With the end of the Sacramento Kings’ 2025-26 season right growing near, focus is shifting even more so to the loaded 2026 NBA Draft class.
Aiming to get more information on the talented prospects entering the league, The Drive Guyswere joined by NBA Draft analyst Matt Babcock.
Plenty has been said about the top three prospects of Darryn Peterson (Kansas), AJ Dybantsa (BYU), and Cameron Boozer (Duke). Most people place UNC forward Caleb Wilson comfortably in that fourth spot as well, but Sacramento’s most likely scenario (47.9 percent) is ending up fifth overall.
So, outside of those mentioned, could they still find a potentiall franchise changing talent at that spot? Kevin “Whitey” Gleason asked Babcock if there’s any reason to be skeptical about selecting a smaller guard such as Kingston Flemings (Houston), Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville), or Darius Acuff (Arkansas).
“I think the smaller guard thing is real, and I think a lot of that depends on your coach and how they want to play,” Babcock said. “When you draft a smaller guard, it naturally creates a lot more limitations, specifically on the defensive end. I mean, if you want to be real switchable and sort of positionless, if you’ve got a speedy small guard, that’s just probably not going to happen on the level a coach like that would want.”
“However, offensively, this group of guards, they’re all different, unique in their own way,” he continued. “But I mean, very, very talented group in my role is in a Draft Analysis, a big part of it is doing the rankings, and ultimately we’ll create a mock draft, and I feel like I’m already on the split hairs trying to, you know, compare these guys, because there’s just a lot of talent. So, I mean, it’s, for me and for these teams, good problems to have. I mean, sort of pick your poison, if you will.”
If general manager Scott Perry finds his team selecting fifth and believes multiple players are in a similar tier, he could also consider trading down. The Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Memphis Grizzlies all own multiple first-round picks.
“I mean, you could be looking at guys like Kingston Flemings or Keaton Wagler, Illinois, Darius Acuff, Nate Ament. I mean, the list goes on,” Babcock said. “But again, a lot of different styles of players. And I do think there are guys that could be really significant building blocks. Long term is just again, pick your poison. I mean, what direction do we want to go? What do we want our team identity to be? But long story short, I think everything will be on the table as far as looking at options for trades. But you know, I do think you could add a really nice player at five.”
Check out the full conversation by scrolling to the top of the page or by clicking here.
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