After finally making the playoffs for the first time since 2006, the Kings did not make a big splash in free agency or on the trade market this summer. Compared to other teams, they had a very quiet, underrated offseason and that is a good thing. The front office kept its cool and did not overreact.
The reality is that at this point, the Kings don’t have to make any big changes. Yes, they lost in the first round of the playoffs, but under the circumstances, it was not a bad loss. Most Kings players had never played in the postseason before, and they had to face a battle-tested, veteran Golden State Warriors team. The Kings gave them all they could handle, though, and, in the end, it took a heroic game-seven performance from Stephen Curry for the Warriors to move on.
Now, it is time to see how far this team can go with more experience and some tweaks around the edges. Accordingly, the front office made all the right moves to ensure that all their key players would be back. They re-signed Domantas Sabonis (5 years, $217 million), Harrison Barnes (3 years, $54 million), and Trey Lyles (2 years, $16 million). This does not only mean that all key pieces of last season’s successful squad will be back, but now Sabonis, Barnes, De’Aaron Fox, Keegan Murray, and Kevin Huerter are all locked up until the end of the 2026 season.
All three deals were easy decisions. Sabonis is a crucial part of the Kings’ high-scoring offense, Lyles was great off the bench, and once it became clear that it would be tough to land another younger high-level wing, bringing Barnes back was the logical choice.
Even though he struggled at certain points in the playoffs and will probably age out of his prime soon, he provides important veteran leadership on and off the court alike. Last season, the 31-year-old was still the Kings fourth-leading scorer with 15 points per game behind only Fox, Sabonis, and Huerter. Any future decline might not even be much of an issue if the Kings can slowly but surely transition some of his on-court responsibilities to Murray and the newly signed Sasha Vezenkov (3 years, $ 20 million).
Grade for re-signing Sabonis: A
Grade for re-signing Barnes: B-
Grade for re-signing Lyles: B+
New faces and frontcourt depth
The previously mentioned Vezenkov is the latest EuroLeague MVP and a true sharpshooter at the forward position. As he has never played in the NBA before, he is kind of a wild card, but there is plenty of potential there, and at 28 he is not a regular rookie, meaning that he can hopefully contribute right away as a backup four.
Lacking frontcourt depth was one of the biggest challenges the Kings faced in the playoffs. All season long, coach Mike Brown experimented with backup bigs Alex Len, Neemias Queta, Richaun Holmes, and Chimezie Metu but nothing seemed to fit seamlessly, and Kevon Looney single-handedly took them apart on the boards during the playoffs.
So, getting some extra bigs had to be a priority this offseason, and the Kings made plenty of moves to address that. After trading Richaun Holmes and the 24th pick to the Dallas Mavericks on draft day to free up some much-needed cap space, the team re-signed Alex Len to the veteran minimum and signed Nerlens Noel and Neemias Queta to partially guaranteed one-year deals.
Later this summer, they also signed three-time champion JaVale McGee almost as soon as he became available and in turn waived both Noel and Queta. McGee is coming off a disappointing campaign with the Mavericks, which is why the team decided to waive him, but the Kings obviously have faith that he can still have an impact at age 35.
All this leaves the Kings with three real centers to start the season, and the backup spot is up for grabs. Len and McGee both have a fair chance to be the first big off the bench when Sabonis needs to take a breather or is in foul trouble, but if neither works out well, Lyles might also take up meaningful minutes as a small ball five. So, the beginning of the season will involve plenty of experimenting with lineups and competition for the role.
Besides that, in more underrated offseason moves, the Kings also picked up Kessler Edward’s $1.9 million team option, traded for Chris Duarte, and drafted Colby Jones. All three are low-risk moves for players that have quite the potential.
Kessler came to the Kings at the 2023 trade deadline and played some solid minutes. While he did not have a huge impact last season, he is only 23 years old and might still grow into a reliable wing option. Duarte, on the other hand, is already 26, but he showed nice potential during his All-Rookie Second Team campaign with the Indiana Pacers, and all the Kings had to give up was two future second-round picks. So far, he has never played over 55 games in a season due to injuries, but if he can stay healthy, he could offer the Kings depth on the wing and versatility.
Grade for new additions Vezenkov, McGee, Duarte, and Jones: B+
Grade for retaining Len and Kessler: C+
What is still missing?
Training camp is set to start on October 3, which is just a little over two weeks away, and all the major offseason moves have been made. The Kings kept together the core that had such great success last season and added some size, shooting, and wing depth.
One thing they did not address, however, was defense. During the last regular season, the Kings were not a good defensive team and mostly relied on outscoring opponents. This was a tough task sometimes, however, as the Kings allowed opponents to score an average of 118.06 points per game during the regular season. That was sixth-worse in the league, ahead of only the Spurs, Pacers, Rockets, Pistons, and Hawks.
One bright spot was defensive rebounding. Per game, they only allowed an average of 12.7 second-chance points, which was sixth-best in the NBA during the regular season. On the other hand, however, the Kings also allowed 53.5 points in the paint. That ranked 26th in the entire NBA, ahead only of the Pacers, Pistons, Hawks, and Spurs, out of which only the Hawks were a competitive team.
In the playoffs, they tightened up defensively, but there still has to be long-lasting improvement, which unquestioningly has to come from within, and it is not unlikely that it will happen soon.
Mike Brown is a good defensive coach, Davion Mitchell can lock down most guards in the league, Fox is a hard worker and already improved last season after showing true commitment to the task, Malik Monk was active on that end of the floor with the second unit, and Murray has good size, matched up with some great wings already, and did not look quite as lost as most rookies do in their first NBA season.
So, while the Kings did not manage to fix all of their issues in the offseason, we can still book this offseason as a success, and fans should be excited to watch the Beam Team make some noise in the West next season.
Overall Grade: B+