On Wednesday, our flagship website released its top 99 rankings for the 2024-25 NBA season. Linked here, the list is both visually appealing and well-thought-out. While no list like this can ever be perfect, this one does a great job of recognizing hidden gems and rising stars, and everyone should check it out.
Anyway, as a website dedicated to the Sacramento Kings, we couldn't help but pay attention to the fact that one player is ranked slightly over the other.
De'Aaron Fox is ranked over Domantas Sabonis
In their rankings, the Kings have the team's now former franchise icon, De'Aaron Fox, listed as the 22nd-best player in the world right now. Meanwhile, two spots behind him sits Domantas Sabonis at 24.
Of course, after a whirlwind week of trades, Fox is now with the San Antonio Spurs, and Sabonis is now the centerpiece of this new version of the Kings (with Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, and DeMar DeRozan). This may lead some to wonder: did the Kings make the wrong decision by trading Fox and keeping Sabonis?
To answer this question, we must address the obvious elephant in the room. Fox no longer wanted to be with the Kings. He wanted to be traded, and he even identified a specific team he wanted to be traded to (the Spurs). Meanwhile, from everything we know, Sabonis has never wavered in his desire to be with the Kings. So, the choice was never really a choice in the first place.
Outside of that, we at A Royal Pain have always acknowledged the fact that Fox's two-way juice at the guard spot makes him a slightly more valuable player than the great, but not elite, big man offense Sabonis provides.
However, because of the way the Kings constructed their roster (with too much ball handling and not enough size, shooting, and defense), Fox was always the more disposable piece than Sabonis. The Kings can appropriate the loss of Fox's offense by increasing the roles of guys like Monk and DeRozan. It would be much harder, though, for the team to find anyone else on their roster to do what Sabonis does at the five spot. Hence Sabonis having a higher on/off rating when both he and Fox were with the Kings.
So, at the end of the day, choosing Sabonis was not the wrong move, even if he is the slightly inferior player overall.