Kings HC is 'Proud' of Rookie After Hard-Fought Battle Against Wemby

The Sacramento Kings have now lost 16 straight games after falling to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night. Sacramento struggled early, falling behind 11-0 to start the game before battling back and making this a game all the way up until the final period, where the Spurs took complete control. The Kings were always going to be outmatched without Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, and De’Andre Hunter, but there were still some bright spots. In particular, Doug Christie talked about how well Max Raynaud played against Victor Wembanyama.

“I was really proud of Max, I thought he did a really good job, I thought he met the physicality.”

make that 10 double-doubles! https://t.co/58jzmqsLA5 pic.twitter.com/y5H9vXSN9C
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) February 22, 2026

A Familiar Foe

Raynaud and Wembanyama know each other quite well, both hailing from France, and the two even play chess together. Despite the familiarity, the two couldn’t have had more different paths to the NBA. Wembanyama was the number one overall pick and still looks the part of a generational player, while Max played four years at Stanford before the Kings took him in the second round of last year’s draft. Max isn’t close to the player that Wembanyama is, but he showed that he isn’t completely out of his element against one of the best players in the league.

“A double-double against a kid like that is big time.”

Raynaud finished with 16 points and 12 boards in 26 minutes, which doesn’t compare to
Wembanyama’s 28 and 15, but there are still a lot of positive takeaways from his performance. The first thing to point out is his rebounding, something that he hasn’t always excelled at during the season. This was Max’s 10th double-double, and he’s now tied with Derik Queen for the lead among rookies. He still has a lot of development left, especially on the defensive end, but his improvement on the glass is great to see.

frères 🫂🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/I4aEmqgImz
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) February 22, 2026

The Center Of The Future?

With Sabonis out for the season and Dylan Cardwell out for the foreseeable future, Raynaud will continue to have a ton of opportunities to grow his game during the final stretch. He’s already proving that he can score on the inside and attack the glass, but I’ll be looking for him to show some improvements as a rim protector with his increased opportunities. Sacramento’s perimeter defense isn’t doing Raynaud many favors, but a 1.8% block percentage just isn’t good enough if he’s going to be a full-time starter in the NBA. Christie also seems to understand that there is room for improvement with his young big.

“Go back and look at the film, there’s some areas for him to obviously improve.”

Another area that I’m keeping my eye on is Raynaud’s outside shooting. At Stanford, Raynaud shot nearly 35% from deep, which is significantly better than the 27% he’s shooting this season. In the NBA, centers really need to either be able to shoot from deep or protect the rim at a high level, and that has been a big reason why the Kings seem ready to move on from Sabonis when they can. Max is still young and has plenty of time to improve, but Cardwell has already proven that he can protect the rim at a high level.

This jersey swap connection between Wemby and Kings rookie Maxime Raynaud runs deep. They first crossed paths at 14 as rivals before becoming teammates at Nanterre in France. From there, they pushed each other on the court and built a bond that’s lasted all the way to the NBA.… https://t.co/QPKLGxgG6y pic.twitter.com/y3uOlvgel5
— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) February 22, 2026

Cardwell isn’t remotely close to the offensive talent that Raynaud is, but he brings things that NBA teams value a lot more from the center spot. At 7’1”, Raynaud can develop into a better rim protector, but his limited athleticism will make that an uphill battle. Given that, he may have a better chance of becoming a league-average shooter from deep and be able to play alongside Cardwell. Regardless, the Kings made the right move when they found Raynaud outside of the first round last year.

Still A Diamond In the Rough

Even if Raynaud doesn’t improve his shooting or rim protection (which I find highly unlikely), he’s still shown that he’s a rotation big in the NBA, at least. Being able to find a player of Max’s caliber in the second round is huge for a team like Sacramento that doesn’t have a lot of financial flexibility in the near future. On The Game Theory Podcast, host Sam Vecenie talked about a theory on getting solid production from bigs on minimum contracts, and that is exactly what the Kings will have with Raynaud for the next two seasons. The Kings may not have a ton going for them right now, but their young center rotation is truly one of the few bright spots.