Kings Post-Deadline Q&A: Sacramento’s starting lineup, future outlook

Brenden Nunes answered questions from Sacramento Kings fans after their trade deadline makeover, from changing the starting lineup to their future outlook and more.

BY BRENDEN NUNES

Feb 11, 2025, 4:51 PM Updated: Feb 12, 2025, 1:00 am

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With the Sacramento Kings massive trade deadline turnover — replacing De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Colby Jones, and Alex Len with Zach LaVine, Jonas Valanciunas, and Jake LaRavia — there’s plenty of new questions surrounding the roster interim head coach Doug Christie is working with.

Given the changes, it felt like the right time to answer questions from Sacramento’s fanbase about their new additions, trade deadline deals, buyout candidates, starting lineup, and more.

Submitted questions came from the social platforms X, Threads, and Bluesky.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions, and let’s get into it!

Any chance at picking up a backup point guard?

— Pragmatic Pessimist #EatTheRich (@cagomez) February 10, 2025

A: Sacramento has three open roster spots after their deadline moves. With two-way rookie Isaac Jones rapidly approaching the fifty-game availability limit with the primary club, the team will likely convert his contract to a standard deal.

Assuming that occurs, they would have two remaining spots, but there’s one other complication. It seems as though ownership does not want to go into the tax, a mark that the Kings are about $3.28 million below. If Jones’ $578,577 deal were converted to the full $1.86 million, they should have room for one minimum contract to be added.

Minimum deals scale is based on years of service in the NBA but counts for a flat amount towards the salary cap no matter the years of service. Now that the details are out of the way let’s look at the buyout candidates.

Reggie Jackson, Jaden Springer, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and Bones Hyland have all been waived by their respective teams and could be intriguing candidates. Players to monitor that could be bought out in the coming days/weeks include Monte Morris and Tre Jones.

With no traditional point guard on the roster, that could be a direction they elect to take. There are also questions surrounding Bojan Bogdanovic’s future with the Brooklyn Nets, and the Kings have fewer restrictions than the handful of teams within the first or second aprons.

Adding one of the abovementioned players could help bolster Sacramento’s now-lacking point guard depth. Still, they will rely heavily on Malik Monk, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis to be playmakers, for better or worse.

That’s the reality of the roster they’ve created.

Ellis/Murray/Sabonis is the defensive core that should be starting/finishing games. Do you think Christie has the authority to start here and sprinkle in Monk/Lavine/DDR based on matchups? Or are we stuck with “trying to find” Keon 30 mpg?

— drewdrew (@eeengine) February 10, 2025

How do you fix the defense in the starting lineup that often leaves the bench in big deficits to crawl out of? If you start Ellis to alleviate it, who do you move to the bench and how do you distribute minutes?

— 💜 (@twowaymurray) February 10, 2025

A: This was one of the most common questions, with the Kings owning the 20th-ranked defensive rating (114.0) this season and losing one of their best perimeter defenders in Fox.

In the four games they’ve played with LaVine, Sacramento is allowing their opponents to score 121 points per game (23rd) on 49.9 percent from the field (24th) and 42.4 percent from three (28th).

Not the most encouraging numbers, but their roster is built to be an offensive powerhouse rather than being littered with defensive stoppers. I think they should lean into their offensive strength.

General manager Monte McNair spoke along those lines when joining The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross Tuesday morning.

“We certainly have a lot of offensive-minded players, but we need our offense to carry us,” McNair said. “But we also need our defense to be good enough. At times this year, we’ve been in the top half of the league (defensively). We’ve slipped recently, and so, I think a recipe for success for us is getting that defense into the top half and get our offense back into the striking range of the top five. That’s how our roster is constructed. There have been teams that have been very successful that way.”

With the eight-best offensive rating (115.1), they’re not too far off from McNair’s markers. Of course, some politics are probably a factor here as well.

It’s hard to justify benching LaVine, the leading player acquired in the deal that sent out your franchise point guard, or DeRozan, one of the league’s all-time best scorers and a future Hall of Famer.

Maybe I’m reading too much into those aspects, but they undeniably play a part in these decisions.

They could look to start Keon Ellis in place of Malik Monk, but the latter is currently the best perimeter playmaker on the roster. I think the solution is to do what they did Tuesday night in Dallas.

Less than halfway through the first quarter, they subbed Ellis in for Monk and let him run with the other four starters.

As McNair said, it’s an offensive-oriented team, and I’d expect them to remain that way throughout the season. That’s not to say the defensive end should be ignored, but finding and maintaining an evident strength should be a top priority. Christie has to work with what’s in front of him: a handful of bucket-getters.

Ellis has averaged 28.5 minutes per game since LaVine’s addition. He will still get plenty of runs moving forward, whether in the starting unit or not.

What contract would you currently offer Murray. Prior the season i think there was no discussion that he would get a max extension. But with his development within last 2 season, his (offensiv) development didnt go as planned and he Kind of dissappointed a bit. What is Ur idea?

— Tim Frost (@TimWint50134545) February 10, 2025

A: This feels like one of the more under-discussed storylines of Sacramento’s 2024-25 season. Playing in his third NBA season, Keegan Murray is eligible for an extension this offseason.

But, the forward’s production taking a step back makes it difficult to gauge.

In 50 games this year, Murray averages 12.1 points, seven rebounds, and 1.4 assists on 43.7 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from three on 5.6 attempts per game.

His three-point percentage had gone down each year after breaking the rookie record for made threes in 22-23 when he knocked down 41.1 percent of his attempts from deep.

He’s certainly not in line for max money like deals Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, and Franz Wagner received last offseason.

New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III inked a four-year, $112-million deal ($28-million/year), which may be more in line for Murray, but the Kings could even hesitate to give their former fourth overall pick a deal in that range.

The likely scenario seems to be that both sides will fail to agree to an extension this offseason, leaving Murray heading into restricted free agency the following offseason. Sacramento still holds all the cards in that scenario, while the forward would have the chance to prove he deserves a more significant deal.

His defensive impact and rebounding efforts are undeniable, but offensive production is where the big bucks are at. Sharing a floor with LaVine, DeRozan and Monk makes it tough for him to get a high volume of attempts, but we’ll see how the rest of this season plays out.

Given the weird contract situation, what are the chances we could keep LaRavia beyond this season?

— Travis (@LetsGoSac) February 10, 2025

A: After being selected 19th in the 2022 NBA Draft, the Grizzlies elected to turn down the fourth-year team option on LaRavia’s rookie deal. He made them regret that decision this year, as he’s stayed relatively healthy while being a valuable connector on both ends of the floor.

Due to those circumstances, the 6’8 forward is set to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. To limit teams from turning down those rookie options to renegotiate and extend players in their first few seasons, the NBA has a rule that restricts the team that owns his rights from offering a starting salary higher than the option that was turned down.

ESPN‘s Bobby Marks clarified the details when the deal was announced last week.

The Kings are in a unique situation with Jake LaRavia.

Because Memphis declined his 4th year team option, the maximum Sacramento can sign him to as a FA is $5,163,127.

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 6, 2025

When the Kings traded for LaRavia right before the deadline, they inherited that restriction from the Grizzlies. The roughly $5-million that Marks laid out is just a starting salary, meaning Sacramento could offer him a deal with eight percent raises each year from that point.

That still doesn’t leave them available to offer a contract that makes me confident in their ability to retain him this offseason. But the NBA landscape is unpredictable, and a five million starting salary is far from nothing for a reserve.

For reference, Trey Lyles signed a two-year, $16-million deal with the Kings last offseason.

It’s an unideal situation for the Kings, potentially only getting a rental at a position of need.

Do you trade Derozen in the off-season?

— RadT90 (@Tslope90) February 11, 2025

A: As the Kings continue to try and build a roster from this point, it’s hard to pinpoint where future improvements could come from. They have remaining draft capital acquired from the Spurs in the Fox deal (2027 San Antonio 1st and 2031 Minnesota 1st), along with their own picks from 2027 onward. If they wanted to put everything on the table, they could get up to four first-round picks, three first-round swaps, and three second-rounders.

That’s highly valuable draft capital that could be used to discuss someone like Utah’s Lauri Markkanen this offseason, but matching salary becomes the big question. That’s where DeRozan’s $24,750,000 deal for next season comes into play — unless another one of their top members were to be included.

Despite his good relationship with LaVine from their time spent with the Bulls, the Kings have many overlapping skillsets as currently constructed. It goes back to the defensive questions that were addressed earlier.

There were rumors about them considering moving DeRozan in a potential Kevin Durant deal with the Phoenix Suns at the deadline. However, that didn’t seem to gain much traction before they eventually pivoted to moving Fox for LaVine.

Good front offices will explore every potential option, so his name coming up doesn’t unquestionably spell the end of DeRozan’s time in California’s capital. Still, it feels like something could come up moving forward as more players become obtainable.

When is the next Sacramento Kings game?

The Sacramento Kings will look to build on Monday’s win in Dallas and head into the All-Star break on a high note when they tip off a back-to-back set in New Orleans against the Pelicans on Wednesday night.

Be sure to catch all of the Kings vs. Pelicans drama right here on Sactown Sports 1140 AM, with pregame coverage starting at 2:00 PM PT on The Drive Guys before action tips off at 5:00 PM PT from downtown Milwaukee.