Grading Sacramento Kings’ 2025 NBA Draft originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Sacramento Kings entered the 2025 NBA Draft with only one second-round pick after their first-round pick conveyed to the Atlanta Hawks due to the Kevin Huerter trade in 2022.
Despite this, there were many reports about Sacramento looking to trade into the first round of the draft and that is exactly what they were able to do.
Sacramento sent a 2027 top-16 protected first-round pick originally owned by the San Antonio Spurs to the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 24th overall selection on Wednesday night.
With the 24th pick, the Kings selected Colorado State guard Nique Clifford to upgrade their backcourt.
WELCOME TO SACRAMENTO NIQUE CLIFFORD pic.twitter.com/tiNpYLyebz
— Sacramento Kings 24/7 (@sackings_247) June 26, 2025
The Kings then used the 42nd pick in the second round on Wednesday night to upgrade their frontcourt depth by drafting Stanford center Maxime Raynaud.
Palo Alto to Sacramento‼️
With the 42nd pick of the 2025 NBA Draft the @SacramentoKings select Maxime Raynaud!#NBADraftpic.twitter.com/4WoMb5Sbul
— Stanford Men’s Basketball (@StanfordMBB) June 27, 2025
Kings’ 2025 NBA Draft Grade: A-
With these moves, the Kings earned an A- grade for their 2025 NBA Draft as they were able to fill two key holes in their roster.
For Clifford, he will give the Kings a reliable scorer and defender at the guard position, something they struggled with after trading De’Aaron Fox to the Spurs last season and could get worse with Malik Monk and Devin Carter in trade rumors.
In his senior season at Colorado State, Clifford averaged 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 49.6% from the field and 37.7% from three.
He is a great rebounder for his size and could eventually become the starting point guard in Sacramento.
For Raynaud, many were surprised to see him fall as low as he did on Thursday night especially after putting together a dominant season at Stanford last year.
In his senior season with the Cardinal, the 7-1 center averaged 20.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 34.7% from three.
Raynaud will add a great floor spacer and rebounder to the Kings’ rotation behind Domantas Sabonis and could cause Sacramento to potentially look for a new home for Jonas Valanciunas.
With these moves, the Kings were able to fill two holes on their roster as they try to turn things around next season.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.