There are a lot of decisions to be made for the Sacramento Kings. Not only do they have two spots left to officially fill, but they also need to nail down rotations. For Alex Karaban, this season is going to be about not getting lost in the shuffle. When the offseason hits, he'll benefit from some major changes.
With the return of several players from injuries and new rookies on the roster, the bench is starting to get a little crowded in Sacramento. It doesn't help that their preseason roster still has an extra player who will be cut before the regular season. Also, the two-way players are hanging around.
That means the new crop of rookies has to work for their minutes. Well, two out of three do. Darius Acuff is the Kings' starting point guard and is going to be putting in serious time all season long. He played over 27 minutes in his first preseason game, which is what his regular season will look like.
It's not the same for either Karaban or Emanuel Sharp, though one of them has already seen much higher usage. Sharp actually had the heaviest minutes of any King against the Lakers in the preseason opener. He ended up playing nearly 30 minutes. Karaban didn't do as well.
Don't you dare forget about Alex
When it was over, Karaban ended up playing 16+ minutes in the first Lakers game. That increased to 20+ minutes in the second game. But that time has a lot to do with Keegan Murray not suiting up. That being said, there are no shortage of other forwards on the team competing for minutes.
While it's good that Karaban got those kinds of minutes in a preseason game, that's not likely to continue into the regular season. The focus will be on veterans and players already established with the Kings. Karaban will fall to the back of the pack, despite how well he did.
He finished that first game against the Lakers with three points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. That's not too shabby for his first NBA game. It's also worth noting that his stats were better than veteran forwards De'Andre Hunter and Precious Achiuwa, who each had 13+ minutes.
Hunter is an important comparison, as his contract with the Kings is up at the end of this season. If Karaban takes the minutes he gets and grows from here, Hunter won't be back for 2027-2028. Considering the flurry of goose eggs Hunter put up against the Lakers, that seems probable.
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