Where Would a Healthy Kings' Team Land In the West Next Year?

Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive said the team has had “the injury plague” this year, and he’s right. Domantas Sabonis played in just 19 games all season, Keegan Murray isn’t far ahead with 23 games, and Zach LaVine had his season end after 39 games. On top of that, recently acquired De’Andre Hunter played in just one game before having season-ending eye surgery.

Injuries aren’t the only reason the season hasn’t gone to plan for Sacramento, but they’re obviously a big factor. A season like this always begs the question: What would this team look like healthy?

“Obviously it’s tough to lose, but injuries are a fact of life,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had a single game where we’ve had all our starters together… we’ve had the injury plague this year.”

- Vivek Ranadivé on reflecting the Kings season so far pic.twitter.com/Mwkjds6tXS
— 𝙅𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙖𝙧𝙣 (@SwipaZorro) March 21, 2026

The Best Case Scenario

In the real world, the Kings would be dealing with free agency, adding draft picks, and making other moves before the season starts. For the sake of simplicity, we’re just going to look at what this team would’ve looked like healthy for this current season. The Kings are sitting at 21-57 this year, and it’s clear that they would have been better than that healthy, but how much better?

Say what you want about Sabonis, but he’s a former All-NBA center, and he’s proven that he helps you win games in the regular season. He’s led the league in rebounding three times and is as close to a guaranteed double-double as it gets. Murray’s shooting may not be what it once was, but he’s also a winning player who would have made Sacramento’s defense much less porous. Throw in LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Russell Westbrook, and on paper, you have a roster that should be winning games.

Domantas Sabonis and Zach Lavine are out for the remainder of the season, per @ShamsCharania

Sabonis underwent season-ending surgery to repair his torn meniscus, while LaVine is undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a tendon injury in his hand pic.twitter.com/loPRvTFBPx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 18, 2026

Let’s say this team stays healthy and actually clicks offensively like they have the potential to. Even with Murray healthy, there wasn’t going to be a path to the Kings being a good defensive team, which makes it hard to give much of a boost there. The best case for this Kings team was being a top-ten offense and not the worst defense in the league.

If I were to venture a guess, I’d say the optimal, healthy version of this team is competing for the ninth or tenth spots in the play-in tournament.

The Realistic Scenario

You may be saying, “The best case is the last two spots of the play-in?” and I would answer yes. The 2025-26 Kings weren’t built to compete for the playoffs, as much as certain members of the team’s leadership might’ve wanted to believe that. There are far too many players who need the ball in their hands to be successful, and not one of them has the capability of being a positive on defense, either.

Keegan Murray was helped off and taken to the locker room with an ankle injury.

Hope he's okay 🙏pic.twitter.com/lr5IBRbK9p
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 5, 2026

According to Databallr.com, LaVine and DeRozan have a -15.9 net rating when sharing the court together this season, and adding Westbrook only brings that to a -12.6. Given his injuries, it isn’t exactly fair to use Sabonis’ numbers from this year, but we can go back a bit further. Starting in 2024, the three-man lineup of Sabonis, LaVine, and DeRozan shared the court for 785 minutes and had a net rating of -12.2. The point is that these players really don’t fit well together.

Beyond the lack of synergy based simply on playstyle, this version of the Kings doesn’t have nearly enough shooting. Despite LaVine being a great shooter and Murray having the ability to stretch the floor at his best, two shooters aren’t enough for a modern starting lineup.

Among the teams in the Western Conference play-in picture, the only team in the bottom ten in three-point field goal percentage is the Portland Trail Blazers. Alternatively, if you look at the top ten teams in three-point percentage, only one has no real shot at the postseason, and that’s the Milwaukee Bucks.

Kings forward De’Andre Hunter is set for season-ending eye surgery, per @ChrisBHaynes. pic.twitter.com/Kv4yX6N3pZ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 20, 2026

In the end, I’m not sure that a healthy roster would have made nearly as much of a difference as it may seem. The lack of shooting, overload of ball-dominant players, and inability to defend were going to show up regardless. Again, this is just a guess, but the most realistic scenario for a healthy Kings’ team is likely still an under .500 year and a finish behind the Golden State Warriors for the 10th spot.

Please, Don’t Run It Back

It’s easy to see why the Kings’ leadership may look at this season and say, “Hey, we were hurt all year, why don’t we just stand pat and see what throwing a high draft pick into the mix does?” Sure, adding one of the best players in the 2026 draft would translate into a few more wins, but without changing anything else, Sacramento would be capping not only their win total, but the development of their younger players.

Having a roster that doesn’t make sense makes it harder for rookies and young players to get better. The lack of ball movement, spacing, and defense throws a wrench into what is already a challenging transition from college. The Kings need major changes this offseason, and they cannot talk themselves into making minor tweaks simply because they were hit with “the injury plague.”