constructed roster. Raynaud, the 42nd overall pick in last year’s draft, outperformed his draft position more than any other player in this year’s rookie class. The other nine players named to the All-Rookie Team were all selected among the first 13 picks in the draft.
Raynaud appeared in 74 games and started 56 in place of Domantas Sabonis, who missed most of the season due to injuries. Raynaud averaged 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 57.1% from the field and 32.4% from 3-point range. He ranked eighth among rookies in scoring and tied for fourth in rebounding.
Kings coach Doug Christie and a number of Raynaud’s teammates thought Raynaud should have been chosen to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge. His exclusion was a bit of a surprise, but Raynaud did his best work in 26 games after the All-Star break, averaging 17.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 59.2% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During that stretch, he ranked fifth among rookies in scoring and fourth in rebounding.
Raynaud led all rookies with 18 double-doubles, seven more than Flagg, who was second with 11. He scored a career-high 32 points against Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on March 17. He grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds against the Pelicans on Feb. 9.
Raynaud went into training camp as the third center on Sacramento’s roster, but he quickly exceeded expectations.
“He smashed through the ceiling,” Christie said. “First of all, the kid is ready, and he wants the opportunity to continue to improve. Sometimes you get an opportunity and you’re not ready to seize it, but he has seized the opportunity.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 4:49 PM.
