[Izulde]

It's a terrible draft for centers, so awful outside of the top ones that are going to be taken far too early that I don't even bother scouting any. That means we'll have to explore free agency or the trade market.

On the other hand, there's a few swingmen that have captured my interest, so we'll see how things shake out. On an ominous note, one player I coveted turned out to be even better than advertised and his draft stock has shot up so high, he could now go #1 overall.

2026 NBA Draft 1st Round
1. SG Dorien Fletcher - New Orleans Hornets
2. PF Billy Barrett - Golden State Warriors
3. PG John Nixon - Orlando Magic
4. PG Greg Horan - Los Angeles Lakers

I try my best to jump up and grab the Heat's pick, but they're not having any of it. That spells doom for my hopes of getting the player I most want in this draft I fear.

5. SG Vladimir Raschupuchin - Miami Heat

And there he goes. Miami just got themselves a guy who will invoke memories of Nigel Abel in terms of his scoring ability. What an incredible steal for the Heat.

6. C David Carrington - Minnesota Timberwolves
7. SF Luke Biggery - Philadelphia 76ers
8. SF Ireneusz Kawcyznski - Houston Rockets

Now we reach a tough decision after the two players I valued most highly go off the board. There's only one player left I really like, but he's not worth trading up into the Top 10 for, I don't think.

9. PG Cory O'Brien - Seattle Supersonics
10. C Korey Andrews - Washington Wizards
11. PG Andre Channing - Detroit Pistons

It's now that I'm starting to get nervous, so I call up the Bobcats and send them picks #21 and #27 for #12, #42 and their 2027 and 2028 2nd round picks.

12. SG Nyah Boyce - Sacramento Kings

J.P. calls the pick a great move, while Chris is a little cool on it. From our workouts, Boyce really stood out as a lockdown defender type, even if he won't ever make the highlight play. Also a pretty good scorer from what we saw of him and his 6'4, 221 lb frame, while smaller than I prefer my 2s to have, isn't horrible or anything.

Even better, we scooped the Clippers, who wanted him in the worst possible way.

13. PG Travon Hester - Los Angeles Clippers

It's amazing how grief leads to idiotic decisions. Dumb move by the Red and White here.

14. SG Adam Clayton - Indiana Pacers
15. PF Ron Echols - Portland Trailblazers
16. SG Sean Jordan - Denver Nuggets
17. PF Joel Greer - Golden State Warriors
18. SF Mike Reyes - Memphis Grizzlies

A steal by the Grizzlies here. Not quite on the William Tackett scale, who also went #18, but a great late find nonetheless.

19. C Ed Rabey - San Antonio Spurs
20. SG Corey Duke - New Jersey Nets
21. PG Joe Richardson - Charlotte Bobcats
22. SF Ricardo Wethers - Utah Jazz
23. PF Kevin Williams - Atlanta Hawks
24. PF Dwayne Soward - New York Knicks
25. SF Gerard Dudley - Denver Nuggets

Really nice selection by the Nuggets. I would've probably taken him at #21 if I'd have kept the pick.

26. SF Steven Harris - Phoenix Suns
27. SG Adrian Wilson - Charlotte Bobcats

That's exactly who I would've taken if I still had this selection. Sensational pickup the Bobcats and one I wholeheartedly approve of. Oh, a cool fact that flashed on the screen during this pick: Justin Barnes, the Kings face for so many years, was taken 12th overall in 2015. While I hated his low shooting percentage, I'd be ecstatic if Byce turned into that type of point-scorer.

28. PG Coray Grove - Cleveland Cavaliers
29. PF Tayshaun Blackwell - Toronto Raptors

Rebounding and defensive specialist. Nice value selection by the Raptors.

30. SG Kevin Reece - Boston Celtics

Any time you get a 6'8 guard who averaged 20.8 points a game in college with the last pick in the first round, you know you've got yourself a steal. Some fine late drafting in the first round by a few teams.

It's the first time in years any of my teams has had a second round pick, so I forget we even have one and take a nap, figuring I'll watch the second round later. I wake up only when my assistant shakes me, urging me to hurry up and make the pick before our time expires.

I quickly glance at the available players and take senior PF Ervin Brown out of Stanford. Should be a smart player, coming from that school and the coaching staff thinks he's raw, but underrated.

Nyah Boyce looks disappointing immediately after the draft. A lockdown defender yes, with great work ethic, but he doesn't appear to have a scorer's instinct. Maybe he'll improve with time, though. Ervin Brown demonstrates why I always trade away 2nd round picks by looking blah.

I renounce all our expiring contracts, largely to put us over the cap by $14.1 million, though you can be damned sure I'm bringing at least one of those players back.

Summer League
SG Nyah Boyce
PF Jim Johnson
PF Ervin Brown

A thrilling, back-and-forth duel sees us prevail over Milwaukee 104-101 to open summer play. Nyah Boyce pumps in 26 points, Scott Miles impresses with 17 points and 10 assists and Joey Riggs scores 13 off the bench.

Tariel Abashize, who got taken the pick before Jim Johnson last year and who I so wanted very much, drops 24 on us and we lose 99-87 to the Wizards and get completely shut down.

Frustrating 98-97 loss to the Spurs despite Nyah Boyce's 22 points. Jim Johnson has looked horrible all summer long and I'm seriously contemplating trading him, even if he is battling a banged up knee.

102-89 loss to the Jazz guarantees a losing season, which isn't something that happens often to my summer teams. Nyah Boyce continues to impress with 20 points, while reserves Joey Riggs and Aaron Jones score 14 and 12 points.

Our furious fourth quarter rally falls just short, 101-100 in Toronto. Scott Miles was our best player with 20 points, though Jim Johnson did score 19 on 9 of 12 shooting.

I have a chat with the Wizards on the eve of free agency about Tariel Abashize, but they have no interest in dealing him without getting major, major return on their investment. There is, however, another player I want that they're much more amicable about parting with. Unfortunately we can't -quite- close the deal unless we include Jim Johnson, which despite his poor summer showing, I'm not ready to do just yet.

Free Agency
This is one of the worst crops since I've been in the league. Vinston Henry is one of the top players on the market, which says everything you need to know. Charles Diggs, who I kind of like, is out with a torn ACL. I'd personally rate Freddie Tackett as the best player available. He was a long time developing, but when he finally did, he started becoming one of the most underrated forwards in the league. Still is, in my opinion.

Or maybe it's not so bad. There's Kelvin Johnson, who'll command big money after having been a key part of the Raptors' Finals run and perenially All-NBA (though very overratedly so) Rashard Ferguson, along with Bernard Kelly, the greatest passer I've seen since the days of John Stockton. And let's not forget John Walker, recent All-NBA man for the Celtics.

Lee McRae and Scott Palmer are the top two Cs available, with most favoring Palmer over McRae.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, I decide that neither one is worth the kind of big money they're looking for and instead throw my big money contract at a player I was always puzzled got the fat deals he did, but the more and more I look at him, the more and more I realize Terrence Howard is a good fit for us.

We re-sign Mateen Yeaton and Brandon Edmond, both of them taking salaries of under $1.5 million. Edmond we lock up for 4 years at $1.16 million a year approximately. It's the kind of low-risk, multi-year contract I secured Tzvetan Kishishev with and I love it.

Terrence Howard signs a few days later for 2 years, $9.75 million a year. He's undersized at 6'10, 259 lbs, but there wasn't really anyone else I felt was worth the money to be our starting center. Greg Oden's little more than a good backup at 38 years old since he can't contribute any kind of offense anymore and Howard, while not an exceptional defender, does all right at it and can rebound, block shots and shoot over 60%, similiar to Antonio Sarchet.

I'm wrestling with the idea of what to do about Jim Johnson. He showed so much improvement over the course of his first season and yet, he really flamed out this summer. On the other hand, he has pretty good work ethic, so maybe it was just a fluke.

Jeez, the Jazz are stacked at C with Scott Palmer and Marcus McKie. In a league where fives are once again at a premium, thats an untold wealth of riches.

Ultimately, I just can't do it. I just can't bring myself to trade Johnson. Not even for Tariel Abashize. He's a player I drafted, he shot the ball damned well his rookie year and he showed remarkable strides. So I'm going to treat the summer league as just him being rusty, foolish though that may be in the end. Hell, I can't even trade him for Andre Moore.

What I can do, however, is this:

Sacramento Kings receive
PG Troy Collins

Dallas Mavericks receive
PF Lawrence Smiley
PF Ervin Brown
Charlotte Bobcats 2027 2nd round pick
Charlotte Bobcats 2028 2nd round pick

What this means for the Kings
The 24 year old Collins is a project, but one who has the potential to develop into a very good all-around pass-first reserve guard, just the kind that GM Jestor likes. Shedding Smiley's $4 million salary gives the Kings more cap room to play with as well. Expect to see more playing time for Jim Johnson and Tzvetan Kishishev as a result.

What this means for the Mavericks
Smiley's a solid all-around veteran forward with an emphasis on defense and careful shot selection. He's also an expiring $4 million deal for next year. Nobody in this league works harder on his game and Dalas will be very happy to bring in the 32 year old, who got crowded out at the end of the year in Sacramento by Johnson and Brandon Edmond. Brown is second round roster filler.

Winner: Draw
Both teams benefit significantly from the deal. Jestor gets the backup pure point guard he wanted and a lot more cap space, while Smiley is a huge improvement to Dallas's bench as it stands. Whether or not that'll hold through the rest of free agency remains to be seen.

The first big move in free agency happens when Kelvin Johnson signs with the Magic for 5 years, $61.2 million. Well, second big move, as our grabbing Terrence Howard got a lot of headlines.

We -just- miss out on Nigel Abel, who spurns our $4.7 million one year deal to sign with the Raptors on a mid-level exemption on the same day that Johnny Willias goes to the Celtics for 4 years, $24.7 million and Ronell Jones goes from the two-time defending champion Suns to the Bobcats for 5 years, $32.3 million.

Despite our disappointment, we recover by bringing Mike Vines back to the team that originally drafted him on a one year, $3 million deal. Despite the fact that he's 37 and not as good he once was, he's still a phenomenal defender who can put points on the board. The fans are absolutely ecstatic to have him back and his #53 jerseys come out in full force when the news breaks.

Greg Oden goes to the Cavaliers for a year, $2.88 million deal and we end free agency a few days after that by signing Justin Cherry to a 5 year min-sal contract. Even if he sits on the inactive list the whole time, I'll have peace of mind just having him under contract.

13 players signed and we're still $1.65 million -under- the cap. I could spend it, but I decide to bank it in case I feel trading later on.

Training Camp

Jim Johnson showed marginal improvements, but Troy Collins actually took a step back. Sadly for Johnson, he has to fight Mike Vines and Brandon Edmond for playing time.

Unfortunately, no one was willing to take on Edmond's contract and despite exhaustive attempts to rid ourselves of Nyah Boyce, who looked more and more like a mistake every time I watched him, it was nothing doing.

The Clippers, despite their struggles last season, were picked as preseason West favorites, although they didn't really scare me like they used to. Houston was tabbed #2, which I could see, though it was really the projected 3 seed Suns who worried me the most, even though they no longer had Ronell Jones. As for the Kings, they had us slated for second to last in the conference. Whatever.

Chicago was favored in the East, which was a joke and the Pacers were marked second, which isn't nearly as stupid as it sounds. David Johnson looked like a surefire 20+ point per game scorer. The only question mark for Indiana really was their defense. Boston at #3 was reasonable, Toronto at #12, third from the bottom in the conference, was just as stupid as picking us for 13th of 14 in the West.

Sacramento Kings 2026 Opening Day Lineup
PG William Tackett
SG Mateen Yeaton
SF David Anyan
PF Antonio Sarchet
C Terrence Howard
6th Brandon Edmond (SF/PF/C)
7th Mike Vines (SF/PF/C)
8th Ronald King (PG/SG/SF)
9th Jim Johnson (SF/PF/C)
10th Nyah Boyce (PG/SG/SF)
11th Troy Collins (PG/SG)
12th Tzvetan Kishishev (SF/PF/C)
Inactive
Justin Cherry (PG/SG/SF)