2017-18 Finish: 38-44

Season Highlight: The Kings were coming off a great 16-17 campaign, finishing with 57 wins, good for 3^rd seed in the West. They would win their way to the conference finals, before being defeated by the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs. Some key players in Reggie Jackson, Taj Gibson and Gerald Green were out, but replacing them were Darren Collison, Jahlil Okafor and Courtney Lee. The Kings had their eyes on the Conference finals again, with the hopes of going one further in 17-18

Season Lowlight: A month or two into the season, and basically all the starters had been moved on. Perhaps this caused a rift in the locker room. Because not only did they not make the conference finals, they didn’t even make the playoffs. Only 38 wins on the season, saw them in 8^th place in the standings, before being pushed into the lottery due to a tie breaker. To make matters worse, the Kings didn’t even have their 1^st round draft pick to fall back on. It really felt like this season didn’t go as planned for GM Klemmelo.

Best Trade: Trading P.J. Tucker for Dirk Nowitzki

Trading a key rotation player with 4 years left for a one year rental of Dirk seemed a bit of a desperation move at the time. The Kings probably did need a scoring boost, after the team dealt Carmelo Anthony during the season. But the reason this is the best trade, is because of the trade that will follow free agency, with Dirk being forwarded on to the Cavaliers, along with Boban Marjanovic for Serge Ibaka. If this deal does indeed occur, the Kings will have themselves a seriously good big man and versatile defender who can also space the floor on offense.

Worst Trade: Trading Carmelo Anthony, Darren Collison and Mike James for Jose Calderon, Kyle Lowry and Al-Farouq Aminu

While a decent haul for an overrated NBA player in Carmelo, lead by Kyle Lowry. This trade just didn’t help the team win games. Lowry was unable to fill the scoring shoes of Melo and the team struggled with chemistry and no longer resembled that fearsome Western Conference foe of the season before.

Other Notable Trades:

Trading Pau Gasol and Courtney Lee for Brook Lopez and Will Barton

We know this didn’t improve the wins column, and now a big question mark hangs over Brook Lopez, who appears to want out. It will cost a lot to keep him.

Trading Jose Calderon and Al-Farouq Aminu for Joe Ingles

I like this one on paper, Ingles is a quality glue guy and can only improve a teams chemistry with his ability to distribute and shoot from distance. But his contract is pricey, and he didn’t really shoot all that well in the NLL this season.

Trading Jahlil Okafor for Jonas Jerebko

Klem copped some heat for this one, but most of us knew Jahlil was a glitch and would soon be out of the league, Jerebko has good NLL attributes, however is now a flight risk in free agency.

Free Agency:

The Kings have some work to do in free agency, Lowry and Ingles are locked away, but the other three starters Brook Lopez, Dirk Nowitzki and Will Barton are out of contract. You would expect Barton and Dirk to come back, although they are no certainties in a losing team, as Dirk has shown in the past. Brook Lopez wants out, and will take a mighty sum of gm points to change his mind. Klem has 91 to spend, but if he uses the majority keeping Lopez, that doesn’t leave a lot to fill out that bench, where there will be vacancies next to Muscala, Meeks and Marjanovic.

Star:

Boban Marjanovic- In an engine which loved big men, the biggest of them all was no exception. Boban was brilliantly efficient, mainly in a bench role. He averaged 15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in just 23 minutes per game. He was one of very few Kings to finish the season with a positive plus/minus, so had they found him more minutes, you would think an extra win or two would have followed, and as a result a playoff berth.

Goat:

Joe Ingles- Very harsh on Joe, one of my favourite players in the league, but his season was well below what most believe he is capable of. Joe only shot 35% from distance, well down on his elite NBA average of 44%. And in another surprise, for such a gifted playmaker, he actually averaged less assists than Carmelo did during his time in Sacramento. Hopefully the new engine is a lot kinder to Joe.

Draft Grades:

The Kings did not participate in the draft, having traded away their 1^st round pick in the following deal:

The Boston Celtics send Ishmael Smith, Andre Roberson and Boban Marjanovic to the Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings send Dewayne Dedmon and Jordan Clarkson to the Boston Celtics. 
The Boston Celtics send a 2nd-Rounder (SA) and 2nd-Rounder (SA) to the Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings send a 1st-Rounder (Sac) to the Boston Celtics. 

The Future-

The Kings future is a little unclear. After a disappointing season, the team would love nothing more than to bounce back and taste the playoffs again in the Western Conference, especially considering they don’t have any young players coming through or draft picks in the next two drafts. This teams ago profile suggests it’s competing now, so a much-improved effort from players such as Kyle Lowry and Joe Ingles will be required. If Brook Lopez stays and Serge Ibaka arrives, that will help, but they may need to find some additional firepower on the bench to move back up in an improving West.