The Sacramento Kings made more than a few interesting moves this year, such as signing former top ten draft pick Killian Hayes to a two-year contract. What made it interesting was that Daeqwon Plowden was already playing great basketball for them and is now technically a free agent.
Since the departure of De'Aaron Fox, the point guard position has been a major issue for the Kings. At the beginning of 2025-2026, the plan was to run Dennis Schroder as the starter with Russell Westbrook as his backup. That went about as well as filling a hot air balloon with wet cement.
By the end of the season, the Kings had Westbrook as their starting point guard while sophomore Devin Carter was his backup. That actually worked reasonably well as Carter has all the talent to be a good point guard, and can now sit under the learning tree of one of the best to ever do it.
In the later part of 2025-2026, the Kings added Hayes to the roster to bring more depth to the position. While he was a little rough around the edges, there is definite potential. Sacramento sure seemed to think so as they signed him to a two-year contract after running him through his paces.
The Kings need to lock Daeqwon Plowden down
Trying to get the point guard position in shape is definitely important, but signing Hayes to a contract but not Plowden still seems like an odd choice. Plowden was on a two-way contract at the time, and playing good basketball for the Kings, particularly on defense and from the three-point arc.
To be clear, no one is suggesting that the Kings should not have signed Hayes. He and Plowden were not in competition for a spot as they play different positions. It's just that Plowden was already there, and probably should have gotten a main roster contract if one was available just like Dylan Cardwell.
The problem is that Plowden's contract was only for one year, making him a pending restricted free agent. That gives the Kings some room to maneuver if another team shows interest, but they have the draft coming and contract messes with two big names to sort out before getting to Plowden.
When it comes to Daeqwon Plowden, the Kings are in danger of him being another talented young player they missed the boat on. Hopefully, they don't regret the decision to not lock him down when they had the chance. That being said, this is dangerously close to another regret in the making.
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