Malik Monk's Three-Word Statement About Future with Kings

Malik Monk wasn't shy about his desire to be in Sacramento during his exit interview.

Mar 17, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) celebrates after scoring a basket against the Memphis Grizzlies during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

On Thursday, Sacramento Kings players gave their exit interviews to the media following their Play-In loss to the Dallas Mavericks. In proper Kings fashion, General Manager Monte McNair and the team “mutually parted ways” before the exit interviews even happened. McNair’s departure, Mike Brown, and the De’Aaron Fox trade were all on the table for the Kings roster to discuss during their interviews. 

Malik Monk was asked (like many other players) if he wanted to be in Sacramento, and he gave one of the more resounding answers of the day. 

“I’m all in. Don’t question that.”

Malik Monk's full Sacramento Kings season exit interview:

Takeaways: He's "all-in" here in Sacramento & he feels his best role is as a starting 2 guard. pic.twitter.com/fJ3PIVplWe

— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) April 17, 2025

While everyone expects every player to say they want to continue wearing the same jersey, the resounding yes from Malik is positive. Monk ended up missing the Play-In for the second straight year and his absence didn’t go under the radar. The Kings have been mostly a mess after the Fox trade, but Malik brought something that none of Sacramento’s other stars could this season: creation. 

Monk excelled all year long in the pick and roll, averaging .9 points per possession as the primary ball handler and was 20th in the entire league in drives per game. Monk was also 10th in assists per game off drives, tied with James Harden and Cam Thomas while beating out Cade Cunningham, Devin Booker, and former teammate De’Aaron Fox. 

With Monk, fans know you have to take some of the bad that comes with his playstyle, usually in the form of turnovers or ill-advised shots. With Fox moved, Malik stepped into more of a lead guard role and even moonlighted as a point guard prior to the Fox trade. While still holding a solid assist to turnover ratio, Malik averaged the most turnovers per game in his career with 2.4. Some of that may have to do with him not playing his preferred position, which he addressed during his interview. 

"I had to be four different players this year, but I'm not complaining... I felt most comfortable starting at the two."

While many believe Monk would be best suited coming off the bench, if he is going to start he would be better off playing next to a true point guard. Not only would this allow Monk to focus on attacking rather than orchestrating the offense, but playing him with a better point of attack defender next to him will help cover for some of his defensive limitations. Domantas Sabonis is also on record saying the Kings need a point guard. 

The issue with bringing a starting point guard is that one of Monk or Ellis will need to move back to the bench and they both were actually quite good sharing the court. The two posted a +2.5 net rating and a very solid 112.6 defensive rating in 831 minutes together this season. When you add in DeMar DeRozan, Sabonis, and Keegan Murray, the lineup jumps to. 17.1 net rating in 201 minutes this season. The point is, there is a clear formula for how Malik can be the most effective on this Kings team. 

New general manager, Scott Perry, will have his hands full trying to balance the Kings roster, but it sounds like he will be able to count on Malik Monk being around for the long haul. It will be very interesting to see what Malik’s role is next year, but he was clear he’s ready to do whatever his coach needs from him next season. If the rest of the Kings roster has the same attitude, it would go a long way towards the team working itself back into relevance.