The Sacramento Kings’ 2024-25 campaign has come to what some might consider its merciful end. Another calamitous season for a franchise that many had believed had gotten past their dysfunctional ways, to say that the Kings failed to reach expectations is an understatement. Despite an exciting summer that saw them land DeMar DeRozan in free agency, they not only missed the playoffs but fired their head coach, traded their former face of the franchise, and dismissed their general manager.
There were many issues that led them down that path but now is not the time to stroll down memory lane. Instead, the Kings need to focus on solutions.
Kings Need To Focus On Chris Paul This Offseason
Their first major decision has been to hire Scott Perry as Monte McNair’s replacement. Perry has a quarter of a century’s worth of experience as a front office executive, having worked in various roles. However, the only move that he’s officially credited for making is trading Marcus Morris in a multi-team deal that landed the New York Knicks two first-round picks, a second-round pick, Maurice Harkless and Issuf Sanon. At the time, he was serving as the Knicks’ interim president, having taken over for Steve Mills.
Their second major decision will be deciding whether to retain Doug Christie as head coach. Mike Brown’s replacement, Christie went 27-24 in 2024-25. A 15-year NBA veteran, his playing experience is cited as one of his major strengths. In fact, Christie earned four All-Defensive selections in the five seasons he played for the Kings, giving him a special connection with the franchise. Nonetheless, the current pool of potential candidates has some highly successful head coaches and the usual melange of promising upstarts.
After that, the Kings need to find a starting point guard. That player could turn out to be Devin Carter, who they drafted 13th overall in 2024. However, Carter’s still green behind the ears. With that in mind, when looking at this summer’s crop of free agents, one player stands out in particular: Chris Paul.
A (Near) Perfect Fit
In 2024-25, Paul played every single game despite being 39 years old. With averages of 7.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, the five-time assists leader and six-time steal leader continued to earn his status as a two-way playmaker.
Furthermore, though Father Time has caught up to him enough for him to have averaged a career-low 8.8 points per game, he still converted 37.7 percent of his 3s. One of the best 3-point shooters in league history, it was Paul’s 15th season shooting at least 36 percent from 3 and his eighth season knocking down at least 100 three-pointers. In fact, Paul rained in a career-high 140 three-pointers, with 63.6 percent of his field goal attempts coming from beyond the arc.
For the Kings, Paul is just about as perfect an option as it gets.
His craftiness and savviness —his tight handles, precise passes, feel, experience, and IQ —are what they desperately need. That being said, though Paul doesn’t score at a high volume anymore, that doesn’t truly matter. Sacramento has to accommodate not only DeRozan’s scoring appetite, but Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine‘s. Even Malik Monk has to be factored in. With a group like that, it’s more important that he’s able to play off of them, which he can as a spot-up shooter.
Getting Defensive
The biggest concern is that Paul’s man-on-man defense has slipped in recent years. That’s far from optimal for any team, let alone one that ranked in the bottom-half of the league in opponent’s points per game (115.3; 19th) and defensive rating (116.2; 23rd) in the 2024-25 regular season. Nevertheless, his current reputation doesn’t reflect the fact that he’s recently had some impressive moments at that end.
Chris Paul “just brilliant with his defense” against a much younger Tyrese Maxey. 76ers lead the Spurs 48-45 at halftime. Victor Wembanyama’s 7 blocks set a new Spurs first-half record, surpassing Tim Duncan’s 6 against the Timberwolves in 2013. Devin Vassell tops the Spurs with… pic.twitter.com/SRMh90GUwa
— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) December 24, 2024
Furthermore, the Kings could take some pressure off of Paul by starting a player like Keon Ellis. An exceptional on-ball defender, he can take on the more difficult or draining backcourt matchups. Ellis is also a career 42.9 percent 3-point shooter, and could turn into one of Paul’s favorite receivers. Indeed, four of Paul’s five most frequent targets in 2024-25 made more 3s off of his assists than 2s. That group includes 7-foot-3 center Victor Wembanyama.
13 minutes of Keon Ellis defense pic.twitter.com/Sia84yWUtg
— Skyler (KFR) (@SacFilmRoom) January 16, 2025
It’s also worth mentioning that Sacramento was 15-13 with Ellis starting in 2024-25. As a reminder, the Kings finished the season with a 40-42 record.
© Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
