A decade is enough of a sample size to validate the excellence of the 2014 NBA Draft.
Nearly 10 years ago at Barclays Center, NBA MVPs Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, who slipped to the Denver Nuggets in the second round, were drafted far before their star power came to be.
The Sacramento Kings, on the other hand, bet on Nik Stauskas, selecting the Michigan guard with the No. 8 overall pick, which didn’t work in Sacramento’s favor.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Now, what if the Kings were on the clock with today’s NBA almanac in hand?
If that were the case, the Kings, then under coach Mike Malone and general manager Pete D'Alessandro, would have selected Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart, according to ESPN, in its 2014 NBA redraft.
Smart, who originally was selected by the Boston Celtics in 2014, has been a defensive juggernaut since joining the league, winning the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year award and being named to the All-Defensive team on three occasions.
Stauskas, on the other hand, featured for the Kings in 21 games and made a single start before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers before the start of the 2015 NBA season.
NBA
The guard was one of Vlade Divac’s first moves as the Kings’ decision-maker, and as story shows, it was an outright unfavorable move for the franchise.
With the 2024 NBA Draft set for June 26-27, the question is: How will Sacramento look back at their upcoming first-round pick in 10 years?
Kings fans can only hope the outcome is the opposite of 2014.
