The draft is and always will be a crap shoot. With a few rare exceptions, most franchises do the best they can with the resources they have and hope for the best. That being said, in the 2010s, the Sacramento Kings might have had a little more than their share of bad rolls as far as lottery picks go. Looking at the decade, there is just a lot of what could have been.
5. Kemba Walker – 2011
This is a light way to start the list but it still hurts considering how this draft ultimately went for the Kings (selecting Bismack Biyombo, who was traded for Jimmer Fredette). Walker was coming off of an NCAA Championship, but there was a lot of trepidation on how his game would translate, mainly because of his size. Guards under six feet don’t have the best track record and can wear down quickly.
Still, Kemba was a known name at the time and was selected just two spots later by Charlotte at ninth overall. The Bobcats/Hornets were by no means a well-run team over that time, and still, Walker made a name for himself. Over his career, he had four All-Star appearances and one Third Team All-NBA, putting up averages of 19 points and five assists. Kemba had an electric offensive game that everyone soon found could translate on the professional level, maintaining the nickname ‘Cardiac Kemba’ he earned at UCONN.
He spent probably too long in Charlotte but had he gone to Sac instead, pairing with a young DeMarcus Cousins, who knows what might have happened. It’s a story of two stars that could have really been built around had things rolled a different way.
4. Domantas Sabonis – 2016
While today he’s an All-Star and likely All-NBA talent for the Kings, it’s a shame to think he could have been wearing royal purple a lot sooner. 2016 was another year Sacramento elected to trade down. They moved to 13th and selected a different Euro big man, Georgios Papagiannis, who, for all intents and purposes, was a bust.
Sabonis had some success in years prior but has really found his niche in Sacramento. He has been nothing short of spectacular in this, his first full season as a King. But it’s hard not to wonder how things would have gone had he been a homegrown in Northern California instead of bouncing around from Oklahoma City to Indiana before being traded for Tyrese Haliburton in 2022. Being drafted just one year before De’Aaron Fox would have been too perfect given the state of things now.
Regardless, at least this one has a happy ending. Sabonis, next to Fox, is the most important player on this third-seeded Kings team going into the 2023 Playoffs. His offensive game is truly at a higher level. Sabonis is a playmaker through and through and would be the best passing big out there if Nikola Jokic didn’t exist.
3. Klay Thompson – 2011
Looking again at 2011, it really wasn’t the Kings’ year to pass on guards. With hindsight, this one looks really bad but it’s important to keep in mind no one foresaw Klay becoming what he is today, although the signs were there. His shooting was no secret coming into the league and his size playing the two guard was a definite defensive upside. The switching defenses we see today were a direct result of his, along with Draymond Green’s, abilities and contributions to the Golden State scheme of the mid 2010s.
This is actually another great ‘what if’ pairing for Boogie. Cousins operating as he did from all over would give Klay the openings he needed to be deadly, especially because he didn’t need much of one to be effective. Still, most are skeptical Klay would be what he is today if not for the perfect situation he found in the Bay next to Steph Curry. Even so, he grew up around the game and would have found a way to be successful in Sacramento one way or another. His, shooting, defensive prominence, and unorthodox personality would have been a great fit.
Overall though it’s hard to be too hard on the Kings for missing this one because absolutely no one saw this kind of potential. NBADraft.net gave him the comparison of Marco Belinelli, a player he has far and away surpassed.
2. Devin Booker – 2015
Passing on the talent of Devin Booker isn’t the most egregious miss on a franchise player but looking at this list makes one wonder what the Kings have against drafting guards. Perhaps, they finally learned their lesson when they took Fox when they did. Booker went 13th overall so more than a few teams passed on him. The Kings, on the other hand, took big Willie Cauley-Stein, who was decent at times but is no longer in the league.
Granted it took a while for Booker to be in a winning situation, but he now has a finals appearance and a First Team All-NBA on his resume along with three All-Star appearances. At age 20, he made history scoring 70 points game in a 2017 game against the Boston Celtics.
Plus, it was known from the get-go he could score on multiple levels. In his one year at Kentucky, he shot 41 percent from three on 3.7 attempts per game. Scoring littered all his draft profiles as is plain to see now. The potential pairing of him with Fox is near unfathomable given how much their games compliment each other.
But still, this painful pass feels like nothing compared to the potential all-timer atop this list.
1. Luka Doncic – 2018
What is there to say that hasn’t been said? Yes, the Kings had De’Aaron Fox as their guard of the future but there’s no reason the two couldn’t have played next to each other. Doncic showed he can play with another talented ball-handler, Jalen Brunson, in the 2022 Playoffs, taking the Mavs to the Western Conference Finals. Would Fox have turned into what he is today? Probably not, but it could have been a special pairing.
Luka was a EuroLeague MVP and Champion before even stepping foot on an NBA court. Some of it can be attributed to Euro bias, something Luka has probably all but eradicated now, but that’s really no excuse.
Effectively, two other teams passed on the Slovenian superstar but they both have an above average or All-Star players to show for it (Deandre Ayton, Trae Young). As everyone knows, the Sac front office chose Marvin Bagley III, who is now no longer even a King. He averaged 12 points and 6.4 rebounds a game for the last place Detroit Pistons this season.
Meanwhile, although Luka has just logged his most disappointing NBA season ever, his accolades are still piling up.
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.