{"id":762939,"date":"2026-06-27T03:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762939\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T03:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:45:10","slug":"heres-how-the-kings-look-heading-into-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762939\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how the Kings look heading into Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the draft is over, the next big step of the offseason is here as free agency is set to begin and the trade market heats up.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already seen some big moves go down, with Giannis Antetokounmpo going to Miami and LaMelo Ball heading to Miami, as well as Austin Reaves and Trae Young re-signing with their respective teams for max contracts.\u00a0 So where do the Kings fit in?\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at the team\u2019s current roster and cap situation heading into free agency.<\/p>\n

Rostered Players and their 2026-27 Contracts:<\/p>\n

Zach LaVine, $48.9 million (Player Option, almost certainly being picked up)
\nDomantas Sabonis, $45.4 million
\nDeMar DeRozan, $25.7 million (partially guaranteed for $10 million)
\nDe\u2019Andre Hunter, $24.9 million
\nKeegan Murray, $24.1 million
\nMalik Monk, $20.1 million
\nDarius Acuff Jr., $8 million
\nDevin Carter, $5.1 million
\nNique Clifford, $3.2 million
\nKillian Hayes, $3 million (Team Option)
\nAlex Karaban, $2.9 million
\nMaxime Raynaud, $2.1 million
\nDylan Cardwell, $2.1 million<\/p>\n

Free Agents:<\/p>\n

Russell Westbrook, PG
\nDrew Eubanks, C
\nPrecious Achiuwa, PF
\nDoug McDermott, SF
\nEmanuel Sharp, SG (Unsigned Second Round Pick)
\nIsaiah Stevens, PG (Two-Way Player)
\nDaeqwon Plowden, G\/F (Two-Way Player)
\nPatrick Baldwin Jr., F (Two-Way Player)<\/p>\n

Cap Space & Luxury Tax Room:<\/p>\n

Numbers provided by Spotrac.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Cap Space: -$93,318,227
\n1st Apron Space: -$1,009,538
\n2nd Apron Space: 11,990,462
\nTax Space: -$4,159,538<\/p>\n

Available Exceptions:<\/p>\n

Jonas Valanciunas TPE ($4.96 million exception that expires on 7\/13\/2026)
\nDario Saric TPE ($5.42 million exception that expires on 2\/1\/27)
\nTaxpayer MLE ($6.065 million)<\/p>\n

The Kings can also generate the non-taxpayer MLE (projected $15.1 million) and the Bi-Annual Exception (projected $5.5 million) if they get under the 1st Apron. These exceptions would replace the smaller Taxpayer MLE.\u00a0 Additionally the Kings can offer any player a veteran\u2019s minimum contract.<\/p>\n

What are the Kings likely to do?<\/p>\n

We know that GM Scott Perry has been opportunistic but patient in looking for ways to move off of the team\u2019s expensive veterans. Domantas Sabonis has generated the most interest but for now the Kings appear to be unwilling to let him go without acquiring some sort of first round draft capital.\u00a0 The Kings would absolutely love it if Zach LaVine declined his player option but all indications from both him and his camp are that he isn\u2019t doing that, and fair enough, as nobody else would be offering nearly that much in the open market and LaVine should still have a decent market after his current contract expires.\u00a0 DeMar DeRozan on the other hand is almost certainly gone. Chris Haynes reported yesterday<\/a> that the Kings are actively shopping DeRozan, but if no offers work for them, they will almost certainly cut him and just eat the $10 million guarantee.\u00a0 I\u2019m hesitant to believe there is much of a market for DeRozan, so I\u2019m simply expecting him to be cut and sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.\u00a0 Cutting DeRozan would bring the Kings under the 1st Apron and below the tax, opening up some room for bigger exceptions or re-signing free agents.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of free agents, the Kings only really have two decisions to make regarding current players whose contracts have expired. Drew Eubanks is almost certainly gone with the emergence of Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell last season, and Doug McDermott should probably move on now that the Kings have drafted Alex Karaban. The Kings have indicated they would like to bring back Precious Achiuwa however, and there is mutual interest there. Achiuwa signed with the Kings on a veteran\u2019s minimum contract last season, but played well, averaging 10.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists over 73 games.\u00a0 He probably will command more than the minimum to come back, and may have interest elsewhere as well, but I don\u2019t expect too much of a pay bump although it will probably take more than just a minimum this time.\u00a0 Achiuwa seems like a good candidate for the Bi-Annual Exception ($5.5 million).<\/p>\n

The other free agent the Kings might make a decision on is Russell Westbrook.\u00a0 Westbrook joined the Kings on a minimum shortly before the season after getting zero interest from other teams, and he quickly supplanted free agent signing Dennis Schroder as the team\u2019s starting Point Guard, averaging 15.2 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds over 64 games.\u00a0 The Kings did just draft Darius Acuff Jr. to be their new lead guard, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the Kings opt to keep Westbrook around as a veteran mentor if he\u2019s up for it.\u00a0 Just take a look at what the Kings did the last time Perry was around after they drafted De\u2019Aaron Fox; They brought in George Hill, Vince Carter and Zach Randolph as veteran presences.\u00a0 Reports indicate that Westbrook might want a pay bump to stay, and if that\u2019s the case, I\u2019d probably just say thank you for your time. But if he\u2019s willing to take another minimum and come off the bench, I\u2019d consider bringing him back.<\/p>\n

The Kings will also need to sign second round pick Emanuel Sharp, and I think they will sign him to a real contract instead of a two-way deal.\u00a0 It will probably be similar to the structure they gave Maxime Raynaud last season (3 years, $6 million) if I had to guess.\u00a0 Sacramento can also decide if they want to bring back Killian Hayes or not as his contract is fully unguaranteed for next season.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the Kings roster looks like with DeRozan cut:<\/p>\n

PG: Acuff Jr. \/ Hayes
SG: LaVine \/ Clifford \/ Carter \/ Monk \/ Sharp
SF: Hunter \/ Karaban
PF: Murray
C: Sabonis \/ Raynaud \/ Cardwell<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 13 players and still a logjam at Shooting Guard.\u00a0 Bringing back Achiuwa and Westbrook would put the Kings at the maximum roster size unless they cut Hayes (which I would imagine they would if they brought Westbrook back).\u00a0 Assuming the Kings don\u2019t find takers for LaVine or Sabonis, we could be seeing a fairly quiet free agency period for the Kings.\u00a0 I would guess that the Kings try to get at least one new player in Free Agency, although I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll be seeing any Jonathan Kuminga-like pursuits this season like we had last year.\u00a0 The Kings still have a dearth of size at PF and SF, so that\u2019s what I\u2019d expect the team to try to address if they can.\u00a0 They\u2019ll also probably look at another Point Guard if Westbrook moves on. I have a feeling that we might start to see more opportunities open up for the Kings by the trade deadline, as both LaVine and Hunter\u2019s contracts are large expirings, and even Sabonis and Monk\u2019s contracts won\u2019t look nearly as bad.\u00a0 This summer might be more about staying patient than anything as Perry deals with the mistakes of the prior regime.<\/p>\n

Free Agency officially begins on June 30th.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that the draft is over, the next big step of the offseason is here as free agency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-762939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}