To rebuild, or not to rebuild? That is the question for the Utah Jazz this season
By Dan Lower
#2 - Make shrewd trades and grow your young guys - Sacramento Kings (2018-2023)
The Sacramento Kings were in a perpetual state of mediocrity and badness, from 2006-2018. So it's tougher to gauge their rebuild. For the sake of argument, we will consider it starting during the 2018-19 season, in DeAaron Fox's 2nd year.
That season for Fox (17.3 points, 7.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and much-improved 3-point shooting) was enough to get the ball rolling for the Kings on him as their franchise player.
They went 39-43 that season and resisted the temptation to think their rebuild was done. The only players they kept from that team until now were Fox and Harrison Barnes.
They went 31-41, 31-41, 30-52 over the next 3 seasons while reshaping the roster and moving on from Luke Walton as coach in favor of Mike Brown.
In 2022-23 they made a trade for Domantas Sabonis with Indiana, bringing a 2nd All-Star to their young core, and though they went 9-15 after the trade, the synergy with Fox was there and that translated the following season when they went 48-34, making the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
The Kings now have young talent surrounding Fox and Sabonis, are in 5th in the Western Conference at 17-12 this season, and have several assets that they can use to strengthen their roster into a contending playoff team moving forward.