Sacramento Kings: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason

The one constant for the Sacramento Kings seems to be change and there was once again a lot of it. Can Luke Walton lead the Kings back to the playoffs?

The Sacramento Kings did not take long to begin what seems to be their annual offseason purge, firing former coach Dave Joerger the day after the season ended.

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That was the same day that general manager Vlade Divac signed a contract extension that will keep him at the rudder of the Kings through 2022-23 and his first move after signing the new deal was to bring in Luke Walton as the team’s new head coach.

The 39-year-old Walton is coming off a three-year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers during which the team improved its victory total each season, but not enough for the impatient Laker front office.

Still one of the youngest coaches in the NBA, Walton was 98-148 in his three years in L.A. and also — unofficially — led the Golden State Warriors to a 39-4 start as interim head coach in 2015-16, the year Golden State set the NBA record by finishing 73-9.

But he took the fall after a season during which he only had a healthy LeBron James for two months, was without Brandon Ingram for 30 games and didn’t have Lonzo Ball for 35 contests, while former Laker boss Magic Johnson surrounded James with the second-worst 3-point shooting team in the league.

The Walton hiring isn’t without potential problems, as the coach was named in a lawsuit filed in April by journalist Kelli Tennant. TMZ reported on April 22 that Tennant had filed a civil suit against Walton, accusing him of sexual assault.

The New York Times (subscription required) later reported the suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on April 22, alleges the assault occurred at a Santa Monica hotel while Walton was an assistant with the Warriors.

Walton, through an attorney, issued a flat denial. The NBA and all three teams — the Warriors, Lakers and Kings — acknowledged the reports, but to date there has been no action taken to discipline Walton.

Walton’s hiring was just the beginning of the turnover in Sacramento.

Gone from last season are starting center Willie Cauley-Stein, off to the Warriors as a free agent; as well as bench and fringe pieces such as Troy Williams, Alec Burks, Corey Brewer, Kosta Koufos, Frank Mason and B.J. Johnson.

But the Kings made some veteran acquisitions and retained the core of the franchise’s most competitive unit since Sacramento last made the playoffs in 2006. The Kings were 39-43 last season — still their 13th straight losing campaign.

But second-year point guard De’Aaron Fox made a huge leap and the team has other solid young parts with last year’s No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III chief among them. With Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic also returning, the Kings have the makings of a potent offensive club.

With a lot of moving pieces, here is how the offseason moves grade out.