Welcome to Glass Slipper! A massive day of international soccer is ahead. I’ll take Spain and Argentina; please enjoy the show.

- Jacob Rhee

In a rather tame NBA free agency, Sacramento was among the few teams that made a true splash.

From a fit perspective, I don’t love it. Domantas Sabonis is a legitimate superstar; he’s also one of the worst starting defensive bigs in the sport, despite the consistent attempts from Kings fans to convince us otherwise. It’s not necessarily even his fault. If I slid a copy of The Catcher in the Rye at Sabonis and told him to jump over it, his Nikes are landing directly on that horse. The guy is simply not athletic enough to protect the rim in any meaningful way.

So if you’re building around the 28-year-old, you better surround him with four dedicated, switchable defenders in order to survive on that end. DeRozan, Malik Monk, and Kevin Huerter are not exactly the first names that come to mind.

But there is an obvious upside to acquiring DeRozan, as well. Far too often, Mike Brown’s offensive philosophy at the end of games is to watch Monk and De’Aaron Fox take turns firing off contested shots. Adding a guy that quietly has a chance to finish his career inside the top 10 of the all-time scoring list will give Sacramento a bankable option late.

Above all else, I just appreciate the fact that the Kings possessed the guts to do something. So many middling teams in the league are standing pat this summer, and I can’t understand why. Miami did nothing. The Lakers did even less. Golden State is seemingly too scared to push the chips in for Lauri Markkanen. Phoenix is running back the same squad that got swept in Round 1 by a guy younger than me. Meanwhile, all of those title windows are closing; what is everyone waiting for?

I don’t think Sacramento is a serious threat to come out of the West, but who knows? The Mavs just did it with a rookie as their third-best player. At the very least, the Kings are a more intriguing basketball team today than they were when the season ended. The DeRozan sign-and-trade could wind up being nothing more than a glorified step sideways; I’d still much rather try to win a title and fail, than simply accept mediocrity.

The cores in Boston and Denver are special. But both are beatable, and other organizations should not be cowering in fear. Just build a contender and go from there. The Raptors won a championship in 2019 because they were daring enough to trade for Kawhi Leonard - shipping out DeRozan in the deal, ironically - during Golden State’s reign of terror. Things happen.

Time will tell whether Sacramento is capable of giving its fans the deep playoff run that they’re desperately craving. Regardless of the outcome, the franchise deserves to be celebrated for refusing to strike out looking.

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“Best of My Love” by The Emotions. A unanimous classic.