Current Roster Outlook (*Excluding two-way contracts*)
Cap Outlook: (*All cap projections courtesy of Spotrac*)
2024-2025 NBA Salary Cap Projection: $141M
Luxury Tax Line: $171M
Luxury Tax 1st Apron Maximum: $178M
Luxury Tax 2nd Apron Maximum: $189M
Sacramento’s Total Cap Allocations (Active Roster Salary Commitments + Cap Holds): $181M
Practical Cap Space: -$39M
Maximum Possible Cap Space (All options declined, cap holds renounced and exceptions waived): -$16M
Possible Financial Avenues:
As a small-market organization that has typically shied away from making luxury tax payments, Sacramento enters this offseason with limited flexibility. The Kings are guaranteed to operate above the salary cap, and they don’t have a ton of wiggle room below the tax to re-sign Malik Monk, who is due a raise off his “23-24 salary of $9.9M. Sacramento’s current active roster charge is $151M for 12 players, and the cap hold for the 13th overall pick is $4.7M. That leaves them with roughly $15M to below the tax line to sign Monk, which is unlikely to be enough.
Bottom Line: If Sacramento wishes to re-sign Monk while still remaining below the tax, they will likely need to make some small salary-shedding moves elsewhere on the roster.
Organizational Direction:
The Kings were firmly in the playoff mix for the majority of the season, but some poor health and a ferociously competitive Western Conference dropped them down to the play-in, which they failed to successfully navigate. Sacramento surely wants to get back to the level they reached in 2023, when they won 49 games and earned the #3 seed. Their best hope for growth is probably internal development from Keegan Murray, but they should also be looking for marginal upgrades around their core of Murray, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.
Offseason Checklist:
1) Do what they can to retain Malik Monk
Two offseasons ago, Sacramento inked Monk to a 2-year, $19.4M deal, which almost immediately became one of the better value contracts in the league. Unfortunately for the Kings, because they have had Monk on the team for just 2 seasons, they only hold his Early Bird Rights, which puts a lid on what they can pay him without using cap space (which they do not have). The most Sacramento can offer Monk is a 4-year, $78M contract: A strong offer, but one that cap space teams like Orlando, Detroit and/or Philadelphia might be willing to top. In previous years, the Kings may have been able to come to a “wink-wink” agreement with Monk where they signed him to a 1 year deal with a second year player option, with the promise that they would pay him in the summer of 2025 once they held his full Bird Rights. However, the new CBA dictates that new contracts signed with the Early Bird clause must run at least 2 seasons, and the second season cannot be either a player or team option. Monk has been a great fit with the Kings, and it’s possible that he loves Sacramento enough to play ball with the team or simply take the $78M. However, as a 26-year old who hasn’t made a ton of money (by NBA standards) in his career so far, it will be difficult to turn down a more lucrative offer, should it come.
The Kings desperately need Monk, who was legitimately their third-best player in “23-24 and is a major weapon as a shooter, bench scorer, and transition rim attacker. Losing him would likely open up the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, but they are unlikely to replicate his production with whomever they could sign with that money.
2) Try and improve via the trade market
During the “23-24 season, Sacramento was one of the teams frequently linked to frontcourt upgrades such as Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby. While Harrison Barnes is still a solid NBA player, starting power forward is probably the most obvious area for the Kings to upgrade, especially defensively. The Kings have movable salary in Barnes’ $18M and Kevin Huerter’s $16M, although neither player’s contract expires until the summer of 2026, and moving Huerter would open up a hole at shooting guard. They might have better luck cobbling together the expiring salaries of Trey Lyles ($8M), Davion Mitchell ($6M) and Chris Duarte ($6M), particularly if they are dealing with a team that’s not looking to compete in ‘24-25. Sacramento owes their 2025 first-rounder (protected 1-12) to Atlanta, but holds all their other 1st-round picks. If they could agree with the Hawks to remove the protection on the ‘25 pick, guaranteeing that it would convey next season, the Kings could theoretically move as many as 4 1st-round picks at the time of the 2024 draft. I’d be calling the Nets about Mikal Bridges, or in a smaller deal, the Blazers for Jerami Grant. The Kings are going to be hard-pressed to become a championship contender without some serious internal development and luck, but an intelligent roster upgrade or two could solidify them as a no-doubt playoff team, which is worth mortgaging at least some of the future for.
3) Explore extension talks with De’Aaron Fox
Fox is under contract with the Kings through the ‘25-26 season, so he’s not necessarily a flight risk yet. That being said, Sacramento should be looking to lock up their best player for as long as possible, especially considering that he will still be just 27 years old in the ‘24-25 season. Given that Fox is still under contract for two more seasons, the largest offer the Kings can present is a three-year extension for ~$168M. That would tie him to Sacramento through the ‘28-29 season, which would be his age-31 season. Unfortunately for the Kings, Fox has little incentive to sign a new deal now, given that he missed out on an All-NBA selection after making third team All-NBA in 2023. If Fox makes an All-NBA team in ‘24-25, that would be two out of three seasons with an All-NBA selection, qualifying him to earn his super-max extension of 30% of the salary cap. The Kings would also be able to tack on a fourth year to the extension in the summer of 2025, as Fox would only have one year remaining on his current deal at that time. It’s worth opening the discussions now, as Fox may want the security of the money now, but it’s a long-shot to get done for the financial reasons I just detailed.