The only major-ish move made by the Sacramento Kings prior to the trade deadline brought De'Andre Hunter to the team. But after an almost immediate injury, Hunter was shelved for the rest of the season. With one year left on his contract, the Kings are left with an incredibly difficult decision.
There were two obvious reasons for the three team trade the Kings made with the Cavaliers and the Bulls. First, Sacramento wanted to move Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder, and Dario Saric. Second, they wanted to get forward De'Andre Hunter on the roster and put him to work as a 3&D player.
Hunter's recent time in Cleveland wasn't exactly great, so the hope in the Kings' front office was likely that a change of scenery would get him rolling. Unfortunately, they never got to find out because Hunter sustained an eye injury in his second game with Sacramento that required surgery.
Now, De'Andre is out for the rest of the 2025-2026 season, and will hopefully return for 2026-2027. Assuming he does, Hunter will be in the final year of his contract with a Kings organization needing to make a relatively quick decision as to whether they want to extend him further or not.
Hunter may not remain with the Kings
The majority of player contracts that are currently set to expire at the end of the 2026-2027 have an extension deadline on or around June 30, 2026. That's not for every player as some will have negotiated different terms. For many, that June 30 deadline is quite real and very important.
This puts Sacramento in a bit of a pickle with Hunter. Assuming June 30 is the date they have to make a decsion by, they'll be doing it with no real idea of how Hunter fits with the rest of the team or the rebuild process. There were positive comments after his first couple of practices, but that's it.
Being that he's making nearly $25 million next season and will likely want an extension in that range, it's a gamble for the Kings. The rebuild process requires flexibility in the salary cap, and Sacramento is already having problems due to the salaries of Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis.
Hunter's injury prevented the Kings from getting a good look at him in gametime before his extension deadline. If they're even the remotest amount concerned about Hunter or his contract, they may end up using him as a trade piece to free up cap space and pick up draft picks.