While many around the league suspected the Kings were gearing up for a major free agency acquisition entering July, Sacramento ended up largely using its cap space to retain its core. On the night of the 2023 NBA draft, the Kings traded Richaun Holmes and the No. 24 overall pick to the Mavericks to create cap space, which they used to re-sign Harrison Barnes to a three-year, $54MM contract and then later renegotiate and extend Domantas Sabonis on a five-year, $217MM deal.
Sacramento general manager Monte McNair sat down with The Athletic’s Anthony Slater and Sam Amick to discuss the Kings’ decision to retain their core and why he’s higher on their offseason moves than outsiders might be.
“(I’m) not saying that we won’t look at upgrades (or that) we didn’t,” McNair said. “Because we certainly explored all those options. But knowing that one of our options was going to be to bring the bulk of our team back (was appealing).”
After making the decision to trade Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers for Sabonis at the 2022 trade deadline, the Kings spent the subsequent summer trying to build a playoff contender that would end the club’s then-16-year playoff drought. Sacramento drafted Keegan Murray, a 22-year-old rookie who stepped into the rotation right away, and acquired Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter to surround De’Aaron Fox and Sabonis.
What followed was a 48-win season that resulted in the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, ending the Kings’ playoff drought. This summer was quieter for McNair — the Kings drafted Colby Jones and Jalen Slawson, signed Sasha Vezenkov and Nerlens Noel, and traded for Chris Duarte.
Although Sacramento didn’t make a major splash, McNair believes the addition of Vezenkov is a significant one. The Kings acquired the 2023 EuroLeague MVP along with cash from Cleveland last summer for the No. 49 overall pick in the 2022 draft. While Sacramento wasn’t sure at the time if Vezenkov would ever end up in the NBA, McNair believes the team’s stellar play helped convince him to come stateside. Vezenkov signed a three-year, $20MM deal this offseason.
McNair said that he understands the muted reaction from outsiders, but that the Kings were extremely high on Vezenkov for a while and that he’s going to turn some heads.
“A lot of people hear ‘international’ and they don’t know them, and then they come over and all of a sudden it’s (Nikola) Mirotic or it’s the Bogdanovics (Bogdan and Bojan) or (Nemanja) Bjelica,” McNair said. “Or you can obviously go back to the Pejas and Turkoglus (former Kings Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu). And once they’re over here, then people get excited about them. But I think people will be surprised, just because they don’t know him very well and what he can do.”
The Kings aren’t just banking on Vezenkov, Duarte, and the other additions to help the team improve, according to McNair. Sacramento is extraordinarily high on Murray, who showed promising upside in his first season after averaging 12.2 points in 80 games last season along with starting in all seven of the club’s playoff games. Murray also set the record for threes made by a rookie with 206.
Murray played in the California Classic this summer and turned heads rather quickly with a 41-point outing in a game against the Heat. McNair believes Murray’s ongoing development is a key to unlocking another level for the Kings.
“We know we need Keegan to take another step,” McNair said. “And one of the ways he can do that is to be more of a second or third option as opposed to a fourth or fifth option. And it’s hard to do that when you have two all-NBA guys, right? Then you have Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes. So you know, it may take some time for him to do that within the natural flow.”
While the Kings’ offseason moves signal a desire to remain in the upper echelon of Western Conference teams, McNair explained that these transactions were as much about preserving future flexibility as they were about staying competitive in the short term. The Holmes trade didn’t just allow for the Kings to bring back Barnes and extend Sabonis — it also freed up $12.8MM in 2024. Every major piece of Sacramento’s rotation is under team control beyond next season except for Monk and Alex Len. That extra $12.8MM of breathing room could put the team in position to bring those pieces back or replace them.
Additionally, the Kings only owe one first-round pick, a lottery protected 2024 first-rounder to Atlanta. Outside of that, the club has a full treasure chest of draft assets and tradable contracts to help facilitate a future move, according to McNair.
McNair understands that the Kings had extraordinary luck with health last season and that other Western teams improved this offseason, but he’s sold on what his team can achieve moving forward.
“One mistake you can make in this league is thinking your path will be linear,” McNair said. “We know it’s not going to be a straight line where we just continue to take one step at a time. Hopefully we’re taking major steps forward. But if there’s other road blocks or adversity in the way, you have to have the ability to pivot off of that, whether it’s a better fit or talent. So for us, we feel not just set up this year, but we have plenty of room to the tax line for trades (if needed).”
Slater and Amick touch base on more topics with McNair, so I recommend checking out the article in full if you’re an Athletic subscriber.
I love the attitude of Kings management. Continuity is important in basketball. So many teams fire coaches so quickly and bring in half a new team every summer. Bravo to the Kings for building upon a nice successful season. Looking for 55 wins this coming year.
What they need for playoff success is another go-to guy with 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Fox is one but Sabonis is not your other guy. He’ll score 25 in the first three quarters but when the going gets tough everyone in the building knows he’s going to be down low and go to his left. He’s not a guy you can count on to get a bucket with 2 minutes left in the game.
So who’s that other guy or even the Third could be Keegan Murray but who’s the number two crunch time guy on the kings?
Murray will grow into that role. Sabonis may not be the guy that gets the bucket but you can bet he most likely was the one that set the screen or split the double to get the ball to the guy who gets the bucket.
Honestly, I think both of these are accurate. Sabonis can’t be the guy in the clutch, at least not reliably, but it’s not really his job. Murray can potentially grow into that role, but he’s not there yet. And I’m not sure he’s close. He’s a bit tentative. It’s why I wanted the Kings to pursue Jerami Grant at PF instead of Barnes. Gives you superior production on offense without a downgrade on defense, and he has experience being the main guy.
55 wins only happens if the rest of the league is decimated by injury every time they play the Kings. This is 48 at most. They were 48 last year, where d0 these +7 wins come from?
They couldn’t beat GSW then and still can’t beat them now. If they had Haliburton it would be a totally different story.
Steph you’re off base again. Halliburton was redundancy because they were strong, very strong, in the back court with Fox and him. There were weak up front. You have to make that trade.
By the way what is Halliburton doing now in indiana? Conference semifinals? Conference finals? He’s doing nothing. Sure a good player but Kings made the right decision there. Absolutely 100%.
Halliburton is by far the more valuable player compared to Sabonis. Honestly it’s not even close
You’re right but the point is that Fox is the keeper and Halliburton had to go.
Bringing everyone back didn’t work out for the Hawks a few years ago.
The Hawks go through changes every other year. Fire another coach, get a new GM, trade for a star player, bring in bench pieces, trade starters. I don’t think they have much continuity.., say over a 4 year span of time.
I think the Kings are in an upward trend. With what they did this last season, they can grow upon and tweak and improve what they weren’t quite so good at etc.
I actually really, really like Sacramento right now. I obviously still have to look at a lot of stuff, and the season doesnt start for a long time, so there is still a lot of stuff that can happen, but I’m just saying, as J did when Denver signed Bruce Brown/traded for KCP, I like what they did to address the spot on the roster I thought was missing
Ok but they still can’t beat GSW. Who cares?
Everyone who isn’t you.
I disagree. I think Kings wasted a golden opportunity to upgrade the roster and they choose to stay put and bring back some players. Imho they should have let Barnes go and upgrade at either small or power forward (switching Murray at the position in need). Also a combo guard from the bench (that could be Duarte, let’s see what he can bring up) and I would have signed Wood in the cheap right now (something right about 4.5 mil) instead of Noel, who I’d like to see as a Warrior. Wood would have been the scoring punch they need in the frontcourt. Now with Len and Noel is no offense, only setting screens. Better defense but not good enough
Sabonis at the 5, and Murray as a smallball 5 option are offensive options at the 5…Noel was a really good fit as a backup big for Sabonis. They also have spacers at the 4 that can play next to them, so that isnt an issue either
They needed help at the 2/3 and brought in multiple options there
I want what you got lol. Murray at the 5. Let’s just have I Thomas playing center too
You question guys at the 5 that arent Kareem all the time, but obviously havent paid attention to the league and that the guys being mentioned can and do play smallball 5…aaron gordon playing smallball 5 just won a championship
You cant fathom draymond green and looney still having the length, with wingspans near 7″5, where they’re just as long as your 7 footers, and ignore that they’ve won all those times, and keep incessantly crying about bigs…
It’s so weird listening to people who have had no track record of winning championships, talk about “what they need to win a championship”. You don’t know that answer until you’ve been there before. The Kings couldn’t beat them in the playoffs and don’t even come close to clearing the Warriors anytime soon. Haliburton clears their entire roster by so far. Dumbest franchise in the league. They deserve nothing. I can’t wait to watch Steph destroy their delusional hopes and dreams. Sabonis is about to get wrecked by the new flopping rules and it will be very funny.
SAC did what it had to do. I doubt they would have gone through the process of opening up cap space for any purpose other than the two they used it for: making sure Sabonis never hit the UFA market; and providing Vezenkov with an acceptable contract. Nothing’s of value is really out there.
Of their minor moves, Duarte fits as a longer wing, if he can regain his shot, and Noel is a steal at minimum wage, if he’s healthy enough to play. Colby Jones is a disciplined and physical perimeter defender, with decent guard skills. Never figured the Kings for him.
Nothing was done to upgrade this team at all. Trade the 1st rd pick to resign their bench players. Should of let Barnes walk and get Grant or Kuzma. I understand continuity but this was your chance. At least Barnes and Noel got paid I guess. This team will flame out before the playoffs or loose in the 1st Round maybe if they get there
It’s very important to remember that Sacramento missed the playoffs for 16 years, 16 years!!!
So, for the Kings last year was amazing. I’m not surprised they brought back most of a winning team and made small moves on the edges.
Swinging for the fences with risky moves to upgrade makes little sense when you haven’t had a winning foundation for decades.
So, I understand what they did this off-season
But now the questions remain:
Was last year a fluke because of a mostly injury free season?
Are they good enough to go deeper in the playoffs?
We’ll see.
But at least the Kings can see the possibility of developing into a consistent playoff contender.
Thats a far cry from where they’ve been for many, many years.
Championship teams aren’t built quickly. It takes years. Time will if the Kings are on the right track.
While it was amazing that Not Only did they make the playoffs after 16 yrs, they won 48 games. THAT said, they still got bounced out in the first round. They had $36 +/- million to work with, to make a major upgrade, and didn’t do it. Continuity is great When you already have a Championship Team, which the Kings are not. Not enough Defense, Rebounding or Block Shots. After Sabonis, the next highest rebounding player ONLY had 4.5 rebounds per game. The Kings are not there yet.