Three years ago, the Kings brought winning basketball back to Sacramento, lighting up the night sky with a beautiful new beam to signal victory in a city that was starving for success after 16 consecutive losing seasons.
The Kings assembled the highest-rated offense in NBA history, won 48 games and secured the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference to end the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
Three years later, the Kings (12-44) are coming out of the All-Star break with the worst record in the NBA. They have lost 14 games in a row, tying the 1959-60 and 1971-72 Cincinnati Royals for the longest losing streak in franchise history. They could break the franchise record when they play host to the Orlando Magic on Thursday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
The meteoric rise and fall of the Beam Team has been astonishing. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive briefly achieved a rare period of stability and success only to usher chaos back into the building with the firing of former coach Mike Brown.
As bad as the Kings have been — missing the playoffs 18 times in the past 19 seasons — this year’s team ranks as one of the worst in franchise history with a .214 winning percentage. The 2008-09 Kings (.207) were the only team with a worse winning percentage.
Where do the Kings go from here? Can first-year general manager Scott Perry find a way to clean up this mess? Which tools can Perry use to achieve his stated goal of building a sustainable winner in Sacramento?
Let’s explore Sacramento’s current salary cap situation and what the Kings can do to address their needs through the draft, trades and free agency.
Salary cap and free agency
The Kings currently have $202.8 million in payroll on the books for the 2026-27 season. That figure would put them well over the projected $166 million salary cap, slightly above the projected $201.7 million luxury tax threshold and slightly below the projected $210.3 million first apron.
The Kings will be looking to cut costs this summer. Zach LaVine is owed $49 million next season. Domantas Sabonis is owed $45.5 million. DeMar DeRozan ($25.7 million), De’Andre Hunter ($24.9 million), Keegan Murray ($24.1 million) and Malik Monk ($20.2 million) also have sizable contracts.
The Kings won’t be major players in free agency until they can create significant salary cap space. Perry has pointed to the summer of 2027 as the team’s first opportunity to do that.
The only players with guaranteed money on the books for the 2027-28 season are Sabonis ($48.6 million) and Murray ($26.1 million). Things could change between now and then, but the Kings should have plenty of money to spend under the projected $174.3 million salary cap.
“We knew Years 1 and 2 were going to be difficult as far as having financial flexibility,” Perry said, adding that “2027-28 is really the first opportunity that we’ll have a little window to start making moves to continue to improve the roster.”
NBA draft
Tanking was a hot topic during the All-Star break after the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers were fined for behavior that “undermines the foundation of NBA competition.”
Perry and Kings coach Doug Christie have denounced the idea of “institutionalized losing,” but the organization has clearly emphasized the development of younger players in recent weeks. That will certainly continue after LaVine and Sabonis underwent season-ending surgical procedures on Wednesday.
The teams with the three worst records in the NBA will have a 52.1% chance of securing a top-four pick and a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick. Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson are projected as the top players in an exceptionally strong draft class.
Good scouting and smart draft decisions will be critical to Sacramento’s rebuild. The Kings have nine first-round picks and five second-round picks over the next seven years.
“Draft capital is extremely important,” Perry said. “Obviously, this is a big draft coming up for us. The season hasn’t gone the way we wanted in terms of wins and losses, but maybe the silver lining is you can get a difference maker when the draft comes.”
Trade market
The Kings only made one move at the trade deadline, acquiring Hunter in a deal that sent Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis to the Cleveland Cavaliers with Dario Saric going to the Chicago Bulls.
Some fans expected the Kings to do more to overhaul an aging and expensive roster, but Perry, who has emphasized the importance of patience and prudence, indicated he wasn’t satisfied with the return from other proposed deals.
Murray is viewed as a core piece of the team’s future along with rookies Nique Clifford, Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell. The rest of the roster is subject to change over the next year or so.
DeRozan, LaVine, Monk and Sabonis were frequently mentioned in trade rumors over the past few months. They will continue to be the subject of trade talks in the months ahead.
“Any time you go into talking about trading any particular player, you try to set a threshold for what you want,” Perry said. “Now, obviously, you’ve got to find a trade partner or partners to make it happen. So, whether that threshold is a certain amount of draft capital or, if you can’t get that, can you pivot to get a player you want that makes sense, that won’t impede your long-term vision?
“With any trade, we do a lot of work and planning. Every deal that we talk about, we immediately look at, what are the ramifications to the cap, short term and long term, so we can continue building? I enjoy that part of the job.”
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Jason Anderson is The Sacramento Bee’s Kings beat writer. He is a Sacramento native and a graduate of Fresno State, where he studied journalism and college basketball under the late Jerry Tarkanian.