Tag: Sacramento Kings

Duke commit Cooper Flagg named to USA Basketball select team ahead of Paris Olympics

Duke commit Cooper Flagg is among the 15 players named to the USA Basketball select team ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Duke Blue Devils commit Cooper Flagg is among the 15 players named to the USA Basketball select team that will train with the senior national team ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Flagg, the consensus No. 1 recruit in the class of 2024, is the lone collegiate player on the roster, which will be led by Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley. He is the first collegian to participate with the select team since Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart in 2013.

The select team will practice and scrimmage daily against the senior roster July 6-8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team boasts 12 current players in the NBA or G League and 10 players with USA Basketball experience at the junior and senior levels.

USA Basketball previously announced the 12-man roster for the 2024 Olympic Games with NBA All-Stars LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Devin Booker headlining the group.

The U.S. qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games by finishing as one of the top two teams in the Americas region of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, despite failing to medal. The group, led by Anthony Edwards, Austin Reaves and Mikal Bridges, finished fourth.

They were selected to compete in Group C. The Americans, who will be coached by Steve Kerr, Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few, will open on July 28 against Serbia and face South Sudan on July 31 and a team still to earn a berth on Aug. 3.

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Sacramento Kings sign former USC guard Boogie Ellis after NBA draft

Boogie Ellis gets his big NBA chance with the Kings after going undrafted.

USC guard Boogie Ellis went untaken in the 2024 NBA draft, but was signed by the Sacramento Kings after the draft ended.

“Only if y’all knew how much I been through these last 5 years I just want to thank GOD for putting me in this position been through every emotion but it made me and built me for any situation that comes nothings been given to me earned every opportunity ready for this next chapter it’s all apart of the story let’s work!”, Ellis posted Thursday on Instagram.

Ellis played high school basketball at Mission Bay High School in San Diego, where he was a four-star prospect ranked as the No. 38 overall recruit and No. 7 in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

Originally a Memphis commit, Ellis spent two seasons at Memphis. He averaged 9.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists a game. As a sophomore, he was named AAC Sixth Man of the Year and helped lead the Tigers to an NIT championship.

Ellis transferred to USC following that season. As a Trojan, he averaged 15.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in three seasons with the program.

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Dane Goodwin will play for Sacramento Kings in NBA Summer League

Irish basketball fans will have at least one reason to watch summer action.

As expected, nobody from Notre Dame was selected in Thursday’s NBA draft. In fact, only five ACC players were picked. But that doesn’t opportunities don’t exist for undrafted free agents to land two-way contracts and NBA Summer League opportunities. For former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Dane Goodwin[/autotag], it’s the latter:

Goodwin just completed his fifth and final season with the Irish. Over his collegiate career, he averaged 10.8 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. In 2022, he made the All-ACC Third Team. Now, he’ll see how well he translates at a higher level of basketball.

If a certain trade hadn’t been made, Goodwin would have had a Notre Dame connection for a teammate. The Kings drafted Marquette’s Olivier-Maxence Prosper, the brother of Irish women’s basketball player [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag], with the 24th overall pick. They then traded  the rights Prosper to the Dallas Mavericks in an effort to gain cap space ahead of free agency. Oh well.

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Could the Nets be interested in Kings’ Kevin Huerter?

Could the Brooklyn Nets be interested in Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Huerter? Nets Wire breaks down how Huerter could be interesting.

The Brooklyn Nets are in the middle of an important summer for the franchise as they are seeking the right opportunity to turn their team around, one way or another. While Brooklyn is assumed to be star-hunting and very well could be, there is a player of possible interest on the trade market.

Per Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Sacramento Kings appear to be looking to make some changes to their roster and could be using Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter to make those changes happen. There’s no mention from Fischer about whether there has been any reported interest from the Nets, but he does explain that Huerter is receiving some interest from other teams.

“Sacramento remains active in exploring trade opportunities for Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter, league sources told Yahoo Sports, with Huerter receiving a healthy amount of external interest,” Fischer wrote. Whether Brooklyn has any official interest in Huerter or not, it’s still an interesting possibility to ponder.

Huerter, 25, is coming off a 2023-24 season in which he averaged 10.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists while shooting 44.3% from the field and 36.1% from three-point land. Huerter played 64 games (59 starts) last season, but averaged just 24.4 minutes per game as it looked like the Kings were trying split time between Huerter and Malik Monk, the runner-up for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

With Monk agreeing to a four-year, $78 million contract this summer before even having the chance to test the free-agent market, it’s possible that the Kings were looking to make Monk the guard next to De’Aaron Fox which could make Huerter expendable. Huerter, native of Albany, New York, also has a team-friendly contract as he’s owed $16.8 million in 2024-25 and $17.9 million in 2025-26.

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New ESPN mock draft discusses the best value for Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski

ESPN analysts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo released an in-depth NBA mock draft debating team needs and value on Tuesday. Where were Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski?

The NBA has become a league increasingly built around a team’s best player going head to head with his best opponent, but professional basketball teams can’t ignore value and team needs in the team-building process.

ESPN analysts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo released an in-depth mock draft on Tuesday morning, breaking down the best fit and best value pick for each of the 30 first-round selections.

The two agreed on [autotag]Jared McCain[/autotag], considering him the best fit and the best value for the Sacramento Kings at 13th overall. McCain, a Sacramento native, offers a 41% perimeter shooter to pair with All-NBA Third Teamer Domantas Sabonis.

“McCain has an easy niche he can fill in the NBA with his scoring versatility, basketball instincts, competitiveness and smarts,” Givony wrote.

The two were more divided about [autotag]Kyle Filipowski[/autotag], however. Givony said he fit best for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who hold the 20th pick in the draft, despite Cleveland already having multiple starting power forwards on the roster. The Duke product’s 2.8 assists per game make him an alluring prospect as a forward or center.

“Filipowski’s ability to handle, pass and shoot is difficult to come by at 7-foot,” Givony wrote.

Woo said the best value for the All-American came with the New York Knicks at 24th overall, again praising Filipowski’s ability with the ball in his hands.

The NBA draft gets underway on June 26.

Could the Nets be interested in trading for Kings’ Davion Mitchell?

With the Brooklyn Nets looking to add more talent, could they potentially be interested in Davion Mitchell of the Sacramento Kings?

The Brooklyn Nets are in the offseason phase of their franchise and like every other team in the NBA, they’re thinking of ways to get better as a team. While there has been a lot of talk about Brooklyn possibly trading for Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell, there is also another Mitchell that could be a possible trade target.

In a recent article by Dan Favale and Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report, the pair put forth a potential for every NBA team that is not competing in the NBA Finals right now, meaning that the Nets were one of the teams that they came up with a mock trade for. While this particular piece is more about the Sacramento Kings than it is about the Nets, it was an interesting mock trade to ponder.

The suggested trade is as follows:

Sacramento Kings Receive: Dorian Finney-Smith

Brooklyn Nets Receive: Davion Mitchell, Chris Duarte and a top-10 protected 2027 first-round pick (converts to two seconds if not conveyed)

With plenty of people around the NBA of the belief that Brooklyn forward Dorian Finney-Smith could be traded sometime this summer or possibly before the trade deadline next season, this is one of the few trades suggested for the Nets to consider if they want to change things up with their roster.

At the moment, the most valuable piece that Brooklyn would be getting in this mock trade would be Sacramento’s 2027 first-round pick. While this pick would most likely be a pick outside of the lottery, if the Kings were to have a rough season that year, Brooklyn would not be able to capitalize anyway so that devalues the pick significantly.

Mitchell and Duarte are not particularly interesting players at the moment, but both are lottery picks from the 2021 NBA Draft so it’s possible that the Nets wouldn’t make taking chances on both of them, especially with Brooklyn looking to bring in as much talent as possible.

One thing to watch is if the Nets would be willing to trade Finney-Smith for a package similar to this given the fact that they have already rejected a trade of two first-round picks for him in the past.

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Former Husker to hold multiple NBA pre-draft workouts

Keisei Tominaga will work out with the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, May 28, and the LA Clippers on Thursday, May 30. 

A former Nebraska basketball player has scheduled multiple workouts for the 2024 NBA draft. Keisei Tominaga will work out with the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, May 28, and the LA Clippers on Thursday, May 30.

In 32 games last season, he averaged 15.1 points, shooting 46.6% from the field and 37.6% from the three-point line. This is not the first time that the Nagoya, Japan native has worked out for NBA teams.

He worked out for the Indiana Pacers in the run-up to the 2023 NBA draft before withdrawing and returning to Nebraska for his senior season. Projections currently have Tominaga as a second-round draft pick.

The Kings will be picking with picks No. 13 and No. 45 overall. The Clippers have only one pick in the draft, No. 46 overall in the second round.

The 2024 NBA draft will run from Wednesday, June 26, till Thursday, June 27.

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Bleacher Report releases two-round NBA mock draft with Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman shared his latest projection for the upcoming NBA draft on Sunday night, and both Blue Devils went round one.

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, a longtime NBA scout and draft analyst, shared an updated two-round mock draft on Sunday evening.

With the draft order now set after Sunday’s lottery, Wasserman thinks playmaking guard Jared McCain will go 13th overall to his hometown team, the Sacramento Kings.

McCain, who made more than 41% of his 3-pointers as a freshman, has earned praise for his ability to create on offense. He’s only 6-foot-3 and less than 200 pounds, but he averaged 14.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in his only season of college basketball.

“He’s shown plenty of ways to compensate (for his size) with his crafty ball-handling and pace, shooting versatility, touch shots in the lane and finishing adjustments,” Wasserman wrote.

Teammate Kyle Filipowski, the All-American 7-footer, went 19th overall to the Toronto Raptors. Filipowski might weigh in at nearly 250 pounds, but the Bleacher Report scout said his skinnier frame and struggles against larger forwards and centers show he’d be better suited as a large forward.

However, a 7-footer who averaged 2.8 assists and shot nearly 35% from beyond the arc remains a promising prospect.

“Shooting range, post skill, improved finishing and passing and defensive mobility create versatility that should lock Filipowski into the late-lottery/mid-first-round range,” Wasserman wrote.

Sacramento Kings listed as ‘worst fit’ for potential Zach LaVine trade

Would the Sacramento Kings be a good fit for Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine?

Everything coming to the surface as of late is pointing toward the Chicago Bulls trading Zach LaVine this summer. They are reportedly looking to do everything they can to move him this offseason. According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, the Sacramento Kings would be the “worst fit” for LaVine.

“Every season seems to spawn at least a few head-scratching rumors, and some mid-November rumblings about potential interest from Sacramento in LaVine certainly qualified,” Buckley wrote. “The Kings had a general need for more talent, sure, but any appeal beyond that was hard to see. Would they add LaVine and bump him atop the offensive pecking order over De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis? If that feels like an obvious “nope,” that’s because it is. LaVine is way too much of a defensive liability, way too expensive and too ball-dominant to utilize as a No. 3—or, depending on Keegan Murray’s development, maybe No. 4—next to Sacramento’s stars.

“If the Kings hope to climb the Western Conference standings, they need defense and an upgrade on the wing. LaVine would weaken them on both fronts. His defense is a mess (negative defensive box plus/minus in all 10 seasons), and his arrival might force the sacrifice of Harrison Barnes (and quite possibly prevent the re-signing of Malik Monk).”

The Kings could put together a solid package for LaVine, but would he be a good fit there?

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Zach LaVine Trade Watch: What could the Sacramento Kings give up?

What could the Sacramento Kings give up in a potential Zach LaVine trade with the Chicago Bulls?

As the Chicago Bulls enter an offseason-long quest to trade Zach LaVine, they will need to scour the market for potential teams willing to take on his contract and injury concerns. One of those teams could end up being the Sacramento Kings, who missed the playoffs this year after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament.

They could use the extra shot creation, and they have some intriguing pieces the Bulls could want. The only first-round pick the Kings don’t have control of is 2025, which is owed to the Atlanta Hawks from the Kevin Huerter trade, which has top 12 and top 14 protections in 2025 and 2026, respectively. If it doesn’t convey by then, it will turn into two second-round picks.

Speaking of Huerter, he would likely be in a Kings trade for LaVine, giving the Bulls some much-needed additional shooting. Harrison Barnes could also be included, and he would help Chicago shore up their forward depth. Other guys the Bulls could look to snag include Davion Mitchell, Colby Jones, and Trey Lyles.

Depending on how much the Kings are willing to give up, this could be one of the best packages Chicago could get.

Ideal trade: LaVine to Kings for Huerter, Barnes, Mitchell, and a 2027 first-round pick (lottery protected)

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