The Sacramento Kings entered the 2024-25 season hoping to bounce back from a confusing and disappointing year. After knocking off the Warriors in the play-in a season prior — redemption for their seven-game loss in 2023 — they flamed out against a shorthanded Pelicans team. No postseason, no momentum.
Coming into this year, the Kings lost key rotation players in Harrison Barnes, Chris Duarte, and Davion Mitchell. They added DeMar DeRozan and brought back Sixth Man of the Year Malik Monk on a team-friendly deal, but the energy felt… off. Something wasn’t clicking. And soon enough, it all started to unravel.
They hovered around mediocrity, fell in and out of the standings, fired head coach Mike Brown midseason, and then watched the biggest domino fall: De’Aaron Fox, their franchise player, requested — and was granted — a trade to San Antonio. That was the moment it was clear: Sacramento wasn’t chasing a playoff spot anymore. They were chasing ghosts.
The season ended with a loss to Anthony Davis’ new-look Mavericks in the play-in. Another missed postseason. But the true gut punch came after — the firings of their general manager and lead assistant signaled something deeper: Sacramento doesn’t have a direction. And now it’s all falling apart.
The Kings no longer hold the rights to their 2025 first-round pick, unless it falls in the top 12. If they don't move up in the lottery, they send their pick to the Hawks, a crushing blow for a team already spinning its wheels. In a draft that could’ve added either a young prospect or a ready-made contributor to their thin rotation, that opportunity has evaporated. Now, with no clear pivot, no roster identity, and no foundational draft capital, Sacramento would be left searching for the wrong answers.
The Sacramento Kings are praying for an NBA Draft Lottery miracle
However, if they can jump into the top-4, something that has just a 2.4 percent chance of happening, they'd keep their pick and have a much better chance of landing a player who can help them in the present and future.
This was a team that, just two seasons ago, won 48 games and broke a 16-year playoff drought. They were young, hungry, exciting. The beam was lit. Sabonis looked like the long-term answer. Fox seemed like a lifer. Mike Brown had earned Coach of the Year. Now? It feels like none of it ever mattered.
Do they pivot to a rebuild? That word feels like a curse in Sacramento. Do they shop Domantas Sabonis, the All-Star big they traded Tyrese Haliburton for? Was the gamble on DeRozan and LaVine ever realistic in the West?
Right now, the Kings are stuck in NBA purgatory — too good to tank, not good enough to matter. And with no coach, no clear vision, and a fractured roster, they’re inching dangerously close to square one.
The beam used to mean something. It was joy. Identity. Hope.
Now, it’s just a reminder of how fast it can all fall apart.