The Sacramento Kings had the best regular season that the franchise has seen in two decades but were unable to notch a playoff win under their belt. Sacramento ran into the defending NBA Champions and was able to take them to seven games but ultimately fell short against the Golden State Warriors.
Now it is time to turn the page into the offseason. This was a great season for the Kings but it cannot be a one-off. Sacramento is trying to build something here and this loss could be a launching pad for bigger things.
However, this loss could also, sadly, represent the last game several players might ever play for this franchise. And just for clarity’s sake, we are avoiding the most obvious players (like your PJ Doziers of the world) as that would be mere filler.
3 Kings players who likely just played their last game for Sacramento:
1. Harrison Barnes
As solid as Harrison Barnes was during the regular season, he simply did not live up to standards in the NBA Playoffs. Not only did Barnes miss a three that would have resulted in the Kings winning this series but he absolutely forgot to show up in Game 7 against his former team.
Barnes scored just four points on 1-4 shooting in 14 minutes. Barnes saw his playing time significantly slashed in the last two games of this series, logging 29 combined minutes in the last two. He played 33 minutes in Game 5.
While Barnes definitely is a solid player to have on a playoff basketball team, there is going to be at least one team in the NBA that ends up paying him more than they should this offseason. Sacramento doesn’t need to get in a bidding war and pay 30% over Barnes’ market value just to keep him in town.
Maybe the team can get creative and try to sign and trade him to get assets in return but either way, it would be shocking to see him back in Northern California next season.
2. Alex Len
Alex Len was merely a depth big for the Kings this past season and he was fine in that role. There really is not much to what Len offered the team this past season and there is a litany of players that can offer a very similar impact that Len offered off the bench.
As predicted, Len’s role in the playoff rotation wasn’t very big. He played only three minutes in Game 7 and overall averaged just 7.9 minutes per game in the playoffs.
Len only played in 26 games for the Kings this past season but made $3.9 million to do so. While that is not that large in the grand scheme of things, that is more expensive than a typical depth big as there are so many in the league that are available for the minimum.
It would suit the Kings to either trust in Richaun Holmes to have a bigger role next season or simply go out and get a cheaper traditional big that can provide depth. Maybe the answer is bringing Len back on a minimum deal but there definitely are better options out there to pursue.
Heck, getting younger at the center position is not a bad idea, either. Len was the third-oldest player on this team and is going to be turning 30 this summer. He already isn’t the most nimble player on the court and that isn’t going to get better with age.
3. Terence Davis
The Sacramento Kings had some of the best guard play in the entire league this past season and they will head into next season with most of that intact. Having De’Aaron Fox, Davion Mitchell, Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk is a fantastic starting point and the team can only build from there.
That will likely include upgrading from Terence Davis, who is hitting free agency this summer and might not be returning to the team. Sacramento could do the easy thing and just bring Davis back for cheap but that would be failing to innovate and improve the roster.
Davis played like a replacement-level player all season and once the playoffs rolled around his role on the team diminished and he still did not play very well. Davis saw his playing time cut by about 25% and when he was on the floor he did not play well at all.
Davis shot an abysmal 28.6% from beyond the arc, averaging just as many turnovers per game as shots he was making. When the dust settled, Davis finished with the worst Box Plus/Minus on the entire team. That is not someone you want to be complacent about and bring back.
The Kings can do better than Davis, whether that be in free agency or in the NBA Draft. There is no need to simply run it back with him because that is the easy thing to do.
5 Players the Sacramento Kings gave up on too soon
The Sacramento Kings have a long history of front-office mistakes revolving around players, and some of those include letting guys go too quickly.