Outside of a brief respite for the Beam Team Era, the Sacramento Kings have been going through a 20-year rough patch. Finally, the current ownership is eyeing up a full rebuild of the team. While that's a good plan, the Kings need to hang onto players like Maxime Raynaud and Nique Clifford.
A three-and-nine start is a tough place for an NBA franchise to find itself in. Given the current composition of the team and their upcoming schedule, that record improving in the future seems incredibly unlikely. Honestly, things are going to get much worse before they get better.
There has been serious talk that the Kings' ownership and front office are preparing to go through a massive rebuild. That means stripping the team down and basically starting from scratch. It's going to require time, money, a lot of trades, and some incredibly good drafting over the next few years.
On the upside, the Kings are actually half decent when it comes to the draft. Remember that they are the ones who drafted Tyrese Haliburton, De'Aaron Fox, Keegan Murray, and DeMarcus Cousins. And they did quite well in the 2025 NBA Draft, too, which will benefit them in the future.
The current rookies are the Kings' future
Maxime Raynaud and Nique Clifford both joined Sacramento as part of the recent draft. Both players, as well as the undrafted Dylan Cardwell, had solid preseasons. They have gotten limited regular-season minutes, with Cardwell now moved to the G League on his two-way contract.
The upside for Kings' fans is that both Clifford and Raynaud have started to pick up the pace. As they get more reps in, they get closer and closer to finding their respective grooves. Despite the huge loss to the Hawks, both rookies actually had solid games. It was good to see them keep fighting.
As such, Raynaud, Clifford, and Cardwell should be on the Kings' radar as part of the rebuild process. They are young, talented, hungry, and have huge upsides. If the Kings put the work into these rookies, they could become cornerstones of the rebuild process that's coming to Sacramento.
With these three players in place, both drafting and trading for new players can be done with them in mind. The Kings will still need a primary and a secondary superstar to build around. But one or both of those people could be a rookie who's already on the roster.