3 Sacramento Kings who failed to meet expectations this season 

2. Chris Duarte

Getting Chris Duarte from the Indiana Pacers over the summer was far from a big splash. It was, in fact, a pretty low-risk move, but the team did have expectations for him. 

Duarte’s best statistical season was when he was playing with Domantas Sabonis in Indiana, so reuniting him with the big man, who makes the game so much easier for everyone, seemed like a promising idea. Plus, if Duarte could stay healthy, he promised some solid two-way potential. 

The Kings desperately needed someone who would battle defensively and add some physicality to the mix. Early on, that seemed to be Duarte. Mike Brown even went as far as giving him Kevin Huerter’s starting spot for a little while. 

That experiment did not work out, however. Duarte fouled too much and struggled with his shot. Eventually, he fell out of the rotation, and Brown found his defensive game-changer somewhere else. 

The 26-year-old had some good games, but overall struggled to have a positive impact and failed to live up to the expectation that he could be a solid two-way presence off the bench. Sacramento could have really used that, especially in the wake of injuries to Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk, but in the end, Coach Brown did not trust Duarte enough to play him down the stretch. 

Now, Duarte has a chance to work on his game over the summer and can hopefully come back better next season, even if it is not in a Kings’ uniform. The Kings’ front office needs to make moves this offseason so Duarte might find a new NBA home in a trade.