The 2025-26 NBA season is there! In the coming weeks, we are examining the biggest questions, the best and the worst scenarios, and winning projections for the 30 franchises – still reconstruction teams to the real contenders in the title.
2024-25 Finish
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Save: 40-42 (9th to the west, eliminated in the game tournament)
Moves off -season
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Add: Dennis Schröder, Nique Clifford, Dario Šarić
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Subtractions: Jonas Valančiūnas, Jake Laravia
Can Zach Lavine help lift the kings in the busy west? (Sports Illustration Taylor Wilhelm / Yahoo)
The big question: in what direction are the kings directed?
It seems that yesterday that the kings were Lighting the beamDriving good vibrations to a record of 48-34 and their first appearance in the playoffs since the 2005-06 season. Domantas Sabonis was a star for the first time at the Western Conference, and De’Aaron Fox was an All-Star for the first time. They were surrounded by young talents, and their Tyrese Haliburton trade had not yet come to haunt them.
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Two seasons have passed since then, and although they had the game tournament each time, they do not have another appearance in the playoffs to show it. Fox, Fox, whom they exchanged for Zach Lavine, someone who played four eliminatory games in 11 seasons. After this mid -season agreement in February, Sacramento ended the season with a 15-18 file – the owners of a defense of the last 10 – and lost its first game game.
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Then the Kings watched Haliburton made a miraculous race to the NBA final for the Indiana Pacers.
Sabonis, the Haliburton’s return price, is still there. He is always a great offensive player, capable of publishing a triple-double every night, and he is always a prejudice to align a defense of title caliber.
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Likewise, Lavine is an incredible individual marker, but it offers little defensive resistance. The same could be said of a 36 -year -old Demar derozan, another large individual scorer. The problem is that when Last Lavine and Derozan shared the wings together on the Chicago Bulls, they only won 39 games.
In Fox’s, there is the newcomer Dennis Schröder, the MVP Eurobasket. His performance as a leader for Germany this summer was the last reason to believe in his ability to have a similar impact on the level of the NBA, but we have 12 seasons of evidence that suggests the opposite, and he is not a defensive Savior.
This team is not without talent. Everyone mentioned above is a good player-three All-Stars and the best player in Europe this summer, to be fair. There are also recent choices of first round Keegan Murray, Devin Carter and Nique Clifford, who all shoot with them. Keon Ellis is a member of his 25 -year -old heart. (It seems that they seek to exchange Malik Monk, although he is there too.)
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(Get more news from Kings: Flow of the Sacramento team))
And together this group could Generate an offense among the first 10, but, guy, that defense will be difficult to overcome, especially in this West. They currently have the 11th total of the highest victories in the West, According to BetmgmThis would put them outside the game image for the first time in four years.
So, in what direction are they directed?
Best case
Everyone throws themselves and plays the best of their capacities, and the Kings are a surprisingly exciting offense – the one that moves the ball and the scores of the three levels, including the mid -range, where Derozan is still king. They remain attached to La Défense, even if they are not so talented for this purpose, and they extract another gaming tournament offer, with a real chance of emerging for a first appearance in the playoffs since 2023.
If everything collapses
The defense is so bad that the Kings stop playing the kind of offense that can win matches and start playing in Hero Ball. Everyone is in the running for their next contract, only we can all see this, and none of their main parts – Sabonis, Lavine or Derozan – has no commercial value. They hinder the development of recent Sacramento draft choices, and there is little hope next season will be different, except for another choice of lottery.
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Hours 2025-26
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Seasoning: October 22 in Phoenix
The kings, I fear it, are again the same old kings. Take the money. Pray for Pingpong balls.
More preview of the season
East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • Los Angeles Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pélicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah jazz
