Kings Hint at New-Look Starting Lineup in Recent Instagram Post

The Sacramento Kings are expected to have a new starting lineup next season.

Apr 11, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) during the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Sacramento Kings are in an interesting spot when it comes to their starting lineup. 

They have a trio of stars in Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan that are always going to command minutes. Two other guards, Malik Monk and Keon Ellis, combined for 73 starts last season. Add in Keegan Murray, who was a full-time starter last season, a first-round pick in Nique Clifford, and last year’s first-round pick, Devin Carter, and the Kings have a ton of talent with not a lot of minutes to go around. 

Oh, and on top of that, the Kings brought in Dennis Schroder in the offseason. Fans and the media are likely in agreement on who they believe should start, but if Sacramento’s recent Instagram post to promote their 2025-26 season schedule is any hint, we’re all going to be disappointed. 

The social media team may have no clue who will start for Sacramento, but the players included in the post match up with expectations. The post shows five players: Dennis Schroder, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis. Not including Malik Monk, who started 45 games last season, seems to be either a nod to him returning to his bench role or another change. 

I won’t get into conspiracy theories about Monk being traded because he was left out of an Instagram post, but it is a good opportunity to talk about the starters. A lineup of Schroder, LaVine, DeRozan, Murray, and Sabonis makes sense; however, it may not be the best way for Sacramento to optimize the roster. 

Malik Monk '24-25 powerful dunks pic.twitter.com/8FDqUUULbm

— Hoops Motion (@HoopsMotion) August 6, 2025

Schroder has been a solid point guard for his entire career, and Sacramento did need a calming presence there last year, but is it worth putting Monk or Ellis on the bench just to have a true point guard? 

When it comes to Monk, I think there is more of an argument for him to come off the bench. Not only is he a capable ball-handler, but he can also create his own offense in a second unit that will probably need all the help it can get offensively. Monk would also be able to play with Schroder (even if the defense might be a trainwreck). Schroder isn’t a better player than Monk, but being a true point guard and a (slightly) better defender will likely be why he gets the nod. 

Keon Ellis is a harder sell as a bench player for Sacramento, in my opinion. Ellis is an off-guard, and even though he’s been decent as a ball-handler, he doesn’t look like he’ll get any minutes at the point. Because of this, he’s sitting behind LaVine, who is still one of the better offensive players in the league despite his faults. 

While I do think LaVine should start, having Ellis in for either DeRozan or Schroder just makes more sense in my mind. Last season, Sacramento looked awful defensively when Monk, LaVine, and DeRozan were on the court together, and while Schroder is a better defender than Monk, he is not close to Keon. It’s hard to envision things going THAT much better without getting Ellis into the starting 5. 

KEON ELLIS IS SCORCHING FROM 3 🔥🔥

6-6 IN LESS THAN 10 MINUTES 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/wsHhQRWPPN

— NBA (@NBA) November 19, 2024

The lineup of DeRozan, Ellis, Monk, Murray, and Sabonis was a +18.4 last season when they shared the court. While the team was only +0.7 when you switched LaVine for Monk, it still feels like a starting lineup worth trying.  That leaves the team with no true point guard; however, DeRozan, LaVine, and Ellis should be able to hold their own (in theory). If that trio can handle the point, the team would be able to get another 40% three-point shooter on the court in Ellis, which should open things up. 

Even though Keegan Murray had a down year shooting, his gravity as a shooter can’t be ignored. Even if the offense is clunky at times, it would be hard to argue how much better the Kings would be defensively with Ellis starting.

Keon Ellis is a MONSTER point of attack defender...

Sacramento had a top 10 defense post-allstar last season & Ellis was a huge reason why. Master deflection/poke-out artist. Full-court pressure bully. Hyper-aglie. Even knocked down a high clip of open 3s. Crucial piece for SAC. pic.twitter.com/ee6LdId7WK

— NBA University (@NBA_University) August 26, 2024

Not only does he help Sacramento’s overall defense, but he also makes things easier for specific guys. Keegan Murray is an excellent defender, but he’s often asked to step out and defend guards due to the Kings’ defensive limitations. 

With Ellis in, Murray wouldn’t have to take on assignments like Steph Curry, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and other All-NBA guards. In a perfect world, this helps Murray excel as a wing defender and gives him more energy to expend on offense. LaVine and DeRozan would also be able to take on less-intensive defensive assignments, which could be the biggest plus to starting Ellis. 

Of course, all of this is conjecture, and the Kings' starting lineup likely won’t make a big difference this season either. There’s also the chance that the projected starters look great together. LaVine, Schroder, DeRozan, Murray, and Sabonis are all good players and could figure things out on the court. 

However, things could also become even more complicated if Nique Clifford is even better than advertised once the season begins. For now, I would expect that the Kings’ Instagram post will be the starting lineup to start the season, but things can still change between now and October.