Kings Notes: Achiuwa, Hayes, DeRozan, Tanking
Precious Achiuwa has revived his career in Sacramento this season and he’s hoping it’s the start of a long-term relationship with the franchise, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee writes in a subscriber-only piece. The 26-year-old big man had 20 points and 11 rebounds on Sunday as the surprisingly hot Kings defeated Utah for their fourth win in the past five games.
Achiuwa came to Sacramento on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract in November after Miami waived him before the start of the season. He has become a consistent presence in the starting lineup and is averaging 9.2 points and 6.3 rebounds in 61 games while shooting 53.5% from the field. Achiuwa will be a free agent again this summer and hopes to re-sign with the Kings.
“I love Sacramento,” he said. “The city has embraced me. The team has embraced me, the organization from the front office to my teammates to the coaching staff. I would love to be here.”
There’s more on the Kings:
- Killian Hayes has also benefited from a move to Sacramento, as the former lottery pick agreed to a two-year contract on Sunday after completing a pair of 10-day deals. Hayes has quickly become a member of the rotation and appears to be a lineup fixture for the rest of the season, giving him some stability after being out of the NBA for most of the past two years. “This is what I’ve been working for all year to get back in the league,” Hayes said, per Anderson. “I’m just super grateful to be here.”
- There was some speculation that DeMar DeRozan might be moved before the trade deadline, but he wound up staying put like most of the Kings’ other veterans. He has been on a scoring tear lately, including a season-high 41 points on Sunday, and coach Doug Christie is happy to still have him to anchor the offense, Anderson adds. “He’s like a comfy blanket,” Christie said. “It doesn’t surprise me. You watch him go about his business, you watch him work and then you see him play, it’s the same thing.”
- Christie repeated his opposition to tanking during Sunday’s pregame press conference, which is posted on NBC Sports Bay Area. Christie explained that losing intentionally is detrimental for young players on the team and pointed out that Dallas won the lottery last year after defeating the Kings in the play-in tournament.
Kings Sign Killian Hayes To Two-Year Deal
5:00 pm: The deal is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
11:55 am: The Kings and free agent guard Killian Hayes have reached an agreement on a two-year contract, agent Yann Balikouzou tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft, Hayes just completed a pair of 10-day contracts with Sacramento – the second expired on Saturday night – and the team wasted no time in working out a deal to hang onto him.
In 10 appearances during his first 20 days as a King, Hayes posted averages of 3.8 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.0 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game, with a .269/.208/.833 shooting line. Despite those modest numbers, the Kings seem to have like what they’ve seen from the 24-year-old, who has registered a positive plus-minus rating with Sacramento and has helped the team win five of its past 10 games.
While the exact details of Hayes’ new deal haven’t been specified, it will likely be a minimum-salary contract. It will also be non-guaranteed for 2026/27, per James Ham of the Kings Beat (Twitter link), giving the Kings some roster flexibility this offseason.
Hayes will fill Sacramento’s 15th standard roster spot, giving the team a full squad heading into the home stretch of the season.
Keegan Murray (Ankle Sprain) Out At Least Two More Weeks
While Keegan Murray is making progress in his recovery from a left ankle sprain, he’ll be out at least two more weeks, which is the next time he’ll be reevaluated, the Kings announced in a press release (Twitter link via James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com).
After appearing in 80, 77, and 76 regular season games over his first three years in the NBA, Murray has been beset by health problems in 2025/26. The fourth-year forward’s season debut was delayed until November 20 after he underwent surgery on his left thumb; he later missed a pair of games in December due to a mild calf strain; then he missed several weeks with a moderate left ankle sprain.
Murray re-injured his ankle on Feb. 25, his fourth game back from the initial sprain, which he suffered on Jan. 4. Murray has been limited to 23 appearances this season, averaging 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.0 steal on .420/.277/.776 shooting in 34.5 minutes per game. Those 1.6 blocks per game would represent a career high for the former Iowa standout, though his FG% and 3PT% are at career low rates.
The Kings also provided an update on Devin Carter, who was injured during his career night on Tuesday. The second-year guard underwent an MRI on his right calf, which revealed a deep soft-tissue contusion. Carter is considered day-to-day, per the team.
Sacramento is currently 16-51, the worst record in the Western Conference and second-worst mark in the league.
Kings Notes: DeRozan, Westbrook, Cardwell, Hayes
It has been a challenging season for Kings forward DeMar DeRozan, who made it clear at the end of January that he’d prefer to be playing more meaningful games this late in his career. The 36-year-old erupted for a season-high 39 points (on 17-of-22 shooting) in Wednesday’s loss to Charlotte, passing Spurs great Tim Duncan for 18th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“I don’t take nothing in this game for granted,” said DeRozan, a six-time All-Star in his 17th NBA season. “I never would have imagined coming into the league I would be playing this long, I would have the opportunities I’ve had, I would accomplish things I have.
“Me just being a fan of the game my whole entire life, it’s an honor to be in a position to accomplish any type of goal in this league. It’s crazy to be in that position and I don’t take none of this for granted. I just love playing basketball at the end of the day, and at the end of the day, you look up and things like this happen. It’s definitely cool.”
Here’s more from Sacramento:
- In an interesting story for The Sporting News, Stephen Noh takes a look at “the hidden side” of Russell Westbrook, noting that the veteran Kings guard is often hostile towards the media but is beloved by teammates and widely considered one of the kindest players in the league off the court. Rockets center Clint Capela called the former league MVP the “most genuine superstar” he’s played with. “Very happy person. Very nice guy,” Capela told Noh. “Always smiling, always joking around. I was like, ‘Wow, I never thought that a superstar could also be that great of a guy.'”
- Rookie big man Dylan Cardwell, who has been out since February 11 due to a left ankle sprain, was a full participant in Friday’s practice, writes James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com. Cardwell isn’t on the injury report ahead of Saturday’s contest at the Clippers, which means he should be active after missing 11 straight games.
- Killian Hayes discussed his time with the Kings on Friday, as Sean Cunningham of KCRA News relays (Twitter video link). “It’s a fun group,” Hayes said. “I think we’ve got great chemistry off the court, and on the court, we’ve gotta keep playing hard, keep playing for one another.” The sixth-year guard said he’s trying not to think about his contract situation — his second 10-day deal with Sacramento expires on Saturday night, and the Kings will have to either let him go or sign him to a rest-of-season contract at that point.
Pacific Notes: Kerr, Lakers, Clippers Investigation, Kings
With Jimmy Butler out for the season due to an ACL tear and Stephen Curry sidelined by a knee injury, Warriors coach Steve Kerr feels the need to send a positive message to his team, Matt Leland of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. Explaining his animated reaction to a Kristaps Porzingis three-pointer on Tuesday, Kerr made his comments during an interview on the 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs” show.
“I’m just trying to really fire the guys up,” Kerr said. “We were, I thought, demoralized at times [in Tuesday’s loss to Chicago]. The Bulls had a big run at the end of the second quarter and I could just feel the air leaving our balloon. Without Steph, without Jimmy I think I have to take on more responsibility, just keeping the guys’ spirits up, that sort of thing. So, that’s probably what you were looking at.”
Golden State has lost three straight and five of its last six games.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers have shown progress on the defensive end in their last two outings, holding the Knicks to 97 points and the Timberwolves to 106 points. Is their defensive improvement sustainable? Even head coach JJ Redick isn’t sure about that. “We’re not gonna be the No. 1 defense in the league,” he said, per Law Murray of The Athletic. “But to be above average, have those two performances against those two teams back-to-back, is really encouraging.” Redick said the team especially needs to improve its rim protection. “Just the consistency of our low man, you know,” he said. “We’re one of the worst teams at defending the rim. That’s not on our bigs, that’s on everybody. So we’ve had stretches, I thought, if you look at our good defensive games, our low man’s really active, our low man is giving paint consequences.”
- The NBA’s investigation into allegations that the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard used a no-show endorsement deal with fintech company Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap has dragged on since September. Investigative journalist and podcaster Pablo Torre, who originally broke the story during the offseason, continues to find more evidence pointing to wrongdoing (YouTube link). Torre uncovered that a 2023 whistleblower complaint was made to the Security and Exchange Commission, accusing Aspiration of fraudulently misusing funds to assist the Clippers’ efforts to circumvent salary cap restrictions to pay star Leonard “an incentivized bonus,” as Mike Vornukov of The Athletic relays.
- The Kings became the first Western Conference to be officially eliminated from playoff contention. Their loss to the Hornets on Wednesday made that a reality, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith notes (Twitter link). Indiana was the first team to get mathematically eliminated this week.
Pacers First NBA Team Eliminated From Postseason Contention
The Pacers became the first NBA team formally eliminated from postseason contention after they lost at Sacramento on Tuesday night and Charlotte picked up a victory in Portland, tweets Tony East of Circle City Spin.
Indiana has lost 10 straight games and currently has the worst record in the league at 15-50 (Sacramento improved to 16-50 with the win). Charlotte holds the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference at 33-33, and since the Pacers only have 17 games remaining, they have no way to make up the 17.5-game deficit.
As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes (subscription required), the Pacers were up 20 points with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, but struggled the rest of the way. This is just the 10th time in the past 37 seasons that Indiana won’t make the playoffs.
“Crazy game,” Carlisle said. “End of the third quarter obviously was a big problem for us and their bench just played an unbelievable last 15 minutes of the game. Just tremendous. So you gotta give them a lot of credit. Their shot-making and aggression — all that — was big-time. We had some pretty good looks. They didn’t go in. That was disappointing. We did an awful lot of good things in the first two-and-a-half quarters, but unfortunately the last 18 minutes count.”
The Pacers have been decimated by injuries all season, Dopirak notes. As long as they hold a bottom-three record when 2025/26 ends, they’ll have a 52.1% chance at landing a top-four pick and 14.0% odds for the No. 1 selection. That’s noteworthy, because the 2026 first-round pick they traded to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac is top-four (and 10-30) protected.
The star of the game for the Kings was Devin Carter, who didn’t play at all in the first half, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. The 2024 lottery pick erupted for 22 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a career-high 24 points, five rebounds and three assists in only 16 minutes of action.
“It felt great, especially my teammates trusting me, putting the ball in my hands,” Carter said. “They set me up for success, so it felt great.”
Carter admitted it’s been a tough season, as he hasn’t played much in year two. He has only made 27 appearances in 2025/26 and is averaging just 14.3 minutes per game.
“I haven’t been in the rotation much, so I wasn’t expecting too much,” Carter said. “Just trying to put my work in and stay ready.”
Carter has been ruled out of Tuesday’s game vs. Charlotte due to right calf soreness, Anderson tweets. Fellow guards Russell Westbrook (right quad contusion) and Malik Monk (right ankle soreness) will be sidelined as well.
Kings head coach Doug Christie voiced his opposition to tanking prior to Monday’s game, Dopirak adds.
“This is just me personally, I don’t mess with the game,” Christie said. “You do not mess with the game. You let the game do what it’s gonna do. There has to be a respect for the game and how you go about the game and how you play the game. In my opinion, stuff like that scars the players.
“How can I hold you accountable when there was a point where I was like, ‘Eh…’ You know, that’s just me. In many ways, we have to continuously protect our game and make sure that when we lace them up and we go out there, we’re giving our all always.”
Checking In On Open Roster Spots
As our tracker shows, the following teams currently have one spot available on their 15-man standard rosters:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Orlando Magic
- Toronto Raptors
The Nets have an opening after they decided not to re-sign rookie forward Grant Nelson, whose 10-day contract expired on Sunday night. They’re still operating below the salary cap, so there isn’t anything preventing them from signing another player.
The Warriors and Rockets are operating in luxury tax territory, and while they have plenty of room below their hard caps to add a 15th man, they’re probably not all that eager to increase their projected tax bills by bringing in someone who won’t play at all.
The Magic and Raptors are both operating less than $1MM away from the tax line, but each team has enough room to bring in a minimum-salary veteran on a rest-of-season contract without becoming a taxpayer, so if there’s someone out there they like, they don’t necessarily have to wait.
Toronto is expected to hold off at least a few more days though, in order to avoid a scenario in which the team wins a couple playoff series and Immanuel Quickley’s $500K bonus for making the Eastern Conference Finals pushes the Raptors’ salary over the tax line.
The Kings and Jazz are worth mentioning too. Sacramento’s 15th spot is currently held by Killian Hayes, whose second 10-day contract will expire on Saturday night. Utah, meanwhile, has two players — Mo Bamba and Andersson Garcia — signed to 10-day deals through next week.
Finally, there’s one notable team not mentioned in the list above because they technically have three open 15-man roster spots, not just one. That’s the Celtics. Boston is in the midst of executing an intricately timed plan to meet the NBA’s rules related to roster minimums for the rest of the season while narrowly staying out of the tax.
It’s a safe bet that Boston will stick with just 12 players for the maximum allowable 14 days before making a couple roster additions in mid-March. Current two-way player Max Shulga will likely get a promotion at that time for financial reasons (his rookie minimum salary wouldn’t be subject to “tax variance“). If all goes according to plan, the Celtics will be able to sign a 15th man on the last day of the regular season without surpassing the tax threshold.
Checking In On 10-Day Contracts
After Mo Bamba‘s 10-day contract with the Jazz expired on Saturday night, there are currently just two active 10-day deals around the NBA, as our tracker shows. Those deals are as follows:
- Brooklyn Nets: Grant Nelson (runs through March 8)
- Sacramento Kings: Killian Hayes (runs through March 14)
Bamba, the sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, was technically active six times for Utah but only made two appearances with the Jazz. He averaged 5.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.0 block in 19.0 minutes per contest during road games in Philadelphia and Washington.
Bamba was on his first 10-day deal with the Jazz, who could re-sign him to a second 10-day pact if they so choose. At the expiration of that theoretical second 10-day contract, Utah would have to either let the veteran center go or sign him for the remainder of the season.
Hayes, another former lottery pick, is on his second 10-day agreement with Sacramento after re-signing with the Kings on Thursday. The 24-year-old point guard’s deal runs through this Saturday.
As for Nelson, the former Alabama forward will become a free agent on Sunday night. The seven-footer appeared in four games with the Nets, averaging 4.3 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in 8.8 minutes per contest.
Head coach Jordi Fernandez discussed Nelson’s 10-day contract ending prior to Saturday’s game at Detroit, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
“[He’s] a very good basketball player. Everything he does, he does it well,” Fernandez said. “He doesn’t over-dribble or try to do too much. Everything is efficient. His size is great. He’s a multi-positional defender, very good play-maker, fast. All of those things have been very good. It translates to this level. Obviously right now we have one more game and then after that we’ll have to discuss and see what the next move going forward is.”
Kings Notes: Monk, Achiuwa, Westbrook, Christie
Speaking to Sean Cunningham of KCRA News after Thursday’s loss to New Orleans (Twitter video link), Kings guard Malik Monk admitted 2025/26 has been “probably the craziest year of my career.” Like several veterans on the roster, Monk’s name came up in several trade rumors leading up to last month’s deadline, but he ultimately stayed put.
“It’s up and down,” Monk said. “And of course we losing games too so that makes it even worse.”
When asked if the tumultuous nature of the season has prepared him for “almost anything at this point,” Monk heartily agreed.
“Hell yeah,” Monk said. “It can’t get no worse than this. … It can prepare you for anything. The young guys are learning a lot, the vets are trying to teach them.”
Monk told Cunningham he had a simple individual goal for the remainder of the season.
“Get through healthy,” Monk said. “Just get through this s–t, man. Get to the summer time.”
Here’s more from Sacramento:
- The play of forward/center Precious Achiuwa has been a bright spot for a Kings team which has the worst record (14-50) in the NBA, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. The former first-round pick, who signed with Sacramento in early November after being waived by the Heat prior to the start of ’25/26, tied his career highs with 29 points and five assists on Thursday while also contributing 12 rebounds. Achiuwa, a six-year veteran, has played some of the best basketball of his career over the past eight games. “There’s a level of energy that he brings, and when he does that on a consistent basis, he changes a lot of different things,” head coach Doug Christie said. “He’s a grown man, rebounds, driving, running the floor, his physicality on defense. Maybe the biggest thing was I didn’t really realize was how versatile he is defensively. He’s guarded point guards, but he can also guard (centers).”
- Point guard Russell Westbrook fired back at media members for their criticism of the team following Thursday’s loss, as Cunningham of KCRA News relays (Twitter video link). Westbrook declined to go into specifics and said he wasn’t upset about criticism of him personally, but rather his teammates and the organization at large.
- At his own post-game press conference, Christie said he didn’t pay attention to media coverage of the team, preferring to focus on his doing his job and not external distractions (Twitter video link via Cunningham). Christie said the team was understandably frustrated with its results this season. “We’re all frustrated,” he said. “We want to win games. There’s just the short stints where you drop the rope. You don’t box out. You allow second-chance points. You close out with your hand down.”
NBA Explores Launching Streaming RSN Hub For 2026/27
The NBA has let its teams know that there’s a chance it will introduce a streaming hub for local broadcasts as soon as next season, sources tell Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. Many clubs’ local broadcasts have been thrown into disarray due to the fact that Main Street Sports Group, which has regional TV agreements with 13 NBA teams, is likely headed for insolvency.
That group of 13 teams – which includes the defending champion Thunder, along with the Spurs, Pistons, Cavaliers, Clippers, Heat, Timberwolves, Magic, Hornets, Hawks, Pacers, Grizzlies, and Bucks – would be the most likely candidates to be involved in the NBA’s new streaming hub.
As Friend points out, there are a few more teams (the Suns, Jazz, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, and Pelicans) who have already abandoned their respective regional sports networks and could be candidates for the new venture as well. On top of that, Friend’s sources suspect the four teams who have deals with NBC Sports – the Celtics, Warriors, Sixers, and Kings – could be in play due to a sense that NBC may want out of the regional sports network business.
The other eight teams broadcast games on their own networks, which doesn’t necessarily rule them out, but would make it more complicated for the league to negotiate deals with each of them.
While it remains unclear exactly what the new setup will look like, Friend hears that the NBA has engaged in talks with potential partners like YouTube TV, DAZN, Amazon, and ESPN as it considers a package that might resemble NFL Sunday Ticket.
The total number of teams that opt in figures to be a major factor in determining the viability of this new streaming hub, Friend writes, citing sources who think the NBA would need to guarantee a broadcast partner a certain threshold of clubs in order to secure a significant deal. With enough teams involved, industry insiders believe an agreement would be worth billions, Friend adds.
Due to its financial woes, Main Street has missed payments to its teams on January 1, February 1, and March 1, per Sports Business Journal. The NBA originally didn’t plan on launching this sort of streaming hub until down the road, Friend writes, but it has become a higher priority in order to help teams make up for those lost rights-fee payments.
Although the league has informed its teams that it’s trying to get something together for the 2026/27 season, there’s no guarantee that will happen, so Main Street clubs have been advised to explore lining up a bridge deal for their local broadcasts. Those teams are exploring both linear and streaming options, Friend notes.
Friend also points out that, since a new league-wide streaming hub may overlap with League Pass, the NBA may need to either restructure League Pass or eliminate it all together down the road. Amazon currently distributes League Pass as part of its national broadcast agreement with the NBA, so those negotiations would be simpler if the league ultimately strikes a deal to make Amazon its partner on a new streaming RSN.