What are Kings' biggest needs heading into draft and free agency?

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For the first time in nearly two decades, the Sacramento Kings are not working on a rebuild. If anything, they have their rebuild framed out and they are looking to continue to build on a very successful 2022-23 season.

We started our offseason coverage earlier in the week with a primer of sorts. If you want to know the finer nuances of the Kings’ current salary cap, their free agent class and what assets they currently have, you can find all of that here.

The next step is to dive deeper into Monte McNair’s objective of “maintain and improve.” It’s a simple statement, but maybe not as easy as it sounds. Maintaining would be simple.

Sacramento could bring back all of the core pieces, including players like Harrison Barnes and Trey Lyles. When you add a draft pick, a possible addition in European star Sasha Vezenkov and standard growth from players like Keegan Murray and Davion Mitchell, then you might have some room for improvement.

Unfortunately, nothing is guaranteed. There are rumors that Vezenkov might be looking for a lot more money than the Kings are interested in paying. Barnes is going to be a sought after free agent. The No. 24 pick in the 2023 Draft may not yield an NBA ready player. There is potential for some regression, especially when you consider how few games the Kings’ players missed due to injury last season and the team still had major issues on the defensive end.

Before we start laying out potential draft choices or free agent options, a discussion on team needs is probably the best jumping off point.

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