3 Most overpaid Sacramento Kings players on next season's roster

Mar 21, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA;  Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) dribbles top the court during the first half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 21, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) dribbles top the court during the first half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports | Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
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1. Jalen McDaniels

Average Annual Value: 4.6 million dollars

Production Value: -6.5 million dollars

Difference: -11.1 million dollars

The most overpaid player on the Kings' roster based on our formula is Jalen McDaniels (not to be confused with his brother – one of the best role players in the league – Jaden McDaniels).

Like with the Monk situation, there is some baked-in irony here. The Kings traded for McDaniels as part of a cost-cutting move (McDaniels has one year left on his deal, while Sasha Vezenkov has two). And now, he's their most overpaid player (to be fair, it still doesn't defeat the purpose of the trade, as McDaniels will be off the books at the end of the season).

McDaniels had one of the worst Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM) scores in the league, and as a result, he had one of the worst EW outputs (-1.9 EW, 1st percentile). Based on our formula, that means that McDaniels should actually be paying the Kings to play for them (this is the part of our formula where things get wonky, as no NBA player is truly bad enough to have to pay to play).

Regardless of the validity of our formula, it is pretty clear that anything above the veteran minimum (roughly 2.7 million for someone with his experience level) is too much to pay for McDaniels' services.

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