Kings Reportedly Interested in Top NBA Free Agent to Help Center Depth

As the Sacramento Kings gear up for their matchup against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, it appears Scott Perry and the front office are looking for help on the interior. 

Monday morning, Jake Fischer reported that Sacramento is looking into signing veteran center Precious Achiuwa. 

This would be a solid signing, albeit one that does not move the needle. Achiuwa’s talent has never been in question – he was a top-20 recruit out of high school, and the 20th overall pick in the 2020 Draft after one year at Memphis. 

Getting that level of talent on a minimum while he is still just 26 years old is the exact sort of low-risk move that Sacramento needs to make to subtly improve the roster. While it does not completely address the roster’s deficiencies, it is a start.

In addition to the raw talent, Achiuwa has proven to be a suitable rotational big man over the last couple of seasons. He split time between the 4 and 5 with the Knicks last season, averaging 6.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1 assist per game, adding 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. 

He will not space the floor (has never averaged more than 2 3PA/game), so the fit with Domantas Sabonis would be clunky given Sabonis’ shooting regression this season. 

Where Achiuwa could shine with the Kings, though, is on the defensive end. Per Basketball Index, Achiuwa ranked in the 94th percentile in Defensive Matchup Versatility. 

While he spends the bulk of his time guarding bigs, Achiuwa has the quickness to “guard down” and put up a fight against big wings – something the Kings sorely need while they remain without Keegan Murray. 

Beyond the obvious talent addition Achiuwa presents, this would be an interesting move on several fronts. First, it is a clear vote of no confidence in the current big depth. While Drew Eubanks has not looked entirely out of place as the backup center, Maxime Raynaud’s time in the rotation was very short-lived. 

Sacramento could clearly stand to add another big body to provide some more options to either spell Sabonis or share the floor with him. 

Next, signing Achiuwa would require some peripheral moves. Marc Stein noted that Sacramento currently has 15 standard NBA contracts at the moment. So, they would need to clear a roster spot to sign Achiuwa. This could theoretically come from a 2-for-1 trade where Sacramento sends two players out. 

However, the simpler (and more likely) scenario is that Sacramento will waive someone. There are not many obvious options for this route, as most of Sacramento’s minimum contracts are either current rotation players or recent draft picks that the team would want to cut bait with so soon. Players who do not fit that bill and could potentially be waived to sign Achiuwa include Dario Saric, Doug McDermott, or Isaac Jones. 

Regardless, the Achiuwa report is exactly that right now – just a report. However, reports on Sacramento’s interest in a given player have turned out to have a relatively high hit rate since Scott Perry and the new regime took over this summer (see: trading up in the draft, Dennis Schroder, Russell Westbrook, interest in Jonathan Kuminga). So, this situation is worth monitoring. We may have a new addition to the Kings’ frontcourt in the coming days.