What Sabonis' Return Means For Kings' Young Frontcourt

Yesterday, the Sacramento Kings announced that Domantas Sabonis would be questionable for tonight’s game against the Washington Wizards. Sabonis hasn’t been officially upgraded to available, but the expectation is that he will be by game time.

Domas has missed the vast majority of the season, including the last 27 games. In his absence, Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell, and Precious Achiuwa have held down the fort and have proven that they deserve a spot in the rotation. The question is, how will Sabonis’ return impact the amount of time you can play each of them?

Domantas Sabonis is expected to return for the Kings tonight after a 27-game absence for a partial meniscus tear. Now healthy, he's a name to watch as the trade deadline nears.https://t.co/c9aCvDI5Ua
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 16, 2026

Precious Achiuwa

First up is the veteran among the bunch, Precious Achiuwa. Precious is in his sixth year in the league and has been a revelation as a midseason pick-up for the Kings. In 34 games and 20 starts, Achiuwa is averaging 7.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and shooting just about 50% from the field. The numbers don’t jump off the page with Precious, but his impact is obvious when you watch the Kings play.

"I can't believe he was a free agent"

–– Zach LaVine on former Knick Precious Achiuwa after he led the Kings in a wire-to-wire win over the Knicks pic.twitter.com/2Uc6gRyRmJ
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) January 15, 2026

With Sabonis returning, there are real questions about how Precious fits into the lineup and if the Kings can still start him. Sabonis has had some good shooting seasons, including last year, but starting two players who aren’t going to have much gravity from behind the line can be problematic. Add in DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook, and the Kings would be playing with just one real shooter on the floor if they start those four with Zach LaVine. While Achiuwa has knocked down just 38.5% of his wide-open threes this year, that just isn’t who he is as a player.

Maxime Raynaud

Next up is Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento’s second-round pick, who has turned into one of the better rookies in the NBA. Raynaud has been the full-time starter with Sabonis out and is averaging 12.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, and shooting 59% from the field since slotting into the first five. Raynaud still has a lot to improve on, but he’s been more than passable as a starting center.

So far this year, Raynaud hasn’t been taking (or making) a ton of threes, which he showed he was capable of doing at Stanford last season. The key to fitting Sabonis and Raynaud together will always come down to shooting, and the question is, can either be a reliable floor spacer? There are some concerns about one or both of them switching onto smaller players, but I do like the idea of at least trying to see what you have with both guys together.

Dylan Cardwell

Finally, we get to everyone’s favorite big on the roster, Dylan Cardwell. Cardwell is on a two-way contract as an undrafted rookie. Normally, I would say that Dylan is someone whose numbers don’t do him justice, but his team-leading +13.5 on/off rating according to Cleaning The Glass tells the story quite well. Beyond being a legitimate rim protector, Cardwell’s energy has completely changed everything for this team. He simply doesn’t quit on plays and sprints up and down the floor every single possession, two things that the Kings haven’t always been known for.

Dylan Cardwell has been a great rim protector, but…

His energy on the court had been the biggest standout for me so far. The crowd, and the BENCH feed off of him significantly. pic.twitter.com/uwlQ7hAaiJ
— Kings Lead (@KingsLeadSM) January 15, 2026

Cardwell isn’t a threat to shoot from deep, and playing him with Sabonis will undoubtedly cause spacing issues. That alone may be a reason why they can’t play together for more than a few minutes at a time, but Cardwell’s defense and switchability might make it a worthwhile experiment. Ideally, the forward who slots in next to Sabonis would be someone who can protect the rim AND shoot, but there are ways to make the pairing work.

What SHOULD the Rotation Look Like?

I capitalized “should” here because what the Kings should do and what they will do are often very different things. To me, this is going to be more about the guards than it is Sabonis, Cardwell, Raynaud, or Achiuwa. While this is an oversimplification, you can chalk up the four bigs as non-shooters for now, which means there needs to be spacing from the guards.

Personally, I think it makes sense to continue to start Achiuwa next to Sabonis and try out both rookie bigs next to Domas to see which fit might work best. The kicker is that I don’t think they can continue to be successful starting lineups that only have one shooter, despite the five-man group of Raynaud, Achiuwa, DeRozan, LaVine, and Westbrook having a +16.1 net rating. If it were me, I would send one of Westbrook or DeRozan to the bench to bring more shooting in the form of Keon Ellis or Malik Monk.

As I mentioned, what the Kings should do and what they will do are often at odds, and this will probably be an example. I expect the Kings to either swap Sabonis for Raynaud while keeping everything the same, or go extremely small with Westbrook as the de facto four. Regardless of which direction the Kings go, it will take a bunch of creativity from Doug Christie to make sure that Achiuwa, Raynaud, and Cardwell all see substantial minutes with Sabonis back in the fold.

Precious Achiuwa

Maxime Raynaud

Dylan Cardwell

What SHOULD the Rotation Look Like?

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