It doesn't seem long ago that the "Beam Team" Kings were snapping a record-breaking 16-year playoff drought after going 48-34 and finishing as the No. 3 seed in a surprising 2022/23 season. Sacramento proceeded to lose to Golden State -- the defending champions at the time -- in a seven-game first-round series.
That Kings group, led by De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and head coach Mike Brown, went 46-36 the following season, but those two fewer wins resulted in the team falling all the way to No. 9 in the standings. Sacramento got revenge on the Warriors in the 9/10 play-in game, but lost to the Pelicans with a chance to advance as the West's No. 8 seed.
The Kings weren't as content to run back the same group in the 2024 offseason, making an aggressive three-team sign-and-trade to acquire DeMar DeRozan. It was a suspect move at the time, considering they gave up Harrison Barnes and a 2031 first-round pick swap (to San Antonio), plus Chris Duarte and a pair of second-round picks (to Chicago), in order to sign DeRozan to a three-year contract worth nearly $75MM.
After a 13-18 start to 2024/25, the Kings fired Brown and named Doug Christie -- an ex-Kings guard and then-assistant on Brown's staff -- his interim replacement. They also traded Fox after the star point guard indicated he wouldn't sign an extension in Sacramento, once again making a controversial three-team deal involving the Bulls and Spurs that saw Sacramento receive two first-round picks, four second-rounders, and the maximum-salary contract of Zach LaVine.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, owner Vivek Ranadive reportedly pushed the former front office regime to acquire both DeRozan and LaVine, who had proven to be a ill-fitting pair together in Chicago for multiple seasons leading up to the deals.
Sacramento played a little better under Christie, going 27-24 and finishing the season as the ninth seed. The team lost its first play-in contest against Dallas though, marking another early postseason exit.
The Kings parted ways with former general manager Monte McNair after the '24/25 season and quickly replaced him with Scott Perry, a former Pistons and Knicks executive who previously had a brief stint in Sacramento. Perry's first roster moves were draft-focused. He sent a protected 2027 first-rounder to Oklahoma City to land the 24th pick (Nique Clifford) in last year's draft, then added Maxime Raynaud with the 42nd pick and signed Dylan Cardwell to a two-way contract after the former Auburn big man went undrafted.
Although the Kings were reportedly open to trying to acquire Jonathan Kuminga in a sign-and-trade with the Warriors, nothing came to fruition on that front. Their main free agency move was acquiring Dennis Schröder in a sign-and-trade deal with Detroit, and they eventually signed Russell Westbrook and Precious Achiuwa to round out their roster.
Unfortunately for fans in Sacramento, the 2025/26 campaign was pretty close to a worst-case scenario for the Kings, who entered the season with playoff aspirations and finished just 22-60, tied for the fourth-worst record in the NBA. Their two highest-paid players -- LaVine and Sabonis -- combined to play just 58 games due to injuries, while a third starter -- Keegan Murray -- was limited to a career-low 23 appearances because of his own ailments.
The Schröder acquisition didn't work out, as the Kings ended up trading him in February to acquire De'Andre Hunter from Cleveland. Sacramento also sent out Keon Ellis (to the Cavs), plus Dario Saric and a 2028 second-round pick (to the Bulls) in that three-team deal. There were rumors the Kings could've gotten second-round picks for Ellis, but they instead prioritized adding Hunter, who provides a different skill set and a much pricier contract. Hunter was forced to undergo season-ending surgery after he was inadvertently poked in the eye in his second game as a King.
After a 16-game losing streak that stretched from January 18 through February 21, Sacramento was just 12-46 and had a three-game lead on the Pacers at the "top" of the NBA's reverse standings. However, the Kings somewhat inexplicably decided to keep trying to win games even though every other team near the bottom was clearly prioritizing draft positioning. They went 10-14 down the stretch to finish tied with the Jazz for the fourth-worst record.
A pre-lottery tiebreaker determined whether Utah or Sacramento would end up No. 4 in the pre-lottery order, and the Jazz ended up winning that drawing, which turned out to be highly consequential; they moved up to No. 2 in the draft lottery, while the Kings slipped from No. 5 to No. 7. If the Kings had remained at the very bottom of the standings, their lottery floor would have been the fifth overall pick. For what it's worth, the Wizards -- who went 1-26 down the stretch to finish with the worst record -- landed the first pick.
As poorly as 2025/26 went for the Kings, they still have a chance to add a potential All-Star caliber talent with the seventh pick in what's viewed as an excellent draft. They also control two second-rounders (Nos. 34 and 45) as they look to establish a young core alongside Clifford, Raynaud and Cardwell, who were a relative collective bright spot in what was largely a season to forget.
The Kings' Offseason Plans
While adding a foundational player at No. 7 will be the top priority in Sacramento this offseason, figuring out how to trim payroll isn't far behind. As of now, the Kings project to not only be a taxpayer in 2026/27 but also over the first tax apron, which is untenable given the (poor) state of the roster.
