Due to a Cinderella season in 2022-23, the Sacramento Kings transformed themselves from a bottom-of-the-rung and can't-get-right franchise into one with a riveting team led by hard-nosed players.

However, if the Kings want to keep up their success — let alone build off of it — then they may need to upgrade their roster. After all, the Phoenix Suns added a multi-time All-Star in Bradley Beal, the Golden State Warriors added a future Hall of Famer in Chris Paul, and even the Los Angeles Clippers are widely expected to add 2018 NBA MVP James Harden.

Nonetheless, the biggest moves the Kings made this offseason were re-signing veteran forward Harrison Barnes, trading for 3-and-D specialist Chris Duarte, and bringing over 2023 EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov.

More moves on the way?

Speaking about the lack of major upgrades that the Sacramento Kings made to this point, Kings head honcho Monte McNair says “[I’m] not saying that we won’t look at upgrades (or that) we didn’t… we certainly explored all those options. But knowing that one of our options was going to be to bring the bulk of our team back (was appealing).”

“I think people always focus on this year,” McNair tells The Athletic’s Anthony Slater and Sam Amick. “But for us this summer was as much about setting up the next three, four or five years as it was just how good we’ll be this year.”

To that point, while McNair believes in his current roster, he also believes that the Kings have the talent and assets needed to make a splash trade if need be.

“If we’re good enough as is, fantastic,” McNair says. “… On the other hand, if we’re not quite good enough and need to improve, we feel flexible… So I think we’re in a spot where if there is an aggressive play out there, we’ll be one of the teams that can knock on that door.”

Wishing upon a star

In truth, the Sacramento Kings make eventually a play for a star like Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris, Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam or even Raptors wing OG Anunoby. These are all players that they've been linked to this offseason and players that could legitimately improve their frontcourt. However, it may behoove them to wait it out and see how their current players and prospective targets look first.

After all, though the Kings may want a star, you have to be careful what you wish for.