Kings projected lineup and rotations heading into 2023-24 season

Sacramento Kings starting center: Domantas Sabonis

There should be no surprise here that Domantas Sabonis will be the Kings’ starting center. In the best season of his career, he averaged 19.1 points, a league-high 12.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists on 62/37/74 splits being selected to his third All-Star team and was selected to All-NBA 3rd team.

The best way to describe Domantas Sabonis’ game is Nikola Jokic but isn’t as willing to shoot from outside of 10 feet. Sabonis at 7-foot is an extreme talent and the Kings’ most important player. Sabonis was second in the NBA in total win shares with 12.6 and was sixth in the league in win shares per 48 minutes with .221.

Sabonis has one of the biggest responsibilities on the team being their leader in rebounds and assists. He has to finish off defensive positions and put his teammates in a position to score. His pick-n-roll offense with De’Aaron Fox was unguardable and allowed Fox to have his best season of his career.

The Kings went as Sabonis went last season which showed in the playoffs as Sabonis averaged 16.4 points, 11 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 50/20/57 splits. If Sabonis played remotely close to what he did in the regular seasons, there’s no question the Kings would beat the Warriors and would go on to play the Lakers in the second round.

Kings primary backup center: Nerlens Noel

Nerles Noel is the newest acquisition for the Sacramento Kings. Noel played in 17 games last year due to bad situations and injury but he averaged 2.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 steals on 36 percent shooting from the floor.

Despite his struggles from last season, Noel’s role with the Kings won’t be that big. He will only play around 15-18 minutes per game playing behind Sabonis. His role will be to set screens and a lob threat in the pick-n-roll and play great defense.

One area the Kings struggle in was defense, where they finished 25th in defensive rating. Noel is easily the Kings’ best rim protector and is the backup center because of it. Noel has had 6 seasons where he averaged at least one steal and one block per game. If the Kings have him healthy for a full season, he will improve their defense drastically.

Others who could receive minutes: Alex Len

If the Kings centers stay healthy don’t expect Alex Len to see much playing time. Last season he played in 26 games and averaged 1.7 points and 2.3 rebounds on 53 percent shooting from the floor. If he does play he’ll be a good screen setter and solid rim protector for the Kings.