Once again, the Sacramento Kings are smack dab in the draft lottery limelight.
Over the yers, much has been made about the Sacramento Kings' drafting woes. Their history of passing over star talent and striking out on picks has made the Kings a team people have looked at come draft season with derision, much of it earned.
They haven't made the playoffs since 2005-06, the second-longest drought in North American sports behind the Mariners, and poor drafting combined with questionable personnel decisions have played a major part of that.
With the draft on Thursday, the Kings are — for now — settled in at the No. 4 spot, before the Pistons and after the Rockets. While the top three seems to be shaking out to be any permutation of Jabari Smith Jr., Chet Holmgren, and Paolo Banchero, the Kings at four could set the tone for the draft.
SCOUTING REPORTS: Smith Jr. | Holmgren | Banchero | Ivey
Recent rumors have tied the Kings to Purdue guard Jaden Ivey. If those rumors do come to pass, the Kings seem doomed to repeat past mistakes. Here's a glimpse into why Ivey to the Kings would be a huge mishap.
Why shouldn't the Kings draft Jaden Ivey?
This is not intended to bash Ivey — he just wouldn't work in Sacramento. The Kings have a big De'Aaron Fox problem on their hands right now, and Ivey's style is too similar to Fox's for that backcourt to be viable.
In his second and final season with Purdue, Ivey had a usage percentage of nearly 30 percent and he averaged 5.8 assists per game. Fox also had a usage percentage just under 30 percent and averaged 5.6 assists per game last season.
To make matters worse, the Kings had a guard who complemented Fox heading into last season in Tyrese Haliburton. Fox shot slightly under 30 percent from three last year, while Ivey improved to 35 percent last season, but neither compares to Haliburton's 41 percent mark last year. The Kings shipped Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers at the deadline, leaving many analysts scratching their heads.
MORE: Beware passing on Jaden Ivey aka the next Ja Morant
Drafting Ivey after trading Haliburton would be a huge disservice to whatever it is the Kings are doing with Fox. They would essentially be drafting into the same problem they had prior to the Haliburton trade.
Fox is entering the second year of a five-year contract, and the only reason to pick a carbon copy of him is if he's going to be traded. Fox's name has been floated around in trade rumors for some time, but this would likely be a final nail in the coffin. If the Kings feel compelled to go shooting guard in this spot, even Bennedict Mathurin seems to be a more complementary option.
Ivey is a good player who can contribute to a team early. But all the Kings have to do is look up and wave at Portland to see what happens when you put two ball-dominant guards in the backcourt. Fox-Ivey has strong Damian Lillard-C.J. McCollum potential: A team that's fun to watch but isn't going to be winning a championship any time soon.
What is the Kings draft history?
Monte McNair was appointed to the Kings GM spot in 2020, so his history is limited. The track record, however, is already ominous.
2021: Davion Mitchell, No. 9
McNair selected Davion Mitchell No. 9 last year, outside of when players are expected to make immediate impacts as a general rule. Few players selected after him became immediate contributors, and they were rather surprising developments — specifically Herb Jones for the Pelicans, who was passed over until No. 35.
2020: Tyrese Haliburton, No. 12
To McNair's credit, the Kings got this one right, taking Haliburton at No. 12. A diamond in the rough, Haliburton has averaged double digits on good efficiency so far in career. What's more? Haliburton wanted to be in Sacramento.
They then, however, bungled the future with Haliburton, trading him to the Pacers for Damontas Sabonis, a strange fit with Richaun Holmes already on the roster.
2019: No first round pick
MORE: Finding the next Draymond: How NBA scouts search for sleepers
2018: Marvin Bagley III, No. 2
An all-time draft miss already, there isn't much that can be said about this pick that hasn't already been said. While not Darko Milicic-level egregious, it's one of the few picks in recent memory that can challenge it.
After DeAndre Ayton went first overall, the Kings had their pick of Luka Doncic and Trae Young. They instead took Bagley with the second pick to replace the departed DeMarcus Cousins.
MORE: Bagley over Doncic and every team's biggest draft regret
While Bagley was falling out of the rotation, Doncic was entering MVP conversations. Whatever logic used for picking Bagley over Doncic felt off in 2018 and still feels off today.
2015: Willie Cauley-Stein, No. 6
Another case of misreading big talent, Willie Cauley-Stein was picked while Cousins' future with the Kings was in limbo. The Kings drafted the Kentucky center for his defensive presence, which raised questions about how high he was selected.
While every team has these misses, Cauley-Stein's teammate at Kentucky — Devin Booker — went 13th to the Suns. Cauley-Stein never truly found his footing in Sacramento, and he has become a journeyman as his career has worn on.
2014: Nik Stauskas, No. 8
Yet another player the Kings were blinded by in college, Nik Stauskas was a sharpshooter at Michigan but never found success in the NBA. He spent just one season on the Kings before being traded to Philadelphia alongside Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, a future first round pick, and swaps in 2016 and 2017 for Artūras Gudaitis and Luka Mitrović
2012: Thomas Robinson, No. 5
2012 is a pick so bad it is nearly forgotten. Power forward Thomas Robinson didn't even last a season in Sacramento before being traded to Houston.
The ensuing picks were Damian Lillard, Harrison Barnes, Terrence Ross, and Andre Drummond. Barnes is entering his last year of a contract the Kings signed him to after he found success with Golden State, making him and Sabonis two players the Kings could have drafted, didn't, and paid premium money to join them later.
MORE: Biggest bust candidates in this year's draft
2010: DeMarcus Cousins, No. 5
For all of this flaws, Cousins was a stalwart for the Kings franchise. He played over six seasons with them before traded to the Pelicans, and in many ways was a prototype for what a modern big should be. Cousins evolved his shot and his game over the course of his career, but the Kings never found a way to truly make him work for them before he was dealt to New Orleans. To the Kings' credit, the trade did bring them Buddy Hield.
Hield, however, ended up being part of the trade to Indiana, once again ultimately leading to another player they couldn't make work.
2009: Tyreke Evans, No. 4
Could the Kings have drafted Stephen Curry? Yes. Absolutely. And it's almost surprising they didn't given their seemingly completely results-oriented approach to scouting. But many teams questioned Curry coming out of college, and he's had nothing but answers throughout his Hall of Fame career.
Evans averaged 20 points as a rookie for the Kings, getting his career off to a solid start. But his lack of consistency and streaky nature made him unreliable night to night, and the Kings dealt him in a sign-and-trade to the Pelicans rather than giving Evans a second contract.
Meanwhile, Curry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jrue Holiday continue to be effective contributors from this class, chalking Evans up as another miss.
What is wrong with the Kings drafting process?
A common thread among many of the Kings' misses before the current regime was they were prospects from blue-blood schools who had a lot of flaws in their game. Bagley went to Duke, Cauley-Stein went to Kentucky, Stauskas went to Michigan, Robinson went to Kansas, and Cousins went to Kentucky.
While those players would invariably produce at the schools they went to, playing in the NBA is different. The worst team is miles better than the best college team, and the Kings were always lagging behind in their building blogs.
The Kings' inability to develop talent is a huge concern. It at least looks like McNair is expanding the net — Haliburton went to Iowa State whereas Mitchell was an Baylor alum — but the next step is translating the talent into success.
Only time will tell if that's going to be the case, but the Kings need to give their current stars help rather than resetting every year. If they end up drafting Ivey at No. 4, expect serious growing pains with Fox until Fox is inevitably traded. It's difficult to imagine a scenario in which the two coexist.
