The Sacramento Kings made a signing in free agency on Monday that has complicated their pursuit of adding guard depth.
Kings’ Pursuit of Guard Depth Complicated by Monday's Free Agent Signing originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
It has been an interesting offseason for the Sacramento Kings as they have elected to add to their roster to chase a playoff spot next season despite many believing that they would trade some of their stars.
Sacramento added two young players in the 2025 NBA Draft as they traded into the first round to select Nique Clifford and then used their second-round pick on Maxime Raynaud.
In free agency, they added Dennis Schroder via a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons, filling their void at the starting point guard position that was left by De’Aaron Fox after he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs last season.
While Schroder’s addition is a major one for the Kings, they do still lack true point guard depth behind him and while they have been linked to other veteran guards this offseason, their move on Monday has complicated things for them.
On Monday, the Kings signed Doug McDermott to a one-year, $3.6 million contract according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Free agent Doug McDermott has agreed to a one-year, $3.6 million deal to return to the Sacramento Kings, Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. McDermott will enter his 12th NBA season after shooting 44% from 3 in 42 Kings games in 2024-25. pic.twitter.com/J6cMwmupxJ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 21, 2025
Of course, McDermott played for the Kings last season and by bringing him back, Sacramento has filled their final roster spot.
According to ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel, the Kings will now need to free up a roster spot if they want to pursue a veteran guard in either Russell Westbrook or Ben Simmons this offseason.
Siegel also mentioned in his report that Terence Davis would likely be the odd man out due to him having a non-guaranteed $2.55 million contract for next season.
Sacramento would need to free up a roster spot if they were to pursue Ben Simmons, Russell Westbrook, or someone else still remaining in free agency via a minimum contract.
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) July 21, 2025
Terence Davis has a non-guaranteed $2.55M contract for the 25-26 season. https://t.co/9vdXberk2r
While the Kings would have to cut a player to pursue another guard, whether that be Westbrook, Simmons or another player, they could also elect to keep their current roster together and instead look at the trade market to make a move.
This is due to both DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk being in trade rumors, though Sacramento could also elect to not make any more moves this offseason.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Basketball
