Sacramento's current roster construction leaves a lot to be desired. It's not just about defense or offense, either. The entire NBA is getting younger, faster, and bigger, while the Kings are older, slower, and smaller. That is the root issue with everything wrong with the team.
It's impossible to deny that the Sacramento Kings have some incredible players on their roster. Zach LaVine is one of the top shooters in the league. Domantas Sabonis is a rebound fiend and a verified double-double machine. And Russell Westbrook is one of the all-time greatest players in the league.
The root problem with the roster is its age and size. For the Kings, the average age of their team is 27.8, and they have six players who are 30 or above. On top of that, Sacramento has DeMar DeRozan, who is now in his 17th season, and Russell Westbrook, who is in his 18th season.
When it comes to size, the Kings also have some issues to address. Sacramento has an average height of six feet, seven inches, with an average weight of 215 pounds. That puts the Kings roughly on the NBA averages, as well as being on par with the NBA age average.
The average is changing and the Kings need to get on board
As it stands right now, the Kings being average in these stats is not getting the job done. That's not going to be good enough as the league is heading into an era of versatile big men who can do it all, like Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama. The Kings are definitely not there yet.
Sacramento's starting center is Domantas Sabonis, a generally effective scorer and rebounder who is weak on defense. On top of that, their team lacks size. Being average means that about half the league is running bigger and younger rosters, and the Kings are already getting left behind.
In the first game of the season, the Houston Rockets included four players at six feet, 11 inches. That was the tallest starting lineup in the history of the NBA. That's going to become more and more common as the league continues to progress.
The Kings are supposedly embarking on a full team rebuild over the next couple of years. They are going to need a roster that's both younger and bigger than what they're fielding right now. If not, Sacramento is going to find itself continuing to struggle.