According to Ian Goodwillie of A Royal Pain, it’s more than likely that Drew Eubanks won’t be back to play for the Sacramento Kings next season. The former Portland Trail Blazers big man inked a deal to join the Kings this summer, but after the team’s ugly 2025-26 campaign, their direction next season is unclear.
Eubanks didn’t do much in Sacramento this year, and that was the case before a torn UCL sidelined him in the back half of March. The Kings went to rookie Maxime Raynaud for most of the season, choosing him as the backup center behind Domantas Sabonis (when he was healthy).
And now, it already seems like Eubanks will have to start looking for a new club to sign on board with this summer.
Drew Eubanks likely won't be back with the Kings next year
Eubanks is only 29 years old. He still has a few good NBA years left in him, should a team give him the chance to be a depth piece on their roster. He can still play.
In his 42 appearances with the Kings this season (13 starts, 13.1 minutes per contest), Eubanks averaged 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 59.6% from the field.
In the right situation, there’s no reason that Eubanks couldn’t be a decent backup center in the NBA. Unfortunately for him, Sacramento just wasn’t the place for that to happen.
And while he could potentially land a job this summer, especially considering he will likely only be looking for a minimum contract, a lot of teams may choose to go a different route, whether it be targeting younger players or guys with more experience.
The unfortunate reality of the situation is that Eubanks just didn’t get a great year of basketball in during his time with the Kings, especially considering that he’ll be hitting the open market once again this summer.
In fact, the last time that Eubanks cracked the 20-minute-per-game threshold was during his final year in Portland, which was the 2021-22 campaign.
In 78 appearances for the Trail Blazers that year (28 starts, 20.3 minutes per contest), Eubanks averaged 6.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 64.1% from the floor.
If he could provide an NBA team with those types of numbers, it would be solid. But at this point in his career, the only question is, will he get another chance to do that? Based on the way this season went in Sacramento (for the team as a whole, especially), that much is in question.