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Cut down day is never easy. It’s the moment where NBA dreams are dashed or at least put on pause for a few players. It’s also the moment where you look around the room and acknowledge that this is the group that everyone is moving forward with, at least for the early portion of the season. 

The Sacramento Kings walked into Friday morning with 21 players on the roster. A little after noon, the team made their first batch of cuts, waiving veterans Brodric Thomas and Terry Taylor, as well as undrafted rookie Boogie Ellis.

Of this first group, Ellis may have been the biggest surprise. The 23-year-old guard shot the lights out in summer league (10-for-20, 50 percent) and again during the preseason (7-for-18, 38.9 percent). As an Exhibit 10 contract, there is a possibility that the Kings earmarked Ellis as an “affiliate player,” which allows the team to retain his G League rights and avoid the G League draft.

Whether Ellis wants to play in the G League or continue his basketball journey elsewhere is unknown at this time, but there is a chance that he stays in the Kings’ system. There is also the potential that he is either claimed by another team as a roster player, signs a two-way with another NBA franchise or heads overseas.

After the first group of players were waived and the Kings concluded practice, Sacramento added Skal Labissiere to the list of casualties. The 28-year-old big man is likely headed to Stockton for a second tour of duty with the Kings’ G League affiliate.

With roster spots opened up, the Kings did some house cleaning moves to bolster their G League squad when they signed Drew Timme, Shareef O’Neal and Antoine Davis to contracts. This trio of players will also be waived in the coming days and all three are expected to join the Stockton Kings. 

This is a standard move that NBA teams do near the end of camp that allows them to give bonus money to players to supplement their G League salary. The salary for G Leaguers is just $40,500 for the season, so these bonuses are necessary to keep talent from bolting to Europe for more lucrative contracts. 

Once the Kings officially waive Timme, O’Neal and Davis, the roster will stand at 14, plus three two-way players. The Kings value roster flexibility and keeping an open spot could pay dividends down the road. They can also assess the final cuts of other NBA teams over the next few days and make an addition if they feel like a player can help the team.

Earlier this week, general manager Monte McNair swung a trade that sent veteran Jalen McDaniels, as well as a 2031 second round pick and cash considerations to the San Antonio Spurs for a heavily protected 2025 second round pick. This dropped the roster to 20 and allowed the club to sign free agent Doug McDermott to a contract. 

According to Sportac.com, McDermott’s contract is a one-year, $3.3 million league minimum contract with a $750,000 guarantee. Since the contract is for the veteran’s minimum, only $2.1 million counts against the Kings’ salary cap. McDermott earned $13.8 million last season with the Spurs and Pacers as part a three-year, $41 million contract he signed in August of 2021.

NBA life comes at you fast. McDermott found out he was joining the Kings on Tuesday night. He flew from Phoenix to Sacramento Wednesday morning and spent most of the day signing on the dotted line and taking a physical. McDermott then boarded a plane for Los Angeles, where he arrived around 10 PM on Wednesday.

After taking part in shootaround on Thursday morning, McDermott donned a No. 7 Kings jersey and played 25 minutes in the team’s loss to the Clippers at the new Intuit Dome. The 6-foot-6 forward finished 5-for-13 from the field and 4-of-11 from 3-point range, posting 14 points and five rebounds.

“I honestly had no idea,” McDermott said about playing 25 minutes in his first game. “I got to LA pretty late the night before, you know, I was really tired. And the next day, I was just like, this is my only way of kinda getting real basketball feel back, so I might as well play. I didn’t expect to play that much, but it definitely felt good.” 

The Kings are McDermott’s eighth team as he enters his 11th NBA season, but he continues to get contracts because he is one of the great shooters in the league. A career 41 percent 3-point marksman, the former Creighton star gives the Kings’ bench an instant scoring boost and reunites the 32-year-old with Domantas Sabonis, who he played three seasons with in Indiana.

“I love to shoot, I love to play fast, I love to cut, so that’s kinda all we do here, so it’s a perfect system,” McDermott said. 

According to Kings head coach Mike Brown, McDermott met with offensive architect Jay Triano and defensive coordinator Luke Loucks for a crib notes version of the team’s schemes. Brown said the pace that McDermott plays with in the half court stood out and the Clippers very quickly had to adjust to his presence.

“Anytime he’s moving, he’s kinda getting everybody leaning that direction and so that in itself can cause the defense to make some mistakes, which will make it easier for everybody else,” Brown said. 

Brown went as far as to compare McDermott to Kevin Huerter, and maybe a few other great shooters in NBA history. 

“Their gravitational pull, without the basketball, is some of the best in the league,” Brown said. “I’m not saying these guys are Klay Thompson, but Klay is another guy. I’m not saying, Reggie Miller, at all, but Reggie Miller is another type of guy. Those guys, just being out on the floor and their movement without the ball and their change of pace without the ball, can make the game a lot easier for their teammates.”

Sacramento struggled to hit their 3-point shots all preseason, finishing a league worst 25.4 percent from behind the arc. They’ll get a boost in the coming days and weeks when Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles return from injury, but you can’t have enough shooters in today’s NBA.

Brown said he doesn’t have a time table for the return of either Huerter or Lyles, although Huerter was cleared to return to full contact a little over a week ago and Lyles was on the court playing one-on-one during Friday’s practice. 

Lastly, as McDermott was walking away from the scrum, he said he was going to dress as Huerter for the team’s Halloween party that was set for Friday night. He did not disappoint.