Given how long he’s been on the bench this season, seeing Dario Saric on the court might induce mass hysteria among Sacramento Kings’ fans. Somehow, a player who has been on the bench almost as long, Doug McDermott, actually managed to get back on the court before he did.
As part of a mind-boggling trade with the Nuggets, the Kings sent Jonas Valanciunas, an incredible backup center, to Denver. In exchange, they got Dario Saric, a reasonably serviceable bench player who has been in the league for several years. This is actually his 10th NBA season.
The Kings have left Saric on the bench since they faced the Lakers on October 26. If you’re keeping track, that was the third game of the season and Sacramento recently played their 25th. That means Saric has been benched for 22 straight games, which is more than 25% of this season.
Somehow, that’s still better than Doug McDermott’s run. He signed with the Kings just before the 2024-2025 season, and has only played in two games so far in 2025-2026. One of them was eight minutes on November 12, and another three minutes on December 11 against the Nuggets.
Both Kings are having quiet seasons
Across the three games Saric played, he was on the court for a total of 27 minutes. He collected five points, five rebounds, and two assists. McDermott, on the other hand, has a total of eight minutes with six points, two fouls, and one turnover. Neither has much going on this season.
Somehow, McDermott has still gotten on the court more recently than Saric. In fact, he has played twice since Saric last suited up in late October. There’s literally no logic to the decisions as to when McDermott plays or why Saric has seen so little action this season.
The reality is that both players are barely being used and are essentially there in case injuries to the roster get so bad that they just need bodies. Even then, the Kings would probably call up one of their two-way contract players from the G League before putting Saric or McDermott on the court.
Every team has benchers who don’t play much. It’s still weird how little Saric and McDermott are getting on the court, considering how often the Kings get blown out. At least McDermott has gotten a few minutes in the last six weeks. Saric is just on the bench, praying for a trade.