Darius Acuff Jr. Was the 7th Pick. He Says the Nets Passing on Him Was No Big Deal.

Darius Acuff Jr. was supposed to be the hometown hero at Barclays Center. Mock drafts had him going to the Brooklyn Nets at No. 6. The local product from Arkansas, with his flashy scoring and that Kyrie Irving comparison floating around from March Madness, seemed like a lock.

The Nets went another direction. They picked Mikel Brown Jr. out of Louisville instead. And Acuff? He slid one spot to the Kings at No. 7.

When a reporter asked the 19-year-old how he felt about Brooklyn passing him up, he basically shrugged.

“I’m good wherever I go. It wasn’t like a bad reaction or anything. They picked a great player, but I’m excited to be a King. That’s all I’m focused on,” Acuff told WFAN Sports Radio.

It’s a mature answer for a guy who just watched the team in his backyard take someone else. Acuff put up 23.5 points, 6.4 assists and 3.1 boards in his one season at Arkansas. The Razorbacks made the Sweet 16 before bowing out. His scoring burst in the NCAA Tournament got people talking, even drawing those Irving comps. But the Nets apparently liked what they saw from Brown more.

Brown, 20, dealt with a back injury during his lone year at Louisville but still averaged 18.2 points, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals. He said after the draft that he feels like he fits what coach Jordi Fernandez is building.

“I think I fit into the system really well and what Coach Jordi has built with them,” Brown said, per Nets Daily. “I got to see the team. The team was there when I came to work out. You can see the bond, the maturity, and the camaraderie that they had.”

The Nets also picked up Joshua Jefferson out of Iowa State with the 28th overall pick. So Brooklyn walked away with two guys who should help in different ways. Brown gives them a versatile guard who can score and distribute. Jefferson brings size and defense from the frontcourt.

Acuff lands in Sacramento, where he’ll join a Kings backcourt that already has De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. It’s not the homecoming story everyone wrote up, but he sounds fine with it. He’s not sulking. He’s not making this some kind of revenge narrative. At least not publicly.

Sometimes the draft works out clean. Other times it leaves you wondering what if. Acuff just seems ready to play ball.