Sacramento Kings hinting at draft needs with pre-draft workout invitees
The Sacramento Kings have been conducting pre-draft workouts over the last week, but what stands out?
24 — that’s the number of prospects that have worked out with the Sacramento Kings over the last 10 days and while nearly all are projected to go undrafted, there are some things to be learned from them.
The obvious highlight (or tall-light) of the first four pre-draft workouts is University of Central Florida big man, 7’-7” Tacko Fall. The Kings though, might have an inkling for players off the UCF team that nearly knocked off Duke in the NCAA Tournament in March, as they also hosted UCF Junior guard Aubrey Dawkins.
Dawkins, a 6’-6”, 205lb shooting guard, averaged 23 points and five rebounds in UCF’s two tournament games after averaging 15.6 points and five rebounds in the regular season. Fall may be the more likely of the two to be drafted, however, and even that’s tenuous. Fall is currently ranked as the 59th overall prospect by Tankathon, while Dawkins is ranked 60th by NBADraft.net, but isn’t in Tankathon’s top-60 prospects.
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More tellingly than Sacramento’s affinity for low-second round Knights though, is the amount, and size of their guard invitees. Dawkins stands at 6’-7”, while all but four other guard invitees stand above 6’-5” and play point guard.
While the fact the Kings are prioritizing point guards isn’t necessarily surprising, their height is.
De’Aaron Fox, the team’s starter and star point guard, stands at a respectable 6’-3”, but his backups last season, Frank Mason III and Yogi Ferrell were just 5’-11” and 6’ tall, respectively. Both Mason and Ferrell are uncertain to return, mostly because they were ineffective and inconsistent last season — forcing Bogdan Bogdanovic to play as Fox’s primary backup.
That isn’t tenable for next season, and adding a rookie in addition to an established veteran in free agency would go a long way towards shoring up what was the Kings’ biggest weakness with the bench unit last season.
Dawkins and other pre-draft workout invitees Jalen Pickett (6’-4”) and Andrew Nembhard (6’-4”) are intriguing possibilities for the Sacramento Kings with the 40th or 47th overall pick. It is, however, worth monitoring as we move closer to the draft and more pre-draft workouts take place, somebody like Nevada’s Cody Martin (6’-7”) who’s capable of creating his own shot and can shoot will likely be brought in for a workout.
dark. Next. Who can the Kings target to backup De’Aaron Fox?
I’d also fully expect the Sacramento Kings to bring in other point guard prospects like Shamorie Ponds and Carsen Edward to be brought in, as they’re two of the few true point guard prospects projected to go between 30th and 50th overall.