Anyone who talks about the Kings mentions their strange team imbalances. They have too many shoot-first guards and not enough defensive-minded playmakers.
As such, it wasn't out of the question for those same people who pay a lot of attention to the Kings to expect big offseason moves. That's not exactly what they got.
Instead of focusing on depth and balance, fans saw more guards arrive and lost one of the top secondary centers in the league. Who the Kings' got in exchange doesn't make up for this.
Trading Jonas Valanciunas for Dario Saric
When it comes to center, the Kings have one of the best in the league in Domantas Sabonis. He has been the top rebounder for the last three seasons, not to mention an offensive threat.
The man's career average is a double double, for goodness' sake.
Having a center who plays that well doesn't mean you don't need a strong backup. That's who the Kings had in Jonas Valanciunas, a big man who plays good big man basketball and holds it down on defense. The emphasis in that sentence is on the word 'had.'
One of the few big trades the Kings made was sending Valanciunas to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Dario Saric. That move certainly made Nikola Jokic happy, though it's unlikely to have the same impact in Sacramento.
Dario Saric is not who the Kings need
Since joining the NBA in 2016, Saric has bounced around the league, playing for seven different teams. His most recent tenure was with the Nuggets where he played for one season and averaged 13.1 minutes per game across 16 games.
When playing for the Phoenix Suns, Saric tore his ACL which resulted in surgery and a lot of rehab. While he can still play, his game has not been what it was before the injury. It wasn't his only major injury over the years, either.
That's not what kept him off the court during the 2024-2025 season. The Nuggets just didn't play him. He only appeared on court for them twice after the All-Star break.
Jonas Valanciunas is a far better player than Dario Saric, and the Kings' trade for him looks worse with every day that goes by. All the Kings accomplished was doing the Nuggets a favor by giving them the backup Jokic needed and absorbing the Nuggets' dead weight.