Top 5 One-Year Wonders In Sacramento Kings History

Zach Randolph – 2017-’18

Zach Randolph was the best player on the 2017-’18 Kings, if only by default. He was signed as a free agent and was automatically the go-to option for a Kings offense that didn’t have a lot of other options.

The Kings were in the middle of an identity and culture shift after the departure of DeMarcus Cousins the previous season. De’Aaron Fox was in his rookie year and had yet to develop into the player he is today. Bogdan Bogdanovic was in his first year and Buddy Hield was coming off a mediocre rookie campaign.

While Randolph was the go-to guy, the 36-year-old was not the elder statesman of the team. That distinction went to Vince Carter, who is an honorary member of our list. But Randolph was the on-court leader, and despite being fifth on the team in minutes per game, he was the leading scorer on the season with a whopping 14.5 points per game. For some reason, the 27 percent career three-point shooter shot 2.5 long balls per game. He did, however, sink a career-high 34 percent of them.

Randolph didn’t make the Kings any better. He was a stop-gap in a developmental season, a scoring option on a team full of unproven players. He played sparingly down the stretch, giving the new guys time to develop for the next season.

Randolph was technically a member of the Kings the next season as well, though he wasn’t exactly a part of the squad. The team essentially gave him a check and told him to take a vacation, and then included him in the salary dump trade to the Mavericks that brought over Harrison Barnes.

When we look back in fifteen or twenty years, Zach Randolph may be the most forgotten leading scorer in Sacramento Kings history.