Apr 10, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Devin Carter (22) reacts to a call by a referee during the third quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images
Welp, the season from hell just keeps getting worse as the Kings have officially dropped to the 7th overall pick. To rub salt in the wound, the Utah Jazz, who they were tied with and lost a coin toss to at the end of the season, jumped up to the 2nd overall pick. Washington won the 1st pick, Memphis got the 3rd pick and the Chicago Bulls jumped to 4th. The Pacers fell to 5 and so their pick went to the Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac trade, and the Brooklyn Nets fell to 6th.
This is considered to be a deep draft, so there should still be a very talented player available for the Kings to take at 7, but this is still a blow and will take the Kings out of the running for AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson and Caleb Wilson in all likelihood. The Kings will instead likely have a choice of someone like Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemings, Keaton Wagler, Brayden Burries or Mikel Brown. It’s a very guard heavy draft, and the Kings do find themselves in need of a new young Point Guard.
The NBA Draft will occur on June 23rd and 24th. The Kings officially now have the 7th, 34th and 45th picks. The Kings have picked 7th quite a few times, the last being in 2013 when they selected Ben McLemore. The Kings also selected Jason Williams with the 7th pick in 1998, Bobby Hurley with the 7th pick in 1993, Walt Williams with the 7th pick in 1992 and Lionel Simmons with the 7th pick in 1990. Recent 7th picks have been Jeremiah Fears, Donovan Clingan, Bilal Coulibaly, Shaedon Sharpe and Jonathan Kuminga.