We have reached peak offseason. There are no more games to watch, no more draft picks to obsess over, and nothing left to do but refresh social media and wait for someone to accidentally text Scott Perry instead of their agent. The summer league kids have gone home. Russell Westbrook is probably going to Miami. Bobby Jackson cleaned out his locker. Welcome to late July in Sacramento: it's a billion degrees, it's quiet, and somehow we still have things to talk about.
THE DAMAGE REPORT: SUMMER LEAGUE FINAL VERDICT
The Kings finished their Las Vegas summer league run with a 92-90 win over the Charlotte Hornets on July 17, closing out the summer at 2-3 in Vegas after going 3-0 at the California Classic. The final Vegas record is not the story. The story is how they won it.
Sharp led the way with 16 points, four threes, three steals, and three assists in 30 minutes. Mogbo was sensational: 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. Karaban added 14 points. Six Kings finished in double figures. The problem: Acuff, Cardwell, Clifford, and Raynaud were all ruled out. Acuff for rest, Cardwell for left thumb soreness, the other two for rest as well. The Kings won their final summer league game without four of their best players. Which is either a testament to the depth of this young roster or a very good summer league story that we're not going to read too much into. We're going to read exactly the right amount into it.
Acuff's final summer league averages across five games: 20.8 points, 35% shooting, 27.8% from three, 4.6 assists, 3.8 turnovers. That is the statistical portrait of a player with elite offensive instincts and the shot selection of someone who just got unlimited data for the first time. He is 19. We remain patient. We also remain nervous. Both things can be true.
That is the statistical portrait of a player with elite offensive instincts and the shot selection of someone who just got unlimited data for the first time.
THE BEAM ME UP SUMMER LEAGUE AWARDS
Since this is the last time we'll have summer league to talk about for a year, we're handing out hardware.
🏆 Most Valuable Summer King- Emanuel Sharp. Not even close. He averaged 15.8 points and 2.8 steals per game in Las Vegas, played the right way every single night, made four threes in the finale with four starters sitting, and did it all as the 45th pick who nobody was watching before June. He's not going to be a star. He might be something better: a guy who makes everything around him easier and never gives you a reason to take him out. On a team built around a scorer who needs guardrails, Sharp is the guardrail. We got him at 45. We will say this every issue until the point is made.
🏆 Best "Wait, Who Is That?" Performance- Jonathan Mogbo. The two-way signing from Toronto averaged 10.7 points and 9.0 rebounds in Las Vegas before capping it with 14/8/4/3 blocks in the finale. He is 23, 6-foot-9, and was the most consistent frontcourt presence the Kings had all summer. He signed a two-way. He might not stay on a two-way for long.
🏆 Most Encouraging Veteran Presence in a Rookie Body- Alex Karaban. Both Sharp and Karaban have the mindset of veterans who will do whatever it takes to help their team win. Karaban shot efficiently, made the right pass, set good screens, and looked entirely unbothered by the occasion. He is a two-time national champion. He has been in big moments. Summer league is not a big moment for Alex Karaban.
🏆 The "We're Choosing Patience" Award- Darius Acuff Jr. 20.8 points a game. Also 3.8 turnovers a game. Also 35% from the field. Also a go-ahead three against the Bucks. Also a 4-for-14 against the Wizards. He is every emotion simultaneously and we are signing up for all of them. He told reporters after one rough shooting night that he "wasn't happy with his efficiency" and he knows he needs to slow down. A 19-year-old who self-diagnoses clearly is already ahead of schedule. See you in October, Darius.
🏆 Honorable Mention: The Raynaud Bounce-Back Watch. After leading France in scoring and rebounding in FIBA qualifying, Raynaud had a rough Vegas stretch, including a 3-point, 4-rebound, 3-foul performance against the Nets. He was then rested for the finale. This is summer league. Raynaud is 23, 7-foot-1, and All-Rookie Second Team. We are not worried. We are also keeping an eye on it.
THE WESTBROOK SITUATION: A FAREWELL
It appears Russell Westbrook is not coming back.
Perry said publicly that Westbrook "outplayed a minimum contract" and that "a minimum is all we have right now," which is a dignified way of saying the conversation is effectively over. Westbrook is drawing interest from the Miami Heat and at least one other contender. He is 37. He played 64 games for Sacramento last season, averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.4 rebounds, and was by most accounts the best thing about a 22-win team. Raynaud and Clifford both cited him as a mentor. He cared about the organization. He outplayed his deal. And Sacramento cannot match what a playoff team can offer, not in wins, not in money, not in anything.
So this is a goodbye, probably. We're going to do it properly.
Dear Russ,
You didn't have to be here. You're a nine-time All-Star, an MVP, a guy who averaged a triple-double for four straight seasons. You could have retired gracefully in 2025 and nobody would have blinked. Instead you signed a minimum with a 22-win team in Sacramento, showed up every night, played 64 games, and taught a 7-foot French rookie and a 23-year-old from Colorado how to be professionals. You called this city home when it had nothing to offer you but mileage.
The Kings have a history of not giving people enough reasons to stay. We know this. You know this better than most. We hope wherever you go next, they appreciate what we couldn't afford to keep.
Light the beam, Russ. You earned it.
- Beam Me Up
THE LONG VIEW
Here is where we are: it's late July, the roster is essentially set, and the next meaningful thing that happens is training camp in late September. Somewhere in that two-month gap, Scott Perry will make one more quiet move, a veteran minimum signing, a two-way swap, a trade nobody saw coming at 11pm on a Tuesday. That's the offseason. That's always the offseason.
What we know: the young core is real. Sharp is a steal. Karaban is a winner. Acuff is a project with star upside. Mogbo earned his spot. Raynaud has something to prove. Cardwell is a name to watch. And somewhere in all of it, there's a Kings team that might actually be interesting to watch this season, for reasons beyond just pain tolerance.
One quiet piece of news that slipped through the offseason noise: Bobby Jackson, the Kings legend and Doug Christie's defensive coordinator, parted ways with the coaching staff on July 8. Jackson joined Christie's staff last summer as a former teammate and spent one season running the defense. No replacement has been named yet. It's a small move in the scheme of things, but Jackson was a beloved figure in Sacramento from his playing days on those early 2000s teams, and his exit is the kind of thing that gets a one-line mention in the news and deserves at least a slightly longer one here. Good luck, Bobby.
That's enough. For late July in Sacramento, that's more than enough.
See you next week. We'll probably be talking about a LaVine trade rumor that goes nowhere. We know ourselves.
Forward this to a Kings fan who suffers alongside you.