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The Sacramento Kings were quite unfortunate on the night of the 2026 NBA Draft lottery. They were tied with the Utah Jazz for the fourth-worst record in the NBA this past season (22-60), and yet they fell all the way to seventh in the draft. The good news is that the Kings still had plenty of talented players to choose from from that draft position, and in the end, they selected Darius Acuff Jr. out of Arkansas, which now makes him the potential franchise cornerstone for a franchise in transition.
The Kings are in the early goings of a full-scale rebuild, and it is expected that the likes of Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis are going to be headed for the exit soon to kickstart a full-on teardown in Sacramento. Now, that should pave the way for Acuff to command heavy usage in his rookie season, as the runway should be clear for him to start taking on the lead role in the backcourt.
Towards the end of the first round, Sacramento selected an older rookie in Alex Karaban, the four-year forward out of UConn. Karaban profiles as a floor-spacer with some defensive versatility, and at 6’8″, he’s the exact kind of player the Kings were missing this past season — a wing who can make an impact without commanding a ton of usage.
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But how did the Kings’ 2026 first-round picks perform during Summer League? Did they do enough to fuel the hopes and dreams of a moribund fanbase who, after getting a taste of success in 2023, have since seen their team fall off a cliff?
Kings fans still have a star in the making in Darius Acuff Jr.
Acuff was a highly-touted prospect before the Kings snagged him with the seventh overall pick, and for good reason. He has solid size for a point guard (6’3″), and he was an explosive scorer in college who put up points without sacrificing efficiency — which is a rarity at that level. The 19-year-old point guard recorded 23.5 points per game and 6.4 assists, leading the SEC in both categories.
This was enough for Acuff to win a bunch of awards, including the SEC Player of the Year, SEC Rookie of the Year, SEC Tournament MVP and an AP All-American 1st team selection. Drafting him seemed to be a no-brainer at that point, especially when Acuff has mentioned that he wants to play in Sacramento and turn things around for this historically unlucky franchise.
But learning the ropes of the point guard position in the NBA is not the easiest. Even some of today’s best floor generals had to take their time in becoming the leader for their team. Not everyone can be Chris Paul, someone who averaged 17 points and eight assists with over two steals per game.
It certainly looks like the Kings will have to afford Acuff so much patience, as it looks like he’ll be going through some growing pains in his first season in the NBA. He did put up 19 points per game in three Summer League games, but his overall performance wasn’t the best due to his scoring efficiency problems and defensive awareness issues.
Acuff shot just 36.5 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from beyond the arc during exhibition season, and he had a woeful assist to turnover ratio of 16:14. Those will have to improve. But Acuff is only 19 (turning 20 in November), and he’s already carrying himself with so much confidence that it’s hard not to believe in his ability to be a superstar someday.
Acuff is not shy to let the ball fly, and he has the skill to back up that kind of audacious shot diet. Those efficiency numbers are concerning, but not too much to the point of saying that he’ll be a bust. In fact, that is so far from the truth; opposing teams knew that he’s the main man for the Kings’ Summer League squad, and they were throwing multiple defenders his way.
In the NBA, perhaps teams would still decide to blitz Acuff. But with LaVine and Sabonis still on the roster, Acuff should have the requisite support to the point of shooting efficiently enough to warrant a heavy usage. It helps as well that Sabonis is one of the best dribble handoff/pick and roll partners an inexperienced guard like Acuff could have, as his threat to pull-up from anywhere on the court should help create a ton of advantages for the Sacramento offense.
His playmaking out of double teams, as well as his decision-making, do need to improve. But those should come with time. And thankfully for Acuff, the Kings can afford to give him the time he needs to blossom into a true star in the association.
Acuff is going to be perfectly fine, and no one should be surprised if he averages over 18 points per game on 41/35/80 shooting splits in his rookie campaign.
Alex Karaban is the exact kind of player Sacramento needs
With the Kings set to hand the keys to the franchise over to Acuff, who should be one of the highest-usage guards in the NBA once he hits his stride, Sacramento needs to surround him with players who know their role — defend, rebound, and hit open shots. That is going to be the story of Karaban’s career after thriving in his four seasons at UConn.
There is not much upside in the Kings’ selection of Karaban. But he should have a long NBA career by virtue of being a reliable floor-spacing forward with decent size. Karaban made 292 triples in his four-year stint at UConn and he did so on a 37.4 percent clip. And with the increased spacing in the NBA, he should thrive as a shooter who can hit threes on the catch and on the move.
Summer League required Karaban to expand his game and try to do stuff off the dribble. And it affected his shooting efficiency (38.1 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from deep). But he’s a serial winner who knows his role and he will buy into the system, making him a low-risk player for Sacramento who should get some minutes as a rookie who’ll be turning 24 in November.
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