Kings' monster offseason puts them one step closer to title contention

As we've been saying all offseason long, the Sacramento Kings have had one of the best offseasons in the association. And fortunately for us, the outside world is starting to take notice.

On Thursday, The Athletic's David Aldridge completed a three-part column where he ranked the offseasons of every team in the NBA. Aldridge ended up ranking the Kings sixth in the entire league!

Here is what he had to say (the full part of that series can be found here):

""The Kings snagged one of the game's great closers in DeRozan, who'll help them in so many ways. He lives to take the last shot and is a foul-drawing impresario. And while the Kings could have used another shooter to help keep the floor spaced for De'Aaron Fox, DeRozan will be a unique weapon whom Mike Brown can use in all manner of interesting ways with Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray. Speaking of Brown, good on the Kings for not messing around and making their very good head coach a lame duck going into the last year of his old deal, extending him for three years. Just holding onto Brown and Monk, who looked certain to be leaving for a more lucrative deal elsewhere, would have made for a good offseason. With DeRozan's arrival, it's approaching great.""

- David Aldridge, The Athletic

Aldridge Is Right On The Money

You can tell Aldridge has been around for a while because he knows a good thing when he sees one. Between re-signing Malik Monk to a contract well below what many expected he would get, extending Mike Brown, and executing a sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan that cost them very little (both contractually and asset-wise), the Kings knocked this offseason out of the park. And this is without mentioning the fact that they may have drafted their own version of Derrick White in Devin Carter.

(Sidebar: The Kings also made some other marginal moves that I like, such as signing undrafted free agent Isaiah Crawford to a two-way deal.)

The Kings Are Closer To Contending

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't view the Kings as inner-circle title contenders next season (unless they make another significant move). But when you factor in their additions, the boost they will receive from continuity, and the potential growth they could see from youngsters like Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis, it's not hard to imagine them being a low/mid 50-win team (keep in mind, they were a mid/high 40-win team the last two years).

Historically, title contenders are closer to that high-50/low-60 win range (see last year's Boston Celtics). The Kings are likely a notch before that. But they are much closer to that threshold than they were at the beginning of the offseason. And as fans of the team, that's all we can really ask for.