With the 2025-2026 NBA Season drawing to a close, the playoffs are on the horizon. The Sacramento Kings will, of course, not be part of the postseason, considering how bad their record was. That means it's time for the front office to plan for 2026-2027 and which players won't be back.
Unfortunately, it's not likely that list will inlcude either Zach LaVine or Domantas Sabonis. Both players are still too expensive to trade, though that might change enough by the 2027 trade deadline to make something happen. For now, they'll probably remain in Sacramento.
Doug McDermott
Dougie McBuckets was having a quiet season on the bench until a raft of injuries took out a large number of Kings. He got a lot more minutes throughout March and April, putting them to reasonably good use in several games. Other times, he was still rather quiet.
A reliable three-point shooter, McDermott isn't going to be back with Sacramento next season. They need to make room on the roster for at least three new rookies, as well as full contracts for players like Daeqwon Plowden. McDermott is now an unrestricted free agent and won't be re-signed.
Drew Eubanks
Unfortunately for Drew Eubanks, he's in a similar situation to McBuckets as he's also an unrestricted free agent. The bigger problem is that he's become redundant on the Kings. At the beginning of the season, Eubanks was the backup center for Domantas Sabonis.
Now, Maxime Raynaud is the starting center with both Dylan Cardwell and Precious Achiuwa as his backups. Simply put, the Kings don't need Eubanks and were using him sparingly before his season-ending injury. He'll be a solid backup for another team, but he just doesn't fit the Kings' rebuild.
Isaiah Stevens
Honestly, this one will hurt the most, given his potential. Stevens' contract makes him a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Kings have a chance to keep him if another team makes an offer. The reality is that they're not going to keep him on his current two-way contract.
Again, it comes down to making room for new rookies, and Stevens hasn't gotten as big an opportunity to impress the way Plowden has this season. If the Kings want to keep an RFA player on a two-way contract, it's going to be Plowden. And even that's not a guarantee.
DeMar DeRozan
Despite what some people online think, DeRozan is one of the best shooters in the league and deserves a chance to win a title before the end of his career. That won't happen with the Kings as the rebuild will take five years to bear fruit, and he will likely be retired by then.
Beyond that, the Kings need to make both roster and salary cap space, and DeRozan is an easy buyout for them. The other issue is that the rebuild is moving the roster away from DeRozan. He should be on a team that's a contender now and can provide a better fit for his mid-range dominance.
Patrick Baldwin Jr.
The Kings signed Baldwin to a two-way contract in late February to help deal with all of the injuries they were facing. Like Stevens and Plowden, he's a restricted free agent as of the end of the season. He's not one the Kings are likely to keep either.
A day after Baldwin was signed, the Kings also brought Killian Hayes in on a 10-day contract for similar reasons. They ended up signing Hayes to a two-year deal as he seemed to fit the team and the rebuild strategy. Baldwin doesn't, and Sacramento isn't going to waste a roster spot on him.