20. Kings: De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis
I don’t subscribe to the idea that the Sacramento Kings will make the playoffs like Marc Spears of ESPN does, but I won’t deny they’ve improved this offseason. They have a nice core of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.
They also have a good supporting cast as well headlined by Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, Malik Monk, and Richaun Holmes. Is it good enough to get into a playoff spot in the Western Conference? Probably not, but they will be a fun team nevertheless.
Sabonis has already made two All-Star games and is easily a top-10 center in the league. He’s an elite interior scorer and arguably the second-best playmaking big man in the league behind Nikola Jokic. The area of weakness in his game is defensively, but he’s not bad on that end either.
Fox struggled last season, but that can partially be attributed to him having to share a backcourt with Haliburton. However, Fox’s production took a huge leap after the All-Star break so there should be optimism about him having a bounce-back season next year.