Fantasy Review For 2018/19 Season:
After all of that yearly talk “I like some of the Kings players but…”, they, to everybody’s shock, went for a team-breakout season. DeAaron Fox made a huge progress and even though his development was expected to some, nobody could predict how good would he become and, what’s more important, he came out to be one of those rare infectious players that can change the attitude and character of the whole team. After all Sacramento finished season 9th in the West, as “the best of the rest” team.
Changes in the offseason
Lost = Corey Brewer, Alec Burks, Willie Cauley-Stein, Frank Mason
Added = Dewayne Dedmon, Trevor Ariza, Richaun Holmes, Cory Joseph, new coach Luke Walton
Projected Depth Chart:
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| De’Aaron Fox | Buddy Hield | Harrison Barnes | Marvin Bagley III | Dewayne Dedmon |
| Cory Joseph | Bogdan Bogdanovic | Trevor Ariza | Nemanja Bjelica | Harry Giles |
| Tyler Ullis | Yogi Ferrell | Hollis Thompson | Caleb Swanigan | Richaun Holmes |
Positional Battles: SG, SF, C
Last season you could guess their starting five even as a blind soccer fan who never saw an actual NBA game. There was virtually no competition in their roster. This year the team is packed with depth and predicting their minutes splits was one of the hardest tasks while making season statistical predictions. Hield, Barnes and Dedmon are clear cut starters and easily belong to the group of 5 best Kings players, but just behind them there is a bunch of minute deserving quality reserves, such as Bogdanovic, Ariza, Bjelica, Giles and even Holmes and Joseph (in two PG lineups). Only Fox and Bagley seem to be safe with “all they can play” organizational approach.
Fantasy Relevant in standard leagues:
His breakout year led him to top40 9cat value, with sort of klay-esque production – threes and points with decent percentages, with other stats balance very close to being neutral. Its easy to assume that he also hit his fantasy ceiling, because without non-scoring stats its hard to imagine him climbing up the ranks. Also worth mentioning – threes that make his value are the least important fantasy stat, as the only category that could be easily build relying on out of top100 players. It should drop him a few spots in your drafts – threes are cheap.
Don’t ride on a hype after his great World Cup performance. As great as he played internationally, his role in Kings won’t be that big. He might be another efficient scoring streamer with some assists upside. Also keep in mind he’s already 27 years old so he has way less upside than your typical sophomore. Rather late-round flier, than a reliable fantasy option.
A poor man’s John Collins, that’s who he is. He could easily average 20 and 10, but lacks defensive stats, and provides much worse percentages than the original John. If he only manages to raise FG% and FT% he might as well become top50 player. For now, he is just points and rebounds specialist.
One of the weirdest fantasy players in the game. Despite many empty stat lines and others rather not sexy, he has still finished last season inside 9cat top50. As a center he will give you average rebounds and only slightly positive FG%, but he will also provide positive FT% and 4×1.1 (as, 3PTM, stl, blk) with an upside for more. He looks like a perfect fit for Kings starting five and despite being typically drafted outside Top100, he should be a top80 player.
His breakout was far more massive than even optimistic projections. He made a huge leap in every single category other than TOs, what gave him a Top70 finish last season. This time he should continue his progress, mostly in points, threes, assists and efficiency. Therefore top40 is within his reach, especially when you consider that assists are one of the two scarciest categories in fantasy world. (blocks are the other one and Fox is really good for a guard also in that category).
Could be useful with trades/injuries:
Nemanja Bjelica, Harry Giles, Trevor Ariza, Cory Joseph, Richaun Holmes
Just don’t bother with:
Yogi Ferrell, Tyler Ullis, Hollis Thompson, Caleb Swanigan
Don’t forget to check the rest of the Sacramento Kings fantasy basketball projections..
Posted in Teams preview