What If The Kings Had Drafted Michael Porter?

All of the talk is about Luka Doncic and Marvin Bagley, but what if the Sacramento Kings had selected Michael Porter in the 2018 Draft?

For the Sacramento Kings, the 2018 Draft will always be about the decision to select Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic, and for good reason. But what if the Kings went a completely different direction that night?

What would things be like if the Kings have drafted Michael Porter?

There were pre-draft rumors that Sacramento was interested in the oft-injured but immensely talented Porter. The word was that the Kings valued him so much that they were considering picking the freshman out of Missouri with the second overall pick.

Porter was coming off of lower back surgery, or more specifically, a microdiscectomy of his L3-L4 spinal discs. The future of his health and durability was a huge question mark, and the Kings couldn’t afford to select a potential project. They had a promising young core that needed one last sure-thing building block, and Porter certainly was not that. They had just finished a year-plus long project with Harry Giles and weren’t in the position to do another.

The front office would have been crucified. At the time, Bagley over Doncic was a bad idea. But Porter over Doncic would have caused the fans to burn down Golden 1 Center.

With Bagley and Porter still being so young, it is difficult to predict which player will have a more successful career. Bagley’s career sample size is small, because he himself has turned into somewhat of an injury liability throughout his first two seasons. Porter sat out his entire rookie season.

But both players still have incredibly high talent ceilings, so the question becomes whether or not Porter would be a better fit for the Kings than Bagley has been.

What Would Things Look Like With Porter?

Last year’s team that exceeded expectations would have been thinner with Porter sidelined throughout the season, and the free agency period in Sacramento might have gone down a bit differently.

Depending on whether the Kings saw Porter as a wing or power forward might have affected a few of their offseason moves. Trevor Ariza might not get his $25 million, or maybe one of Dewayne Dedmon or Richaun Holmes finds a different home. Maybe they throw free agent money at someone like Al Horford instead.

The current on-court situation might not be drastically different. While Porter’s season numbers are modest at best, he has turned it on as of late, thanks to Nuggets coach Mike Malone giving him regular rotation minutes. Since December 29th, in games in which Porter plays more than 25 minutes, he is averaging 19 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Even those improved numbers likely wouldn’t help the floundering Kings. For this season at least.

The 2018 NBA Draft will forever be a “what if” story not only for the Sacramento Kings, but for more than a handful of other franchises as well.