Keeping it moving here on the rival report here at GSOM, we’re working through the Pacific Divsion to give a shout out to the moribund Kings. Sacramento is still one of the first teams the Warriors have to solve every season. Before we start obsessing over whatever superteam the rest of the league built this summer, it’s worth looking one exit down I-80.
This is a math problem, and Sacramento has spent three years trying to solve it.
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Here’s the full inventory of Sacramento’s 2026 free agency activity: they waived DeMar DeRozan and Isaiah Stevens, they let Russell Westbrook walk without a fight, and they signed Jonathan Mogbo and Adam Flagler to two-way deals. That’s it.
Meanwhile the rest of the West is trying to level up. Sacramento enters the season with the league’s tenth-highest payroll, five players making more than $20 million, and more than $80 million tied up in Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine alone. One veteran minimum contract pushes them into the tax.
Ian Goodwillie framed the whole non-approach as the smart play rather than the desperate one:
Basically, the Kings likely have to wait until Zach LaVine’s current contract finishes at the end of the 2026-2027 season. Then, nearly $50 million of cap space opens up, and Sacramento can start making moves on the open market. They’ll also have to hand out some extensions to existing players.
For now, Sacramento will have to work with what they have. The Kings have drafted well the last couple of years, made solid trades and signings that will help, and continue the rebuild from there. Once the big-money contracts are gone, they’ll have a strong foundation to make moves from.
The Kings’ inaction isn’t a front office standing still out of confusion. It’s a franchise that understands the math doesn’t work yet, and won’t for another year. Rather than take on bad money just to say they did something, Sacramento is banking on the summer of 2027 and everything happening now is just runway toward that moment.It’s hard to argue with that logic as crossing the first apron this year would’ve meant trade restrictions and buyout limitations on a team that’s nowhere near contending anyway. Why pay the penalty for a rebuild you haven’t finished rebuilding yet?
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Ethan Minton took a different angle on this dilemma and quite frankly it’s the one that should actually worry Sacramento. His argument wasn’t really about the money. It was about whether anyone with options would ever pick Sacramento in the first place:
Sacramento has the 23rd-largest population among NBA cities. It doesn’t have the nightlife of Miami, the big-city feel of New York City or the ocean-view high-rises of San Francisco. For young, up-and-coming stars, Sacramento is not the most desirable location. Another reason free agents haven’t tended to pick Sacramento is the culture. The Kings have made the postseason once over the last twenty seasons. A string of poor decisions on draft night and questionable trades by the front office have forced the franchise into a perpetual state of losing.
That’s the split worth sitting with. One writer sees a temporary cap problem while the other sees a permanent market problem. Whether Sacramento is right or wrong won’t really be answered until 2027. The Warriors don’t have that luxury. Their championship window is happening now, which means every game against a team choosing tomorrow over today still counts exactly the same in the standings.
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