Kings Could Make a Huge Mistake With Jalen Duren Rumors

The Sacramento Kings have never been a top free agent destination, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. When you don’t have the weather of Los Angeles, the tax perks of Florida or Texas, and also don’t have a great history of winning, the only option left is to outspend the competition when a big name hits the market.

This is exactly what the Kings are planning to do if Jalen Duren does take the qualifying offer from the Detroit Pistons. Duren is only 22 years old and already has an All-NBA nod on his belt, but is giving him a max contract as much of a no-brainer as it seems on the surface?

Detroit’s latest offer to Jalen Duren included a weight clause requiring Duren to check his weight monthly throughout the calendar year, per @HunterPatterson

“The Pistons believe his weight was partly to blame came as a surprise to Duren and his camp. That claim came internally… pic.twitter.com/YFEO6t0V91
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) September 24, 2026

Trading Places

The league has soured a bit on the Kings’ current five-man, Domantas Sabonis, and there’s some merit to the arguments against his playstyle. Sabonis is a dominant rebounder, one of the best passing bigs in the game, and finishes well around the rim despite his limited size and reach. The issue is that he isn’t a shooting threat and doesn’t protect the rim, and most modern bigs playing for contenders can do at least one of those two things well.

On paper, Jalen Duren seems like a great target for Sacramento. He’s much more of a vertical threat than Sabonis, with his superior wingspan and athleticism, which would pair well with Darius Acuff Jr.’s passing ability. Duren is also outstanding as a roll-man in pick-and-roll actions, shooting 75% and leading the league in points per game among players who played more than 50 games. This is a big reason why he and Cade Cunningham played so well together, and there’s evidence that he would fare similarly with Acuff Jr.

Cade → Duren = THE LOB 🤯 https://t.co/jUJovb4HNl pic.twitter.com/piOBIVfOe1
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) March 11, 2026

The problem is Duren, like Sabonis, isn’t a great defender and is even more of a non-shooting threat. Comparing 2024-25 numbers, as Sabonis missed the majority of last season, Duren allowed opponents to shoot 49.4% from the field and 60.3% from less than six feet, while Sabonis’ numbers were 49.9% and 60.2%, respectively, according to NBA.com tracking data.

Duren is the better rim protector with a career block percentage of 3.2% versus Sabonis’ 1.3%, which is a significant difference, but is swapping out Sabonis for Duren going to provide enough of a boost to account for the long-term max contract Duren is looking for?

Money Talks

The Kings are in the running for Duren simply because they’re willing to give him the biggest contract they’re legally able to offer him. Sacramento is in a spot where their books start to clean up after this season, and they wouldn’t be in too much of a financial bind if they give Duren $189 million over four years.

With Zach LaVine and De’Andre Hunter expiring at the end of the season and both Malik Monk and Sabonis heading into the final two years of their deals, the Kings only have Keegan Murray to worry about as a large, long-term contract.

The part that worries me is that the Kings are still far away from competing and may not want to make such a large investment until they know more about their roster. Two other pieces that the Kings hope will continue to progress are Dylan Cardwell and Maxime Raynaud, who are both older than Duren, but also far less expensive.

Though his minutes have been limited, Cardwell is one of the best rim protectors in the NBA with a 6.8% block percentage, and though Raynaud isn’t a Duren-level finisher, he showed a ton of promise as a roll man last season. Could a center rotation of both Raynaud and Cardwell on very cheap rookie deals provide similar value to Duren on a max deal while giving the Kings flexibility to improve elsewhere?

SABONIS STEAL & SCORE TO WIN THE GAME!

Kings win 131-129 in a thriller. pic.twitter.com/BmitdQShoz
— NBA (@NBA) March 8, 2024

The Kings have been known to covet R.J. Barrett, we all know that Jonathan Kuminga will continue to be brought up as a wing option, and there are some other interesting names like Anthony Black coming up as well.

As I mentioned, Sacramento is rarely a free agent destination, but with the huge names that are going to be available, the Kings could take advantage and entice one of those three guards/wings with a big, sub-maximum deal. It’s impossible to tell if that would be a better use of their funds, but it is at least worth mapping out before taking such a huge swing.

The Art of Team Building

The Kings have long felt the sting of trying to build a team around flawed stars with both Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. Ultimately, the Kings were unable to bring in enough defense and shooting to make up for their stars’ shortcomings, and some ill-advised moves afterward put a nail in that coffin.

Now, the Kings have one player to build around, also with very clear flaws. There are plenty of poor defending guards that are incredibly successful in the NBA, and the New York Knicks just won a championship with subpar defenders at both the point guard and center spots.

Keegan Murray with the weakside block on Zion. pic.twitter.com/wOPFHO8DQr
— Skyler (KFR) (@SacFilmRoom) February 13, 2025

There’s absolutely a formula to making a Duren/Acuff Jr. pairing work, it just requires some luck on the Kings’ part. Like the Knicks, the Kings would need two elite defenders at the wing, and one who is an excellent rim protector. Sacramento already has Murray, who posted a 4.2% block percentage in his 23 games played last season and is one of the better wing defenders in the league.

Unfortunately for Sacramento, two-way wings are in extremely high demand, and the Kings would need to either find one in the draft or pay big (via trade or free agency) to find the right pairing for their star and prospective star, and that’s where the luck comes in.

Should the Kings take advantage of one of the rare instances where a young star actually wants to play in Sacramento? Probably. As I mentioned before, the Kings don’t have much else to spend their money on after their big names come off the books in the next two seasons, and I can see why many think this is a no-brainer for Sacramento.

Getting Duren on a max deal could be exactly the move the Kings need to pull themselves out of mediocrity and build a sustainable winner, but there are enough questions around Duren that this isn’t exactly the home run that it may look like at first glance.

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