Sacramento Kings Reportedly Gearing Up to Retool Ahead of NBA Trade Deadline

The Sacramento Kings entered the 2025-2026 season looking to be a playoff team, but it seems that won't be the case anymore.

A major report bared their roster plans for the remainder of the season, amid a dismal start. The Kings only have three wins to show after playing 11 games only good for 12th in a loaded Western Conference.

They plan to address this three months from now on the trade deadline.

Key Players on the Trading Block

Sactown Sports' Carmichael Dave broke the news about Sacramento's rebuilding plans for this season. He noted that they are going to explore trade options for three of their best players: Zach Lavine, Domantas Sabonis, and Demar Derozan.

This is a significant development and one that may not come as a surprise. League insiders expected them to be one of the teams that could start rebuilding this season.

The news is warranted by their terrible start, losing eight games this early in the season.

Trade Hurdles

While the three players mentioned can provide tremendous help to any team that would land them, the Kings may have a tough time shopping for deals due to their contract situations.

The Chicago Bulls struggled to find teams that would take Derozan and Lavine's contracts before settling with Sacramento. The Kings may have to give up a few more players on their roster to package a sweet deal for potential trade partners to take Derozan and Lavine.

This possibly means they could make multiple moves from now up to the trade deadline in February to help them turn things around.

However, it is more than likely that they will try to keep their young guys like Keegan Murray, Keon Ellis, and prized rookies Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud.

The Kings' Turbulent History

The last time they made the playoffs was in 2023, where they finished 3rd in the Western Conference but lost to the sixth seeded Golden State Warriors in the first round, 4-3.

That winning season was conducted by head coach Mike Brown, leading them to their first playoffs appearance since 2006, breaking the longest active post-season drought in four of the major North American sports.

They only managed to reach the play-in tournament as the ninth seed for the next two seasons but couldn't advance to the playoffs. They also fired Brown 31 games into last season's campaign, after only managing to tally 13 wins, and is now calling the shots for the New York Knicks.

They acquired both Derozan and Lavine from Chicago on two separate deals last season. In the three-team deal where they picked up Lavine, they traded their prized point guard De'Aaron Fox to San Antonio after almost eight years with the team.

Doug Christie's Promise

In his pregame press conference before their home game against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, Kings head coach Doug Christie addressed the team's poor performance.

'Change is hard, y'all,' he started. 'It's hard, but understand, and we understand, that we're not there yet, but we're about to work at it like crazy.'

He also commented on the critics' frustration to their season telling them to 'keep that energy.'

'You keep that, and you know who you are, because while you're doing that, we're going to be working. And while you're doing that, we're going to be growing,' he said.