The Sacramento Kings are off to a dismal start to this season, which was completely expected. 2026-2027 is about rebuilding and development, which makes the low usage of players like Nique Clifford and Alex Karaban so concerning. It's not a trend fans want to see so early in the season.
Without question, the Kings' biggest success over the past couple of years has been the draft. Both 2025 and 2026 yielded strong results. Well, 2025 certainly did. Fans will need to see the 2026 draftees in action over the course of this season to make an accurate judgment on them.
That's going to be hard to do if players aren't getting minutes. Naturally, Darius Acuff Jr. is racking up a ton of time on the court. He's the Kings' starting point guard, not to mention being basically their only point guard. Beyond that, Sacramento rookies aren't doing so well when it comes to playing time.
Emanuel Sharp has gotten on the court in all three games, though only for an average of 5.3 minutes. That's still better than Karaban, who hasn't played since the five minutes he got in game one. On top of that, sophomore Clifford cooled his heels on the bench against the Grizzlies for no reason.
Playing the young guns now is planning for the future
What little success the Kings found in 2025-2026 was because of the rookies. When most of the veterans were out injured, the younger players got real time to develop and play. They formed a group called the Beam Team, who were surprisingly effective and fun to watch.
To be fair to the Kings, it's hard to run that grouping with both Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell on the injured reserve. That doesn't mean that Clifford, Karaban, and Sharp shouldn't be out there with Plowden, Achiuwa, and Acuff, finding a rhythm together that will push this rebuild forward.
Players like De'Andre Hunter, Domantas Sabonis, and Zach LaVine are getting big minutes, despite the fact that they'll all be gone in the next season or two. On top of that, this group is not generating wins. If they're leaving soon and not winning, giving them so many minutes makes no sense.
It's especially disheartening to see Clifford on the bench when he could be picking up minutes at small forward instead of Hunter. Hopefully, that will change when Raynaud and Cardwell return. A Beam Boys reunion will inject some energy into this team and its fanbase.
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