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<\/a><\/p>\nZach LaVine makes this list solely because of the potential that his contract holds.\u00a0 When this season ends, LaVine will essentially be on a massive expiring deal worth nearly $49 million.\u00a0 If the Kings were to try to make any big moves, they\u2019d likely be trying to use LaVine\u2019s contract to do so.\u00a0 They could also use it to take back some longer term money and maybe get some assets back in return.\u00a0 I do think teams will be wary of making such a big move for a one dimensional player like LaVine in the offseason, so we might not see any movement on this front until next year\u2019s deadline when most of that contract\u2019s been paid out.\u00a0 I also wouldn\u2019t put it past this organization to re-sign or extend LaVine on a more manageable deal, although I think that would be a big mistake (hence why it probably will happen).<\/p>\n
3. Maxime Raynaud<\/p>\n
Easily the bright spot of this season, Maxime Raynaud has proven to be one of the league\u2019s best rookies this season, averaging 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks in 26.1 minutes per game.\u00a0 He leads all rookies in double-doubles and rebounds per game, and is 11th in the entire league in field goal percentage at 56.5%.\u00a0 He\u2019s even been showcasing his shooting range a little bit more of late, making 8 of his last 15 three point attempts.\u00a0 Max still has a way to go defensively, and he\u2019ll need to continue to get stronger, but he\u2019s already shown major skill in going against even some of the NBA\u2019s best; His career-high 32 points a couple of weeks ago came against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.\u00a0 Kings fans might not look back on this season all too fondly, but it might have been the start of the next great Kings big man if he develops even further.<\/p>\n
2. Domantas Sabonis<\/p>\n
Sabonis\u2019 future with the Kings is murky to say the least.\u00a0 This season was an absolute disaster for him, marred with injuries as he played just 19 total games before getting meniscus surgery on his knee.\u00a0 His long term fit with the team now that Maxime Raynaud (and to a lesser extent, Dylan Cardwell) has emerged as a real contributor is in doubt.\u00a0 The Kings have abandoned the offense that made Sabonis a focal point in his first couple years with the team, and his play has suffered on the court as a result when he has managed to play.\u00a0 But Sabonis is still under contract for two more years, and I think finding any trade will be difficult, especially with him coming off a knee surgery. If I had to guess, Sabonis will be on this team for at least the entirety of next year.\u00a0 Perhaps he can rehabilitate his value a bit and the Kings can move him on to greener pastures.\u00a0 When and how the Kings move on from Sabonis will likely have lasting ramifications for this team.<\/p>\n
1. Keegan Murray<\/p>\n
I still think Keegan Murray is the most important player for this team going forward, even after this rough year where he\u2019s only managed to play 23 games and hasn\u2019t looked particularly sharp when he has managed to play.\u00a0 Still, this is a league where wings matter, and Murray has shown that he can operate at an extremely high level in this league, particularly on the defensive end.\u00a0 His offense has also evolved, although his three point shot has regressed each consecutive year.\u00a0 Thanks to the extension he got last summer, Murray\u2019s under contract with the Kings through 2031, so basically all the way through his prime.\u00a0 That new contract doesn\u2019t even start until next season.\u00a0 For better or for worse, Murray is likely going to be a Sacramento King for a long time and will probably be one of their most important players throughout.\u00a0 Hopefully he can return to form next season.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Upcoming Schedule:<\/p>\n
Wednesday, April 1st at Toronto Raptors
\nFriday, April 3rd vs. New Orleans Pelicans
\nSunday, April 5th vs. L.A. Clippers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For this week\u2019s Monday post, I thought I\u2019d do a something a little different.\u00a0 There\u2019s not really much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7003,662,53516,7008,121,123,122,5805],"class_list":{"0":"post-244009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-domantas-sabonis","9":"tag-keegan-murray","10":"tag-maxime-raynaud","11":"tag-nique-clifford","12":"tag-sacramento","13":"tag-sacramento-headlines","14":"tag-sacramento-news","15":"tag-zach-lavine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}