Sacramento Kings: A look back at the last 10 NBA Drafts

2013

Kings pick: Ben McLemore (7th), Ray McCallum (36th)

The Sacramento Kings used their lottery pick on a Kansas Jayhawk two years in a row. Ben McLemore was the second of those two. Heralded as the next Ray Allen, McLemore was one of the best shooters in college basketball.

Like several other Kings lottery picks, his play didn’t transfer well to the NBA. He managed to bump his scoring from 8.8 points per game in his rookie year to 12.1 per game in his sophomore season, but he’s been on the decline since.

He tried to escape Sac-Town by signing with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2017, only to be traded back to the Kings the next year. The team likely tested the waters for interest on the 6’5″ wing at the 2019 trade deadline, but after failing, McLemore was waived.

Ray McCallum lasted only three seasons in the NBA, a sign that the Kings missed on a second round pick yet again. He was given an opportunity to carve a role on the team out for himself, averaging 20.6 minutes per game with the Kings in his first two seasons, but he failed to capitalize.

Who they missed

To be fair, the best player of the 2013 NBA Draft was passed up by 13 other teams, so the Kings aren’t the only ones to make this mistake:

• Steven Adams (12th)
• Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th)
• Dennis Schroder (17th)
• Rudy Gobert (27th)

Hardly anyone knew if Antetokounmpo would amount to anything. Absolutely no one knew he would become the best player in the world and be the frontrunner for the 2018-19 MVP award, so it’s hard to be mad at the Kings for not selecting him. However, there were several other players that they could have chosen that would’ve contributed more to the team than McLemore.