Hoops Rumors checks into the 2026 offseason all 30 NBA teamsrounding up the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason action and take a look at what else could happen before the regular season begins. Today we focus on Sacramento Kings.
Signing free agents
- Dear Achiuwa: Two years, $11,227,850. Full warranty. Resigned using the twice-a-year exception.
- Daeqwon Plowden: Two years, minimum wage. Second year without warranty. Rewritten using the minimum wage exemption.
- Ben Simmons: Year, minimum wage. Not guaranteed. Signed using the minimum wage exemption.
Trades
- Acquired rights to the project Alexey Karaban (pick #29) from the Cavaliers in exchange for the #34 pick in the 2026 draft and a 2032 second-round pick from the Kings.
- Acquired rights to the project Big Alpha from the Hawks in exchange for Devin Carter and the Kings’ second-round pick in 2033.
Drafts
- 1-7: Darius Acuff Jr
- Signed rookie contract (four years, $36,474,132). The first two years with a guarantee. Third and fourth year team options.
- 1-29: Alexey Karaban
- Signed rookie contract (four years, $15,140,872). The first two years with a guarantee. Third and fourth year team options.
- 2-45: Emmanuel Sharp
- Signed to a three-year, $6,346,496 contract with the use of the second-round exception. The first two years with a guarantee. Third-year team option.
Two-sided signatures
- Adam Flagler
- Two years, $91,000 partially guaranteed (will increase to $339,441 at the start of the regular season).
- Second-year guarantee for the maximum amount of two-way protection (increase to 50% at the start of the regular season).
- Jonathan Mogbo
- Two years, $91,000 partially guaranteed (will increase to $339,441 at the start of the regular season).
- Second-year guarantee for the maximum amount of two-way protection (increase to 50% at the start of the regular season).
Abandoned/Unsigned Free Agents
Other moves are listed
Salary cap situation
Note: Numbers are rounded to one decimal place.
- Operating above the cap ($165 million) and below the first tax bracket ($209 million).
- A hard hat on the first apron.
- Team salary: $197.5 million (tax); $201.4 million (apron).
- Below the luxury goods tax line by $2.9 million; below the hard cap of $7.6 million.
- A full exemption is available for middle-level non-taxpayers ($15 million).
- Two tradeable player exceptions are available (the largest is $5.4 million).
Offseason yet
After a 22-win 2025/26 season, the Kings are in rebuilding mode as the 26/27 season approaches, but that wasn’t necessarily the case a year ago.
New CEO Scott Perry Didn’t seem eager to overhaul the lineup during his first offseason on the job — his biggest move last summer was signing a free-agent point guard Dennis Schroeder to a multi-year, mid-level contract — and Sacramento entered the fall of 2025 hoping that high-paid veterans like Zach Lavin, Damantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozanand Malik Monk could get the team back into the playoffs (or at least the game).
However, these hopes were not realized at the beginning of the season. The Kings lost 13 of their first 16 games en route to an 8-30 start, with key contributors like LaVine (39 games), Sabonis (19) and Keegan Murray (23) were available for less than half of the team’s 82 games due to injuries.
As a result, Perry seemed more intent on rebuilding Sacramento’s junior core in the 2026 offseason, which includes Murray, Nick Clifford, Maxim Renault, Dylan Cardwelland this year’s lottery pick. But the front office couldn’t find trade partners for the likes of LaVine and Sabonis, whose significant cap hits were considered unpalatable by competing teams because of their health issues and defensive limitations.
Unable to give up guys like LaVine, Sabonis or Monk, the Kings were forced to make cost-cutting moves elsewhere on the roster simply to avoid paying the luxury tax for a 22-win roster. That meant waiving DeRozan, whose $25.7 million salary was only partially guaranteed for $10 million, and then stretching his partial guarantee over three seasons. It also meant attaching a future second-round pick that could have been waived Devin Carter2024 lottery pick who has been ineffective and injury-plagued through his first two NBA seasons.
Sacrificing future draft picks and future cap flexibility to save money in the short term isn’t a position any rebuilding team wants to be in, and having to make moves like this puts a damper on the Kings’ summer as a whole. However, it wasn’t all bad news in Sacramento.
While there are questions about how the 6’2″ Acuff will hold up defensively, his offensive potential is as high as any player in this year’s draft. In his first and only season as a Razorback, he averaged 23.5 points and 6.4 assists per game on .484/.440/.809 shooting. Having exchanged both Tyrese Halliburton and De’Aaron Fox since 2022, the Kings have been desperate to find their new point guard of the future, and are optimistic Acuff will fit the bill.
Focused on adding more young, cost-controlled talent to their roster, the Kings went out and acquired a second first-round pick just hours after selecting Acuff, taking advantage of the Cavaliers’ desire to move out of the first round for cap reasons. Sacramento only cost one future second-round pick to move up from No. 34 to No. 29 to grab UConn Alexey Karabansavvy long-range forward won a pair of national championships during his college career.
Only eight second-rounders in the 2026 draft have signed standard contracts, but one of those eight is a second-rounder for the Kings. Emmanuel Sharp. While virtually everyone drafted around him took a two-way deal, the former Houston guard, the No. 45 pick, signed a three-year deal that includes two guaranteed seasons. A talented scorer and outside shooter, Sharpe will look to emulate Raine and Cardwella by carving into the rotation as a rookie.
Due to their cap limitations and their inability to get positive value for their biggest potential trade chips, the Kings haven’t been too active outside of the draft this offseason. Of their three free agent signings, two Daeqwon Plowden and Ben Simmons – received minimum wage contracts, and the third – Dear Achiuwa – was re-signed using the twice-a-year exception, which allowed Sacramento to pay him a higher salary than would have been possible with his Non-Bird rights.
All three of those players may no longer be Kings by the time the team returns to the playoffs, but I liked the decision to try Simmons, a three-time All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year runner-up. There are certainly flaws in Simmons’ game, and expecting him to play 70+ games would be a mistake, but bringing him to a veteran’s minimum deal is the kind of low-risk, high-upside option that makes sense for a club like Sacramento that has the freedom to make such flyers.
Next
Assuming Simmons stays, the Kings currently have 14 players on their regular-season roster working $2.9 million below the luxury tax limit. That gives them enough room to bring in a 15th man on a minimum salary contract if they want to, but it’s not a necessity.
If there is any doubt about Simmons in training camp and before the season begins, Sacramento could sign another free agent point guard to a non-guaranteed contract to compete for a roster spot. Prior to signing Simmons, the club was linked to several veterans, and many of those players remain unsigned, including Viktor Oladipa, Cameron Payne, Gabe Vincentand Elfrid Peyton.
Several Kings are eligible for veteran extensions, but Sabonis and Monk are more likely to be traded than extended, while a buyout could ultimately be for LaVine if Sacramento can’t find a way to include his expiring $49 million contract in the deal.
One potential expansion candidate I’d like to keep an eye on De’Andre Hunterwhom the Kings acquired in February in a trade with Cleveland. The terms of that deal — and the comments Perry made afterward — suggest Sacramento values Hunter and likes him as an option on the wing alongside Murray moving forward.
The hunter succumbed eye surgery at the end of the season just two games into his tenure with the Kings, so the team may want to take a longer look at him this fall and winter before deciding on an extension. He will be eligible until June 30, 2027. On the other hand, the injury ideally shouldn’t be a health issue that becomes a recurring problem, so if Sacramento feels good about Hunter’s recovery and what to expect from him, the club could work out a new deal sooner rather than later.