Now that the Sacramento Kings 2024-25 NBA Season is behind us, it is time to take stock of the players we have on the roster heading into next season. To do this, we need to discuss how they looked this year and how they can build on it in the future. So, over the next couple of days, we are going to go over each key returning player for next year and assign them a grade for their production in 2024-25.
Now, without further ado, let the grading begin.
Devin Carter 2024-25 Season
To kick things off, we will start with the Kings' 2024 first round pick Devin Carter. Carter did not have a conventional start to his NBA career.
After opting for offseason shoulder surgery to heal a lingering issue, Carter was sidelined for the first few months of the regular season, not making his NBA debut until the start of 2025.
Carter was immediately in the team's rotation after coming off the injury report, playing at least seven minutes per game in 13 of his first 16 games as a professional. However, Carter fell out of the rotation after the Kings made a trio of trades at the 2025 Trade Deadline.
He eventually found his way on the Stockton Kings (an experience he claims helped him a great deal) before being brought back up to the big leagues when the Kings got hit by the injury bug. From there, Carter remained a consistent part of the rotation. Seven of his nine highest minutes played outputs came in March or April.
In total, Carter played 36 games, averaging 3.8 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, and 0.6 SPG on 47.1% true shooting (he averaged 11 MPG). Despite his mediocre counting stats, the Kings were always better when he was on the floor than when he was on the bench (+4 on/off per 100 possessions, per Basketball Reference).
Overall, Carter had some moments where he displayed the two-way flashes that made the Kings draft him in the lottery with the 13th overall pick. He had a huge game in a March victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he performed nobly in the Kings' play-in defeat to the Dallas Mavericks.
But still, his peaks weren't as high as a lot of his peers, which is concerning given that he is an "older" rookie (23 years old) and should be, theoretically, more ready for the NBA than the average modern first-year player.
Carter does deserve some leeway because of his injury and inconsistent role on the team. However, he doesn't look like the franchise-altering piece some people may have hoped he'd be, either.