Report: Kings not expected to tear down roster this offseason

Report: Kings not expected to tear down roster this offseason

The Sacramento Kings had a tumultuous season, firing their head coach less than one year after giving him an extension and trading away the team’s best player for a suboptimal return. Oh, and they don’t have their own first-round pick, which was top-12 protected as a result of the Kevin Huerter trade.

They cleaned house in the front office very quickly after being eliminated in their first play-in game, firing Monte McNair and hiring former Knicks executive Scott Perry.

One of the Kings’ biggest questions heading into the offseason would be what the futures for Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan looked like. While the trio didn’t work, Perry doesn’t appear to be tearing the ship down.

“What already seems clear in the Perry Era: League sources say that the Kings do not plan to initiate an offseason teardown post-Fox,” NBA insider Marc Stein reported Sunday. “While this is certainly a flawed roster — one that Perry said requires an influx of ‘length and athleticism’ in addition to the point guard that Domantas Sabonis has openly lobbied for — there is little expectation that Sacramento plans to take any further steps away from the playoff chase in the West.

“During his news conference, Perry himself repeatedly used the phrase ‘sustainable’ when it comes to the winning environment that he hopes to construct, which suggests tweaks to the roster rather than an overhaul.”

The aforementioned trio posted a minus-5.4 NET Rating together and a minus-3.3 NET when at least two shared the floor. The fit was always clunky, even though Doug Christie was doing his best to supplement them with a combination of Keon Ellis, Keegan Murray, Devin Carter, Jonas Valanciunas, Jake LaRavia and Trey Lyles, among others.

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Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Kings are over $25 million away from the first apron and $37 million away from the second apron, per Spotrac. They have flexibility, with Lyles, LaRavia, Doug McDermott, Jae Crowder and Markelle Fultz coming off the books.

Though LaVine, Sabonis and DeRozan will be on the books for a combined $116 million next season. Murray is due for an extension; Malik Monk, Ellis and Valanciunas will be extension-eligible heading into the 2026 summer. They have decisions to make before they become even more expensive–and their current roster is nowhere near being competitive for any sort of playoff run next year.

They can still improve around the margins, but why prolong the inevitable? We’ve seen what LaVine and DeRozan are capable of on a basketball court. Sabonis isn’t going to change the calculus in a loaded West. It might be best to collect assets that they didn’t collect when they traded away their franchise star and start this thing over.

What do you think should be the Kings’ next direction? Feel free to share in the comments!

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