The Sacramento Kings made two of the bigger moves of the offseason — trading for DeMar DeRozan and re-signing Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk — yet still seem to be flying under the radar. Sacramento is going to be an elite offensive team next season.
Kings All-NBA center Domantas Sabonis talked about that and more with reporters on Monday, with video from Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 in SacTown.
Catching up with Domantas Sabonis on the Kings keeping Malik Monk, working out in LA last week with their new addition in DeMar DeRozan, what DeRozan provides, players camp starting Monday in San Diego & hosting his first camp in Sacramento. pic.twitter.com/eS0oMy9ITS
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) August 25, 2024
On Monk, who signed a four-year, $78 million contract to remain with the Kings:
“I was actually very surprised [he re-signed]. I was talking to him a lot during the year and I thought we really lost him, but I’m happy he stayed.”
On trading for DeRozan.
“I think it’s going to be good for us. It’s going to make us think differently on the court, move differently, and really read each other. We are used to playing one style but he does something at a Hall of Fame level that we’re going to have to play around and it’s going to make it so much harder for teams to guard us because we can basically score from anywhere.”
Sabonis is right. With himself, DeRozan and De’Aaron Fox on the court, plus Monk off the bench, the Kings will have one of the elite offenses in the NBA next season. That said, there are concerns that Fox, Sabonis and DeRozan all like to work the same part of the court in the midrange — Sabonis and DeRozan at the elbows in particular — and that could jam up spacing.
The bigger challenge for Mike Brown will be keeping the offense flowing while finding enough defense to win games. That may particularly be a problem in the postseason, however, the Kings should be in the mix for return to the playoffs this season in an incredibly deep West (where 12 teams believe they are playoff teams, and that’s not counting the improving Spurs).
Sleep on the Kings during the regular season at your own peril.
