9/13/2021 - Expectations are high as the rookie looks to make a defensive impact in Sactown. It didn’t take long for No. 9 overall pick Davion Mithcell to impress the Sacramento Kings’ crowd NBA during the Summer League tournament in Las Vegas this summer. The reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and NCAA champion will be joining a backcourt that features De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton, a stark contrast to his Summer League cast. It’ll be exciting to see how his defensive game translates to NBA play as the Kings looks to carve out a defensive identity following their not-so-hot defensive rating in the 2020-21 season. Best-case: We see “Off-Night” from the jump on the defensive end of the floor. It would be amazing if Mitchell can be a spark plug off the bench as the Kings start the season. Being matched-up with other rookie point guards seemed to be no issue during the Vegas tournament, but when it comes to more sizable, experienced guards it will be really interested to see if Collapse

9/10/2021 - Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images There’s always room to grow, but the Kings didn’t get any love from 2K to start this year’s edition. NBA 2K22 doesn’t officially release until Thursday at 9 p.m. PT, but we were able to get our hands on a copy early and, as a result, have all of the ratings for the Sacramento Kings. As many could have guessed, De’Aaron Fox has the highest rating on the team with an 85 overall rating. What is surprising though is that Fox’s rating is lower than what it was at the end of the 2020-21 season (87). I guess it makes sense when you factor in that Jrue Holiday, Jamal Murray and Ja Morant are all also rated 85 overall, but it’s still a weird that his rating is lower than it was last season. Like, were they not impressed with his offseason routine? Coming in second on the team is Tyrese Haliburton, who is ranked 81 overall. That’s the second-highest rating among players taken in the 2020 NBA Draft, behind LaMelo Ball (84) and tied with Collapse

9/8/2021 - Getty Images It’s been a tale of two offseasons for the Western Conference rivals. Before the Sacramento Kings guaranteed Damian Jones’ contract in August, the Los Angeles Lakers had hoped re-sign the 26-year-old center, according to a report from Marc Stein: “League sources say that the Lakers had strong interest earlier in the summer in trying to reacquire Damian Jones, but Sacramento elected to retain Jones and make his contract guaranteed for the coming season even though the Kings already have Richaun Holmes, Tristan Thompson, Alex Len and (yes, still) Marvin Bagley III.” Jones was provided a short stint to Los Angeles in the winter of 2021, signing two consecutive 10-contracts before signing two more 10-day contracts with Sacramento in March. Following his second 10-day contract with the Kings, the team offered him a multi-year deal with a non-guaranteed second year. It’s no secret that Sacramento looked to solidify their center rotation this offseason, but their Collapse

8/25/2021 - NBAE via Getty Images With training camp one month away, the Kings’ roster seems to be rounding into form. It was a busy offseason for the Sacramento Kings. Free agency started with a splash when Sacramento re-signed Richaun Holmes to a four-year, $55 million deal. It’s easy to look at all of the acquisitions, trades and waives that have accumulated in past few weeks and come to the conclusion that keeping Holmes was the biggest (and best) move for Sacramento since the season concluded. The Kings then re-signed Moe Harkless to a two-year, $9 million contract and added the likes of Tristan Thompson and Alex Len (again) to the roster. Returning Kings Damian Jones, Chimezie Metu and Terence Davis were inked and are expected to make an appearance in a Kings uniform this season. Still, with all of this movement, it’s easy to forget that just hours before the 2021 NBA Draft Buddy Hield was almost a Laker and Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldewell-Pope nearly traded the purple and Collapse

8/23/2021 - Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images King impressed in Las Vegas and his skillset could be valuable on a Sacramento team that lacks wing talent After the G League Bubble in February, NBA Draft czar Jonathon Givony was bullish on Louis King and his ability to get back to the NBA. In his notes recapping the G League bubble, Givony noted that King was the rare wing-sized player that could dribble, pass and shoot. In an NBA that covets wing players with those skills, Givony figured King would soon get scooped up by an NBA team. Yet somehow, King didn’t get picked up by an NBA team until more than two months later, when the Sacramento Kings signed him to a two-way deal in the closing days of the regular season. In his brief time with the big club, King played only six games, with his most impressive performance being a career-high 27-point game against the Memphis Grizzlies on May 14. As impressive as King was in that game, it was still an end-of-season contest with multiple Collapse

8/19/2021 - NBAE via Getty Images The Kings have four Western Conference matchups set for October. The Sacramento Kings announced today that they will play four games as part of their official 2021-22 preseason, the first of which will tip-off on Oct. 4. The Kings will host the Phoenix Suns fresh off of the latter’s NBA Finals appearance on Monday, October 4 at 7 p.m. PT at Golden 1 Center. Following that, the Kings will head down the highway to Los Angeles for a contest vs. the LA Clippers on Wednesday, October 6, at 7:30 p.m. PT from Staples Center. After their visit to Southern California, Sacramento will head to Portland for a third pre-season contest vs. the Trail Blazers on Monday, October 11 at 7 p.m. PT from the Moda Center. The Kings’ pre-season finale will be on Thursday, October 14 at home vs. their bitter rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. This will be our first glance at a full, healthy Kings roster for the first time since late spring. It will also be our first time seeing Collapse

8/18/2021 - Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports Sacramento’s stifling defense forced Boston into 28 turnovers The wait is finally over Kings fans! The Sacramento Kings are the champions ... of the 2021 Las Vegas Summer League! Despite facing a team with several NBA-experienced players, Sacramento thoroughly and utterly dominated Boston on Tuesday, winning 100-67. The Celtics started the game off on a 12-2 run, and it seemed like the Kings had finally met their match from a talent perspective in Las Vegas, however that wasn’t the case. Sacramento’s stifling defense eventually helped them erase that early deficit and eventually blow the breaks off Boston. The Kings forced the Celtics into 28 turnovers, which the Kings scored 38 points off of. For a stretch in the third quarter, it seemed like the Kings were turning over the Celtics on every possession and getting a good look in transition going the other way. Several Kings had strong moments individually throughout the contest, but it Collapse

8/17/2021 - Longabardi most recently spent time as a member of Scott Brooks’ staff on the Wizards The Sacramento Kings are hiring longtime NBA assistant Mike Longabardi to join Luke Walton’s coaching staff, as first reported Monday by Sam Amick and Shams Charania of The Athletic. Longabardi most recently spent time as an assistant coach from 2019 to 2021 with the Washington Wizards, under then-head coach Scott Brooks. Previously, Longabardi has worked as an assistant with the Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, and Cleveland Cavaliers. Longabardi has been a part of two championship teams as an assistant: with the Celtics in 2008 and the Cavaliers in 2016. Longabardi was the Cavaliers’ defensive coordinator under then-head coach Tyronn Lue. For a Kings team that was the worst defense in NBA history during the 2020-21 season, Longabardi’s defensive background can hopefully foster some improvement for the team on that end. Longabardi is likely replacing the role of Rex Kalamian, the Collapse

8/15/2021 - Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports James was the No. 40 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. The Sacramento Kings are releasing Justin James, as first reported Sunday morning by Jason Jones of The Athletic. Sunday was the team’s official decision date on James’ contract and with all of the guards already on the roster, there was no room for James. Had the Kings not waived James by Sunday, he would have been on their books for $1,782,621 Million for the 2021-22 season. With James not with the Kings in Las Vegas for the summer league, the writing was on the wall for this decision. James was the final draft pick of the Vlade Divac era, getting selected No. 40 in the 2019 NBA Draft. James played sparingly over his two seasons with the Kings and most notably scored a career-high 31 points in a late-season game against the Grizzlies. James averaged 3.2 points and shot 34.3% from three in his 72 appearances for the Kings across the last two seasons. Collapse