The Sacramento Kings are certainly aiming to get back to their 2022-23 heights this season, and they made some big moves this offseason in order to get there. However, they will need some of their holdovers to produce as well if they want to rise solidly back into the playoff picture.
One of those pieces is guard Kevin Huerter, a sharpshooter who can space the floor with the best of them when he’s healthy. Huerter has spent his entire offseason rehabbing a dislocated left shoulder and a torn labrum that forced him to miss the end of last season, but head coach Mike Brown is hoping that the Kings will have him back for the season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.
“I think he’s close,” Brown said of Huerter, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “They haven’t given me the green light that he’ll be able to play on Thursday, but I think he’s close. He looks good. He doesn’t seem like he’s missed a beat at all. If he plays, he’ll probably start, but right now we’ve gotta get the green light to see if he’s gonna play.”
Huerter’s shooting will be a much-needed skill for the Kings this season as they lean into their new personnel on offense.
Kevin Huerter is vital to the Kings’ success in 2024-25
The Kings made a big splash this offseason when they went all-in on their current core and added DeMar DeRozan to the fold. DeRozan joins De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis to give the Kings three All-Stars as they attempt to rise the ranks in the Western Conference.
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The addition of DeRozan is unquestionably a good one, and he will really help the Kings out in crunch time when the game slows down. However, neither DeRozan nor Sabonis are comfortable shooting three-pointers, making the spacing provided by the Kings’ role players very important.
Huerter fits the exact mold of someone that Mike Brown would want to slot in next to his three stars. The sharpshooter had a little but of a down year from three-point range last season, knocking down just over 36% of his threes, but the Kings are hoping that he can return to 40% like he was at in 2022-23.
The Kings need Huerter’s shooting to perk back up after they lost a lot of their role players who could also space the floor. They have Keegan Murray and Malik Monk back in the mix, but Monk spends a lot of time handling the ball with the bench unit. Big seasons from the outside from Huerter and Murray would make this team very hard to guard.