2. The Sacramento Kings pick conveys, Sixers pick at No. 1 in 2019 Draft
Prediction: Kings win fewer than 20 games and win the lottery, which means the Sixers will have the No. 1 pick in June.
This one does not have much to do with the Sixers’ performances this season, but it’s still an important thing for the front office and fanbase to pay attention to. The Kings have a decent young roster, but aside from maybe Marvin Bagley III, none of their players will surprise anyone like the Pacers’ Victor Oladipo did last year.
The Kings’ best players this season will be Bagley, De’Aaron Fox, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. All three players have major flaws: Bogdanovic can’t defend, Fox can’t shoot, and questions about defensive effort and skill, work ethic, and one-handedness have surrounded Bagley since before he even began at Duke.
It’s not just the Kings’ stars with major holes in their skills; owner Vivek Ranadive has ran the team into the ground in recent seasons. Remember the Nik Stauskas trade? Sacramento is still feeling the repercussions of that trade because the Sixers acquired this pick from them in that transaction. In fact, it was such a monumental fleecing by Sam Hinkie that fans can buy commemorative t-shirts.
The Kings simply do not have enough talent to end up anywhere other than the bottom of the Western Conference, and if the ping-pong balls roll in favor of the Philadelphia 76ers, they will end up with a future star in Cam Reddish, Zion Williamson, or R.J. Barrett. If the pick goes anywhere else but No. 1, then it lands right in the arms of the Boston Celtics, which would make things a lot harder for the Sixers in the future.