The Sacramento Kings took a gamble when they traded their franchise guard in De’Aaron Fox, thinking that bringing more veterans could keep them as contenders. However, they sit at the bottom of the Western Conference, and still have no true franchise guard to build around.
Luckily, a replacement for Fox might not be too far away. According to Fansided’s Christopher Kline’s latest 2026 Mock Draft, he has the Kings landing a polarizing NCAA superstar in Kansas University’s Darryn Peterson.
“It’s hard to feel great about Sacramento of all teams landing the top-ranked prospect with health and mindset-related questions, but most of the Darryn Peterson discourse has been blown out of proportion. He is clearly operating below full strength, which makes it hard to evaluate these new perceived weaknesses…If he can match this prodigious perimeter scoring with his pre-college athleticism and driving ability, you’re looking at one of the most complete guard scorers in recent memory. Peterson competes on defense and anyone truly questioning his desire to compete or win games is being willfully ignorant of a long track record, dating back years before he arrived at Kansas,” Kline wrote.
So far in his freshman season at Kansas, Peterson is averaging 19.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 steals in 28 minutes per game. He would bring scoring back to the guard position for the Kings, and probably put them in a better spot than Zach LaVine would.
With this pick, the Kings could either try to contend again, or fully commit to another rebuild, trade all their veteran stars, and build around Peterson and Keegan Murray. Either way, this pick would open up a lot of options for Sacramento.
Hopefully, the Kings land the No. 2 pick, and are able to start the next chapter of Sacramento basketball on a high note.
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