The Denver Nuggets signed Dario Šarić to a two-year, $10.6 million deal in the 2024 offseason with a player option in the second season. He appeared in only 16 games for the Nuggets in his first (and last) season with the team, averaging 13.1 minutes. Denver traded Šarić to Sacramento for Jonas Valančiūnas over the summer, and even on a lowly Kings team, he has played only three games.
Šarić is averaging 1.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 9.3 minutes. He played a season-high 16 minutes in Sacramento's 105-104 win over Utah, finishing with five points (1-of-2), two rebounds, and two assists. It's the only game he's scored in this season.
Nearly a month has passed since the 31-year-old last checked into a game for the Kings, as he played four minutes against the Lakers in a loss on Oct. 26.
Sacramento is 3-13 on the season, 14th in the West, so clearly, there isn't much going right for them. Things got even worse on Thursday when ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Domantas Sabonis would be re-evaluated in three to four weeks with a torn meniscus. Even with Sabonis out, Šarić still hasn't played.
Former Nuggets forward Dario Šarić is out of the Kings' rotation
Sacramento took on Šarić's $5.4 million salary for the 2025-26 season in place of Valančiūnas' $10.4 million salary because it needed more cap space to sign Dennis Schröder to a three-year, $45 million deal. Speaking of Schröder, he has fallen out of the starting lineup, replaced by none other than Russell Westbrook.
It looked like the Nuggets would be "stuck" with Šarić for this season, as there was no doubt that he'd pick up his player option. There was doubt that a team would trade for him, but the Kings did the Nuggets a massive favor. Somehow, Denver got a very good backup center out of it, too.
Signing Šarić was one of the moves that Calvin Booth made in his final offseason as the Nuggets' GM, and clearly, it was one (of the many) that Michael Malone didn't see eye-to-eye with Booth on. It was apparent early on in the season that Šarić would play sparingly.
Going to Sacramento, rather than sitting on the end of the bench in Denver, seemed to benefit Šarić, but so far, it hasn't. We're only one month into the season, but it's looking like this could be his final one in the NBA. Maybe he'll start to play a little more as the Kings' struggles continue, but that's not guaranteed.