{"id":378283,"date":"2026-06-28T14:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T14:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378283\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T14:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T14:32:08","slug":"kings-2026-draft-recap-how-sacramento-reshaped-backcourt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378283\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings 2026 draft recap: How Sacramento reshaped backcourt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sacramento Kings landed Arkansas star Darius Acuff Jr. with the seventh pick in the NBA draft, adding the SEC Player of the Year as their point guard of the future. They also acquired UConn\u2019s Alex Karaban and Houston\u2019s Emanuel Sharp while veteran roster decisions loom.<\/p>\n

Acuff\u2019s introductory press conference with the Kings is set for Monday morning in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Here are key takeaways from the Kings\u2019 2026 draft.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Kings selected Acuff with the No. 7 pick after he averaged 23.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.4 assists as a freshman at Arkansas, earning SEC Player of the Year and SEC Rookie of the Year honors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 About 3,000 fans at the Golden 1 Center watch party erupted when commissioner Adam Silver announced the pick, and Acuff said Sacramento was his preferred destination<\/a> partly because of his relationship with Kings general manager Scott Perry, who coached his father at Eastern Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\"Fans Fans react after the Sacramento Kings selected Darius Acuff Jr. on Tuesday at Golden 1 Center. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u2022 On Day 2, the Kings added Houston guard Emanuel Sharp with the 45th pick<\/a>, a 3-and-D guard who earned Big 12 All-Defensive Team honors and shot 37.2% from 3-point range as a senior.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Kings traded with the Cleveland Cavaliers to acquire the draft rights to UConn forward Alex Karaban at No. 29<\/a>, sending back the 34th pick and a future second-round pick for the two-time NCAA champion.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Karaban, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 13.2 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 46.4% from the field as a senior, earning first-team All-Big East honors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Acuff\u2019s biggest college game came in a double-overtime loss to Alabama, when he scored 49 points on 16-of-27 shooting, and Arkansas coach John Calipari said several teams \u201cwill regret not taking him\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NBA NBA commissioner Adam Silver greets Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr., the seventh pick in the 2026 NBA draft, after he was selected by the Sacramento Kings at Barclays Center on Tuesday. BRAD PENNER Imagn Images via Reuters Connect <\/p>\n

\u2022 Veterans DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Malik Monk all face uncertain futures in Sacramento<\/a> as Perry looks to reshape the roster and cut salary, with the stretch provision possible for DeRozan if no trade emerges.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Athletic\u2019s Sam Vecenie gave the Kings an A+ grade, calling it his second-favorite draft behind only Memphis<\/a> and praising the team for surrounding Acuff with winning players from UConn and Houston.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Acuff will make his summer league debut when the Kings host the California Classic this coming Friday through Sunday, July 4-6, with the opener against the Brooklyn Nets featuring a matchup with No. 6 pick Mikel Brown Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media\u2019s AI policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sacramento Kings landed Arkansas star Darius Acuff Jr. with the seventh pick in the NBA draft, adding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-378283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378283","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=378283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}