DENVER, CO – MARCH 5: Russell Westbrook (4) of the Denver Nuggets defends DeMar DeRozan (10) of the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
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On Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings made their way onto the mainstream NBA news cycle by signing former MVP and nine-time All-NBA guard Russell Westbrook to a one-year contract worth the veteran’s minimum ($3.6 million based on Westbrook’s level of experience).
As someone who enjoys the commentary of Mark Jones and the ambience of Golden 1 Center, I often find myself monitoring the Kings rather closely. If you did the same last season, you would likely have concluded that the team needed more size and shooting if they plan on building around Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Malik Monk.
So, what did the Kings do this offseason?
They traded with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the right to draft Nique Clifford with the 24th overall pick. Clifford was uber impressive in the 2025 Summer League, and his 6’8 wingspan and the 37.7% he shot from three in his two years at Colorado State suggest that he could be just what the doctor ordered. Still, he’s a rookie (albeit an older one), and you never want to rely too heavily on a first-year player to be a major contributor to a playoff hopeful right out of the gate.
Then, they orchestrated a sign-and-trade for the 6’1 Dennis Schroder, who is notorious for being a shaky long-range shooter (career 34.2% from three). This does not address their aforementioned needs, but is partially justifiable because they did need a setup artist for all their talented scorers (Schroder placed in the 93rd percentile in Passer Rating last season, according to CraftedNBA).
And now, they are adding Westbrook – another point guard who teams don’t fear from the outside (career 30.5% 3-point shooter). So, one has to wonder, what the heck are the Kings doing here?
How Russell Westbrook Can Help The Sacramento Kings
Given their history of questionable decision-making, the Kings don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but there is a world where this might work.
The mark of a great coach is that they aren’t married to a single philosophy. They are adaptable. Look at Rick Carlisle, who won an NBA title with an older Dallas Mavericks team in 2011, and then a decade later, led the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals while playing an up-tempo brand of basketball.
Coaches refer to this phenomenon as “KYP”, aka know your personnel. Coaches aren’t overly concerned with the perfect theory of team building. Their goal is to win with the pieces they have now.
That brings us to the Kings. They may not have the size or shooters that other teams with their ambitions boast. But what they do have is an abundance of speedy guards who can strike quickly. Along with Schroder and Westbrook, the team also rosters Monk, Keon Ellis, and Devin Carter.
If the Kings want to maximize their current team, they need to zag while everyone else is zigging. This year, a lot of teams will look to emulate the double-big lineups that the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers had so much success with last year.
The Kings need to field units that feature as many of their best players as possible. That means that they should deploy a ton of “micro-ball” lineups featuring three, or maybe even four, guards on the floor at once.
Their points of emphasis should include playing fast (to make up for their lack of spacing) and aggressively (to create turnovers and negate their lack of traditional rim protection).
That is where Westbrook fits into this puzzle. Even at the archaic age of 36 years old, Westbrook is still one of the best pace pushers in the association. Last season, the Denver Nuggets were in the 90th percentile in transition frequency when Westbrook was on the floor (Cleaning The Glass).
Westbrook’s nearly two decades of commanding NBA offenses have also given him a great understanding of how NBA offenses function. This serves him on the defensive side of the ball as he is able to anticipate actions and jump passing lanes. His steal rate was in the 86th percentile last year.
This version of Westbrook has been quite volatile. When he’s on, you can win games that you probably wouldn’t have otherwise. But when he’s off, it gets really, really ugly.
The fact that Westbrook went this long without signing with an NBA team tells you everything you need to know. His odds of seriously contributing to winning are low. But there is a chance that this works and the Kings change the way we think about basketball in 2025, making this signing interesting enough to keep an eye on.