The Sacramento Kings have been linked to Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. for months. He fits a need, he’s got the upside, and the front office apparently loves the idea of pairing him with Keegan Murray in a backcourt rebuild. But the 2026 draft is deep at guard, and there’s a real chance Acuff goes before the Kings pick at No. 7. So what then?
The good news for Sacramento is this class has five or six guards who could go in the top ten. The bad news is the Kings might not get first dibs on the one they really want. If Acuff is gone, the best backup play is Illinois guard Keaton Wagler, and it’s not that close of a debate.
Wagler is 6-foot-6, played both point and shooting guard as a true freshman at Illinois, and put up 17.9 points, 5.1 boards, and 4.2 assists per game. He shot nearly 40 percent from three on real volume. Those numbers earned him Second-Team All-American honors. He’s not a one-trick scorer either. He can initiate offense, play off the ball, and defend multiple spots. That versatility matters for a Kings team that doesn’t have a long-term answer at either guard spot right now.
Why Wagler makes more sense than trading back
There’s always the option to trade the No. 7 pick for a haul of future assets. But the Kings aren’t exactly loaded with young talent beyond Murray. Zach LaVine is entering the last year of his deal and isn’t expected to re-sign. They don’t have a franchise guard in the pipeline. That’s a problem you don’t fix by passing on a top-10 guard to collect picks two years from now.
Wagler can step in and be a primary ball handler from day one. Maybe not an All-Star right away, but the kind of player you build a rotation around. He’d give Sacramento a clear direction: take Wagler, move on from Sabonis if the trade rumors are real, and stack picks in 2027 and beyond. The Kings are also in position to benefit from the NBA’s new anti-tanking rules next year, meaning they could land the No. 1 pick even while being bad on purpose. That’s a much cleaner rebuild path than reaching for a big man or trading down for a mystery box.
Wagler isn’t a consolation prize. He’s a legitimate top-10 prospect who just happens to play the same position as the guy everyone’s talking about. If Acuff goes 5 or 6, Wagler at 7 is a perfectly fine pivot. It might even be the smarter one in the long run.
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