The 2026 NBA Draft is done. The NBA Summer League is over. Free Agency is rolling. And the Sacramento Kings have two main roster spots they literally cannot afford. The smart move now is to leave them vacant, avoid the penalties, and start planning for the 2027 trade deadline.
As it stands right now, the Kings have 16 players on their active roster. That includes 13 players signed to standard NBA contracts as well as three signed to two-way contracts with their G League affiliate. That would seem to indicate they have space for two more players. Not so fast, skippy.
Sacramento is too close to the first apron to sign anyone else. Stepping over that line means penalties that could hamstring the rebuild in ways that could take a long time to iron out. A team like the Knicks with a set championship roster can do that. A basement team like the Kings simply can't.
Does that mean the Kings will go into the next season undermanned and outgunned? Not at all. In fact, leaving those two spots vacant represents a huge opportunity for Sacramento to give young players more minutes, assess two-way players on the court, and save some money along the way.
Standing pat is a bigger opportunity for the Kings than it seems
The Kings have several players who are rookies, sophomores, or getting on the court as full NBA players for the first time. These guys need minutes and lots of them to develop. It's hard to do that if two other players are also competing for the exact same minutes in the rotation.
Additionally, the players filling those two bench spots likely wouldn't do much. They belonged to now free agents Drew Eubanks and Doug McDermott, who rarely got minutes. Sacramento would be better off directing that money, time, and resources in other directions on the roster for now.
Keep in mind that salaries are prorated throughout the season, meaning they get cheaper as the season goes on and easier to sign. As the Kings get closer to the trade deadline, that means there may be financial space to make roster additions at that time, assuming any make sense.
Plus, two-way players can still be part of the main roster. Jonathan Mogbo, Adam Flagler, and Isaiah Stevens will get plenty of opportunities to play on the Sacramento squad if they don't fill those two spots. Frankly, not adding anymore players seem like both the only move and the smart move.
Add us as a preferred source on Google