Why the Kings Should Consider Dalen Terry
by Bobby Gerould, August 26, 2026. ...If the Sacramento Kings are going to use one of their final roster spots on another guard, Dalen Terry is the available player who interests us most.
The biggest reason is defense. Terry entered the NBA from Arizona as a player known for being a defensive difference maker. Depending on what position you care to say he played, his 8.6 DDiff last season would have ranked second among NBA point guards, fifth among shooting guards and third among small forwards. He is versatile enough to play all three spots. During his 34 games with Chicago, Terry posted a 108.8 defensive rating while the Bulls as a team were at 117.4. In other words, Chicago defended 8.6 points per 100 possessions better with Terry on the floor than the team's overall defensive baseline.
For a Kings team that desperately needs perimeter defense, that should get their attention.
Terry has the physical profile we seek. He is 6-foot-6 and 195 pounds with a 7-foot-0.75" wingspan. We believe he can realistically defend point guards, shooting guards and small forwards. That gives Sacramento something different from simply adding a small backup point guard whose defensive limitations have to be hidden elsewhere in the lineup.
The other encouraging part of Terry's profile is that the three-point shooting has improved. Over the last two seasons, he has made 35.6% and 36.4% of his threes. That improvement has come over 170 attempts, which is enough volume for us to take seriously. He has recently been, for all practical purposes, around a league-average three-point shooter.
That matters because shooting is clearly the weakness that has held Terry back. He entered the league making just 25.0% of his threes as a rookie and 23.0% in year-two. We are not going to pretend those numbers did not happen, and his poor free-throw shooting still suggests that touch may never become one of his natural strengths. But the arrow has clearly been pointing in the right direction from three. Sacramento does not need Terry to become an elite shooter. If he can simply remain in the mid-30s, his defense, size and other skills become much easier to keep on the floor.
His assist-to-turnover numbers also appeal to us (career 2.23-to-1). Terry does not have to dominate the basketball to contribute, and he generally makes sensible decisions with it.
It is also worth putting Terry's Philadelphia exit into context. He was not simply waived because the 76ers decided he could not play. Philadelphia needed to create financial and roster room to complete its additions of LeBron James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope while remaining below the first-apron hard cap. Terry's $2.6 million salary for 2026-27 was still non-guaranteed, making him one of the easiest contracts to move off the books.
Philadelphia had actually picked up Terry's team option less than a month earlier. He appeared in 14 games for the Sixers after arriving from Chicago and was still under team control before the roster math changed. That does not prove Terry is destined to become a rotation player, but it does matter when evaluating why he is available. Sometimes a young player gets squeezed because of contract mechanics and roster construction rather than because his development has stalled.
And Terry is still only 24.
When we compare him to some of the other names Sacramento has reportedly considered, Terry's youth should be a positive factor. We understand the idea behind finding a veteran mentor for Darius Acuff, but we continue to believe that concept can become overthought. The Kings have coaches and experienced players already available to provide mentorship. Final roster spots should also be viewed as an opportunity to find somebody who might actually grow into a useful piece of the next good Kings team.
We view Terry as a low-tier backup point guard right now. That is not meant as an insult. We are talking about one of the final roster spots on a team that won 22 games. Sacramento needs to find players with enough remaining upside that a larger opportunity could reveal something.
Terry already has the NBA skill: defense. He has the size to defend three perimeter positions. His three-point shooting has improved substantially over the last two seasons. His assist-to-turnover numbers are solid. He is 24 years old, and there is still a reasonable developmental path toward becoming a dependable rotation player.
That is exactly the type of player we think Sacramento should be mining for.
