What’s the worst case scenario for the Sacramento Kings next season?

Heading into the 2019-20 season with high expectations compared to other years, what’s the worst that can happen for the Sacramento Kings? And no, it’s not missing the playoffs.

The Sacramento Kings have high expectations for next season — playoff aspirations, even — but what’s the worst that could happen?

Missing the playoffs would certainly be a scenario most Kings fans wouldn’t want to see for a fourteenth straight season, but it wouldn’t be the worst case for the team. The worst case, is much more paralyzing for the Kings’ future, and demoralizing for fans.

It is, however, a multi-faceted failure on multiple levels, and is therefore unlikely to happen. And it doesn’t include injuries, though that’s a terrible scenario in its own right.

First, let’s start with the coaching side of things. Everyone is well aware Head Coach Luke Walton is still under a sexual misconduct investigation by both the Sacramento Kings and NBA, and a sexual misconduct allegation is serious far beyond it’s on-court implications, so that’s not part of the reason Walton’s hiring could prove to be a disaster.

Sacramento Kings General Manager Vlade Divac zeroed in on Walton immediately after the team’s firing of Dave Joerger, and therefore didn’t interview as many candidates as he maybe should have. From a basketball standpoint though, Walton appears to be the perfect fit for this Kings team — better than Joerger. But what if he isn’t?

If Walton’s coaching style doesn’t mesh with the roster, or he misuses the players under his command this season goes from promising start to the future to an abject failure and, likely, another coaching search in the next season or two.

Walton had to contend with a deeply flawed roster during his time in Los Angeles, so it’s hard to accurately predict just how his style will translate to the Kings’ until we see them in preseason action. Walton has teams play at a fast pace, but has made some questionable moves regarding personnel and has struggled to build a good coaching staff.

At least the concerns about coaching staff construction appear to have been quelled, but a majority of the assistant coaches the brought in are incredibly inexperienced at the NBA level, so whether or not they’ll pan out remains to be seen.

Then, there remains the possibility last season was an aberration.

Not in sense of team success, but rather in the success and breakouts of De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.

Both Hield and Fox had breakout years last season, and Fox’s case was fairly unprecedented. So what if his — and to a lesser extent Hield’s — career-years were just a fluke? Now that’s certainly an unlikely scenario, but it’s not entirely unheard of. Remember Jerry Stackhouse’s 2000-01 season? Andrew Bynum? Linsanity?

Fox, fortunately, isn’t likely to follow in those footsteps, and Hield’s shooting isn’t going to suddenly disappear, but the absolute worst case scenario would be it does. If Fox’s athleticism somehow isn’t as explosive next season, or his shooting and finishing ability regresses to rookie-level poor, the Sacramento Kings are doomed.

Good news? That’s about as likely as the New York Knicks winning the championship next season.

In all likelihood, the Sacramento Kings won’t face a collapse of cataclysmic proportions on the court next season. It’s possible they win fewer games than they did last season, but that wouldn’t be a disaster. As we all know, rebuilding can be a long process — and the Kings are still in the middle of it.