![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Dennis-Schroder-Sacramento-200x300.jpg\")
Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/a>: Three years, $44,427,600. Third year partially guaranteed ($4,350,000). Signed using Bird rights and acquired via sign-and-trade from Pistons.\nDoug McDermott<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception. Waived right to veto trade.
\nDrew Eubanks<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
\nTerence Davis<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using minimum salary exception. Waived right to veto trade.
\nJon Elmore<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.<\/p>\n
Note: Elmore has since been waived.<\/p>\n
Jameer Nelson Jr.<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.<\/p>\n Note: Nelson has since been waived.<\/p>\n Jaylin Williams<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.<\/p>\n Note: Williams has since been waived.<\/p>\n Dexter Dennis<\/a>: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.<\/p>\n Note: Dennis has since been waived.<\/p>\n Trades<\/p>\n Acquired the draft rights to Nique Clifford<\/a> (No. 24 pick) from the Thunder in exchange for the Spurs\u2019 2027 first-round pick (top-16 protected). Draft picks<\/p>\n 1-24: Nique Clifford<\/a><\/p>\n Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $15,769,801).<\/p>\n 2-42: Maxime Raynaud<\/a><\/p>\n Signed to three-year, $5,949,688 contract. First two years guaranteed. Third-year team option.<\/p>\n Two-way signings<\/p>\n Dylan Cardwell<\/a><\/p>\n Two years, non-guaranteed.<\/p>\n Daeqwon Plowden<\/a><\/p>\n One year, $75,000 partial guarantee.<\/p>\n Isaiah Stevens<\/a><\/p>\n Two years, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season); second year partially guaranteed for maximum two-way protection amount (will increase to 50% at start of regular season).<\/p>\n Departed\/unsigned free agents<\/p>\n Other roster moves<\/p>\n Exercised team option on Keon Ellis<\/a> ($2,301,587). Davis was later re-signed to a new Exhibit 10 contract.<\/p>\n Salary cap situation<\/p>\n Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM). The offseason so far<\/p>\n Since winning 48 games and ending their 16-year postseason drought in 2022\/23, the Kings have had a tougher go of it. They were eliminated in the play-in tournament in a competitive Western Conference in 2023\/24, then fired former Coach of the Year Mike Brown after getting off to a disappointing start in \u201924\/25.<\/p>\n In addition to locking in Christie as their full-time head coach, the Kings also named a new head of basketball operations this spring, hiring veteran executive Scott Perry to replace former general manager Monte McNair. Perry was immediately thrown into the deep end in his first offseason in the position \u2014 Sacramento entered the summer capped out, without a first-round pick in the 2025 draft, and short on valuable trade chips.<\/p>\n Rather than aggressively trying to reshape the Kings\u2019 roster with limited assets at his disposal, Perry took a relatively conservative approach during his first few months on the job. In the wake of the Fox trade, Sacramento badly needed a point guard, so the new GM went out and got one of the best available options in free agency, working out a three-year deal (only the first two years are guaranteed) with Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/a>. While he was technically a sign-and-trade acquisition, Schr\u00f6der\u2019s contract is equivalent to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception.<\/p>\n Schr\u00f6der is on his eighth team since the start of the 2021\/22 season and has been up and down in recent years. In 2024\/25, for instance, he got off a great start in Brooklyn, but didn\u2019t play well during a two-month stint in Golden State and wasn\u2019t a whole lot better down the stretch in Detroit. The 32-year-old\u2019s production earlier in his NBA career and on the international stage for the German national team suggest he\u2019s capable of doing far more offensively than he did in 75 games last season (13.1 PPG, .406 FG%), but the Kings won\u2019t be expecting miracles \u2014 they just wanted a solid, high-floor veteran to fill a gaping hole on their depth chart.<\/p>\n Besides adding a starting point guard, one of the Kings\u2019 other goals this summer was to get back into the first round of the draft, which they were able to do at a pretty reasonable price. Sacramento acquired the No. 24 overall pick from the Thunder in exchange for a heavily (top-16) protected Spurs 2027 first-rounder that will turn into a pair of second-rounders if it doesn\u2019t convey in \u201927.<\/p>\n With that 24th overall pick, the Kings drafted Nique Clifford<\/a>, a five-year college player who \u2013 at age 23 \u2013 looks like one of the most NBA-ready players in this year\u2019s rookie class. You could make a case that a team coming off a sub-.500 season should have been looking to roll the dice on a younger prospect with more upside, but trying to find a potential rotation regular is a more realistic goal at No. 24 than hoping to hit paydirt on a future star. Clifford, an All-Summer League first teamer<\/a>, absolutely looks capable of playing an NBA role.<\/p>\n Long rumored to be a Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> suitor in a potential sign-and-trade, the Kings were reportedly willing to give up some combination of Malik Monk<\/a>, Devin Carter<\/a>, and\/or Dario Saric<\/a>, plus draft assets, in various iterations of offers to the Warriors. And while moving Zach LaVine<\/a> was essentially a non-starter due to the size of his contract, DeMar DeRozan<\/a> was also considered a possible offseason trade candidate.<\/p>\n However, Golden State wasn\u2019t moved by Sacramento\u2019s offers for Kuminga, and the Kings didn\u2019t end up working out any other significant deals on the trade market besides their moves for Clifford and Schr\u00f6der. The only other trade the front office made was a one-for-one swap of Jonas Valanciunas<\/a> for Saric.<\/p>\n The Kings\u2019 handling of Valanciunas was an example of what happens when a new head of basketball operations with his own ideas about what the roster should look like replaces one that was taking swings in the hopes of saving his job a few months earlier. After giving up two second-rounders to acquire Valanciunas in February, Sacramento traded him for a player who played just 210 total minutes last season and wasn\u2019t effective in his limited role.<\/p>\n Saric is a possible bounce-back candidate and the trade was more about finances than on-court value \u2014 swapping out Valanciunas\u2019 $10.4MM salary for Saric\u2019s $5.4MM cap hit ensured the Kings were able to stay under the tax line.<\/p>\n Still, it resulted in a downgrade at the center spot behind Domantas Sabonis<\/a>, where Saric, Drew Eubanks<\/a>, and second-round pick Maxime Raynaud<\/a> are in the mix as potential backups, and it may have been a missed opportunity for the Kings. After they agreed to that trade with Denver, word broke that Valanciunas wanted to return to Europe to play for Panathinaikos. If Sacramento had held onto the veteran center, perhaps the front office could\u2019ve negotiated a buyout that would\u2019ve removed most or all of his cap hit from its books and allowed the team to add a free agent with more value than Saric.<\/p>\n The rest of the Kings\u2019 offseason moves were minor ones. Eubanks and sharpshooter Doug McDermott<\/a> signed minimum-salary contracts, while Keon Ellis<\/a> and Isaac Jones<\/a> had their minimum-salary team options exercised. In general, the summer feels like it could be a prelude to more substantial roster changes in Sacramento, especially if the club continues to hover around or below .500 in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n Still, I won\u2019t be surprised if Davis is waived at the end of the preseason. The Kings don\u2019t have a ton of wiggle room below the luxury tax line, so they may want to maintain the extra cap and roster flexibility that would come with leaving that 15th spot open for now.<\/p>\n
\nAcquired Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/a> (sign-and-trade) and either the Pistons\u2019, Bucks\u2019, or Knicks\u2019 2029 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable) from the Pistons in exchange for the Hornets\u2019 2026 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
\nAcquired Dario Saric<\/a> from the Nuggets in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nExercised team option on Isaac Jones<\/a> ($1,955,377).
\nWithdrew qualifying offer for Isaiah Crawford<\/a>.
\nWaived Terence Davis<\/a> (non-guaranteed contract).<\/p>\n
\nCarrying approximately $182.2MM in salary.
\nHard-capped at $195,945,000.
\nFull non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14,104,000) available.
\nFull bi-annual exception ($5,134,000) available.
\nFive traded player exceptions available (largest worth $4,968,600).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Doug-Christie-200x300.jpg\")
Interim head coach Doug Christie, who was promoted to the permanent role after the season, guided Sacramento to a winning record after taking over for Brown, but it wasn\u2019t enough to get the team back to .500 or beyond the first game of the play-in tournament. And along the way, the Kings traded star point guard De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a> after he made it clear he didn\u2019t intend to sign a contract extension with the team.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Keegan-Murray-vert-200x300.jpg\")
The Kings currently have 13 players on standard guaranteed contracts, plus Ellis on a non-guaranteed deal. That leaves one opening on the projected 15-man regular season roster. Terence Davis<\/a>, who has played for Sacramento off and on since 2021 and is in camp on a non-guaranteed contract, could be the best candidate to fill it.<\/p>\n