SACRAMENTO -- In the days and weeks leading up to the 2024 NBA Draft, rumors swirled nationally that the Kings were leaning toward trading out of the first round.
According to Kings general manager Monte McNair, there indeed were discussions about making such a move, but nothing ever materialized to make the idea worth pursuing. And when Sacramento saw Devin Carter still available as it went on the clock at No. 13 overall Wednesday night, it all became a moot point.
“Certainly an active night and active few days, as always, because you don’t know how the board’s going to shake out; you don’t know what the opportunities are going to be,” McNair told reporters at Golden 1 Center after Day 1 of the draft. “We do a lot of scenario-planning, a lot of hypothetical ‘what are the decisions we might be facing?’ At the end of the day, Devin’s somebody very high on our board that we weren’t expecting to be there at 13. When he was there, we decided to pick him and add him to our group. We’re excited.”
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Carter is a two-way guard who should provide immediate dividends on defense, an active player who made significant strides in his defensive rebounding this past year and someone the Kings believe can be a cornerstone for years to come.
“As I’ve continually said, the draft is not about right now. The draft is about adding somebody to our team who can be here for a long time, and we try to draft the best player available,” McNair said. “Devin Carter checks all the boxes. If you watched the playoffs this year, there’s a lot of Devin Carters out there. I’ll put it that way. A guy like that we couldn’t pass up.”
Not that other teams didn’t try to make a deal.
The Sacramento Bee's Jason Anderson reported that the Kings had significant trade talks leading up to the draft, and mentioned players such as Kyle Kuzma of the Washington Wizards and Cameron Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets being part of any deal.
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But the discussions never moved past the initial stages. The Kings opted to stay put and were rewarded with a player they didn’t really expect to have a chance to grab.
“As always, lots of discussion around the pick,” McNair said. “It’s a lottery pick, so there’s always great interest in that.
“What ended up happening at the end of the day was we had a guy really high up on our board who I think many were predicting was going to be a top-10 pick that ended up there for us at 13. When that happened, nothing else on our board beat that, and we were excited to select him.”