The Sacramento Kings made headlines and history this past 2022-23 NBA season for snapping the longest postseason drought in the history of The Association, 16 straight missed playoffs. The Kings were able to find their groove and keep it through the year finishing as the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
The Cinderella season of sorts was ended by the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in a hard-fought seven-game series. Sacramento had a tremendous season and will try to build that success into consistent winning. That being said, the Sacramento Kings have two disastrous mistakes to avoid this summer.
1. Letting Trey Lyles walk
Sacramento is a relatively young roster, and Lyles, a veteran still in his physical prime, is a do-everything guy on both ends of the floor. He is a taller, thicker wing, standing 6 feet 9 inches and weighing 234 pounds, which is optimal for defending opposing teams in the playoffs. Coming into the season, the Kings had an average roster age of 26.
The team barely cuts in that regard, and with that youth, the Kings could very well use Lyles. He is 27 years old, just finished his eighth season, and is in his physical prime, which fits with Sacramento’s full-throttle offensive style.
The point forward out of Kentucky has results to show for being a helpful piece for the Kings. Lyles has improved as a three-point shooter since arriving on the team in the trade from Detroit. For his career, Lyles is a 34.2 percent three-point shooter but is up to 36.3 percent since arriving in Sac-Town.
Lyles meshes well with this core of players. He gives hints of a player like Kyle Anderson because of their physical builds and lack of speed. The point is that the archetype of player Trey Lyles is worth keeping for Sacramento. A nice little cherry on top to keep Lyles is because he was the return in the Marvin Bagley III trade at the 2022 trade deadline, as the Kings were on the winning end of that deal.
2. Standing Pat on the roster
The second disastrous mistake to avoid is standing pat on their roster. The team can not afford to get worse. That would be completely unacceptable. Also, the team can not just run it back with this same group. For the Kings to make the necessary leap, roster changes must be in order.
The Kings souped up the team with a process that started at the 2022 trade deadline with the Tyrese Haliburton trade that netted Domantas Sabonis. Then other building blocks were brought in: Keegan Murray, Malik Monk, and Kevin Huerter. The Kings then rode out the rest of the season with no significant roster changes.
The Kings have $23 million in cap space which is not much. That means the front office must get creative to improve the roster. The team has enough cap space to make one or maybe two impact moves. The good thing for the Kings is the 2023 free-agent class is not full of headline-grabbing players.
It is full of a nice chunk of role players, which the Kings will be looking for. They want players that can fill in the hustle role and be ready to do any task asked of on the court or be a specialist of some sort. The team needs to upgrade the roster, no matter what, to continue their success.
The Sacramento Kings finally made it out of the NBA purgatory this past season. Now the expectations will be unlike they have ever been before.