3 Offseason moves the Sacramento Kings must make to win the West

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Malik Monk #0 of the Sacramento Kings (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

1. Add role players, depth

There’s a lot to like about what Sacramento is bringing back next year. Fox and Sabonis are rising stars. Keegan Murray may be too. Malik Monk is one of the more dangerous pure scorers in the league and Davion Mitchell is an ace defending guard.

The team could use more depth and role players, though. They’ll see some leaving this offseason, such as Davis and Lyles. There’s an opportunity to improve over those free-agent departures.

The first place they need to look is the big man market. After becoming a sneaky analytics darling, Richaun Holmes disappeared into being a nonfactor this season. He played in 32 games and started just once. The Kings will try – likely in vain – to trade him this summer.

An intriguing replacement could at center be the ageless Brook Lopez, still plying his trade at a good level with the Milwaukee Bucks this season. He can protect the rim, rebound the ball, and make more than a third of his threes. Considering his age, he may also be affordable.

There should be other serviceable, cheap centers on the market this summer, should the Kings not snag Lopez. Al Horford and Naz Reid both come to mind as stopgap options for the position.

There’s also the NBA Draft. For 2023, the Kings have three picks. One will fall late in the first round, while the other two will come in the second round, giving the team a chance to reload depth. It’s hard to predict who the Kings would be interested in come draft time at this point. There’s still a lot more draft process to come, giving Sacramento time to make fuller evaluations.

One name that’s going to come up a lot is Kris Murray. The 22-year-old is coming off a breakout season in college, making First Team All-Big Ten and averaging 20.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. And yes, his brother is Keegan (twin, actually).

Next. 3 offseason moves for Grizzlies. dark

This is going to be a critical offseason for the Sacramento Kings. If they’re going to build a sustainable contender for the next few years, this is the time to do it.