Sacramento Kings introduce new draft picks Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban, and Emanuel Sharp
Darius, when you got off the plane yesterday greeted by the Sacramento Kings fans, what was that moment like for you? Did you, did you expect that? Uh, yeah, I expected it. I expected them to be there. It’s just *** surprise more than anything in the arena when I got drafted, that was what surprised me the most. It was it was *** great feeling that we have great fans, so I love that. Yeah, absolutely. Hearing what that number means to you and your family just really kind of. Punctuates the relationship you have with your father. You honor him, but is there competitiveness? Like, obviously you get drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. He didn’t get to experience that. How, what’s the dynamic there between you and him? Hey yo, yo. Never mind, he get interviewed. No, it’s definitely competitive. Uh, that’s why I was about to call him over here to say something about that. Uh, but no, it’s great. Like I said, my whole family, not just him, my whole family, uh, it’s definitely competitive, but at the end of the day it’s love and support. Um, that’s, that’s what I’m doing it for my whole family, both sides, my mom and dad, so it’s great to see. But you know, we always gotta be competitive for sure, yeah, you talked about your passion out there on the floor. What, where do you, where does that come from? Or is that just within you? Yeah, I feel like it’s kind of just in me. Um, it’s kind of how I’ve always been, and you know, I love the game so much, and I don’t wanna do nothing but play basketball, so that’s, that’s where I come from. How different are you from your father, because I mean, I, I’ve known you very long. I’ve been seeing you for the past year, obviously at the college level. I remember the, I remember the high school game that you had with Mike Brown. That was probably the first time that I, you came on my radar, but you seem to have an intensity about you. Does he, does he share that as well? Like as far as basketball, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure we’re kind of the same person like off the court, um, just, you know, relax, chill, don’t do too much type of guys, um, kind of just stay family oriented, but on the court it’s kill or be killed, so you gotta go out there with that mentality for sure. What do you know about the Kings organization before you, uh, kind of the Kings were on your radar or whatnot? What did you know? What did you hear about this organization? Yeah, I knew it was, uh, like *** family, like culture. I would say more than anything that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to be here. Um, you see all the staff, they’re, they, they’re so together it’s like they know each other. So that’s one of the reasons I wanted to be here and you know I got *** great relationship with everybody already. So just looking forward to that. What was the draft process like for you? I mean, uh, for the greater part of *** year you go through everything and everyone’s picking your game apart. Uh, did you enjoy that? Yeah, I love college. Uh, it was great for me. It was *** learning experience, um, but you know, I’m ready to get this, this new chapter started. You can ask him the question you asked me. I said, I said. He honors you obviously with the number and every step of the way, but he gets to experience something that you never did being drafted in the first round. What’s there’s the honor side, but then there’s also how competitive are you guys against each other? Oh yeah, we’re always competitive whatever we do, whether we’re playing Uno or we’re just shooting around in the gym before he works out or anything. We’re *** competitive family, you know, we love hard, we, we compete hard, so for sure. How proud are you of your son? Super proud, you know, you get the chance to live out his dream, you know, and get, get to see his family, you know, happy that he’s living out his dream. So I’m, I’m super proud of my son for all the things that he’s accomplished that he’s about to accomplish for sure. Is his game similar to yours? Yeah, you know, I was *** point guard. He was *** point guard, you know, I was kind of *** past first point guard, but like similar games, but he’s way more of *** scorer than than I was. I wasn’t *** scorer like him, and I definitely wasn’t *** shooter like him, but yeah, overall it’s kind of the same because we kind of like got the same makeup. Darius, I’ve heard people around you constantly refer to you as an alpha, and, and Sacramento, this, this team kind of needs that. How much do you embrace that role, especially, you know, it seems like you’re *** man of few words off the court. How vocal are you on the court? Yeah, very vocal. You gotta be as *** point guard, no matter how quiet or standoff you are, no matter what type of guy you are. You gotta be vocal on the court, especially as *** point guard. So I take pride in that, talking to my team, communicating with coaches, um, you just gotta be vocal and. I’m vocal off the court too, like with my teammates and stuff like that, you know, within the family, so that’s uh that’s, that’s how I am for sure. Throughout the process of the draft, you know, your game gets picked apart. *** lot of people are talking about defense. What do you hope to prove the, the naysayers wrong about that part of your game? Yeah, just, I wouldn’t say I’m really not trying to prove nobody wrong. I’m just trying to go out there and, you know, get better at what I need to improve on, and that’s, that’s, that’s one of them for sure, so. I’m looking forward to do it. Like I said, it’s an 82 game season for however long you play in the NBA, um, plus, you know, the playoff games and stuff like that. So I’m looking forward to that and just getting better on that side of the ball, definitely something I’m taking pride in now. Has that put *** chip on your shoulder at all? Is that like kind of pissed you off when people have mentioned the defense so much? Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t say everything pissed me off when it comes to basketball, so that’s why I just go out. I just make up stuff to go out there and kind of just take it out on other players, but. No, I’m not really, you know, people got opinions. I can’t stop nobody’s opinion. Everybody in the world got their own opinion, so I just go out there and try to play my own game. Absolutely, we’re excited to have you here in Sacramento, Darius. Yeah. Final one, he mentioned it became real for him when he held up that jersey. You sitting there in that front row seeing him hold that jersey, what went through your mind? But I caught the chills. I caught the chills just to see, you know, to finally see his name, our name on the back, you know, of an NBA jersey for him to hold it up like that. Yeah, I had chills all through my body, so it was amazing for sure. Pleasure to meet you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you, Darius. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Zach, yeah.
Sacramento Kings introduce new draft picks Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban, and Emanuel Sharp
Updated: 10:54 PM PDT Jun 29, 2026
The Sacramento Kings introduced their three new draft picks on Monday, including Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban, and Emanuel Sharp, as the team gears up for the offseason. (See the full press conference below.)Acuff Jr. felt the city’s warm welcome the moment he arrived. “Since I’ve been here, all I’ve been hearing about are the fans,” he said. “You get a sense of it when you look in front of the arena. You see people out there. But I can just tell it’s a great city. Great fans. No matter what, they’re going to support you.” Acuff’s father Darius Acuff Sr., who played college basketball for Eastern Kentucky University, said he was “super proud” of his son. Karaban, who brings championship pedigree to the Kings after winning two national titles with UConn, said, “Being in the NBA regardless is exciting, no matter what team it is.” He added that it was “super exciting” to have the fan base behind him in Sacramento. “Just giving the fans what they deserve,” he said. “Winning games, creating a culture here that could be leaned back on through the good and the bad times and for years to come.” The Kings’ second-round draft pick, Emanuel Sharp, reflected on his time at Houston and how it shaped his game. “First coming into Houston, I had to figure out how to get onto the floor, Coach Sampson, defense is No. 1. So I started priding myself on being the best defender on floor and it added some value to my game other than being a shooter,” Sharp said. In other Kings news, guard Zach LaVine picked up his $49 million player option, heading into the final year of his contract. The Kings also traded their 2024 first-round draft pick, Devin Carter, and a second-rounder to the Atlanta Hawks. Carter, who faced injuries during his rookie season, is being moved as General Manager Scott Perry shifts the team in a new direction. NBA free agency officially begins on Tuesday at 3 p.m., and the California Classic tips off this weekend at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The Sacramento Kings introduced their three new draft picks on Monday, including Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban, and Emanuel Sharp, as the team gears up for the offseason.
(See the full press conference below.)
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Acuff Jr. felt the city’s warm welcome the moment he arrived.
“Since I’ve been here, all I’ve been hearing about are the fans,” he said. “You get a sense of it when you look in front of the arena. You see people out there. But I can just tell it’s a great city. Great fans. No matter what, they’re going to support you.”
Acuff’s father Darius Acuff Sr., who played college basketball for Eastern Kentucky University, said he was “super proud” of his son.
Karaban, who brings championship pedigree to the Kings after winning two national titles with UConn, said, “Being in the NBA regardless is exciting, no matter what team it is.”
He added that it was “super exciting” to have the fan base behind him in Sacramento.
“Just giving the fans what they deserve,” he said. “Winning games, creating a culture here that could be leaned back on through the good and the bad times and for years to come.”
The Kings’ second-round draft pick, Emanuel Sharp, reflected on his time at Houston and how it shaped his game.
“First coming into Houston, I had to figure out how to get onto the floor, [University of Houston] Coach Sampson, defense is No. 1. So I started priding myself on being the best defender on floor and it added some value to my game other than being a shooter,” Sharp said.
In other Kings news, guard Zach LaVine picked up his $49 million player option, heading into the final year of his contract.
The Kings also traded their 2024 first-round draft pick, Devin Carter, and a second-rounder to the Atlanta Hawks.
Carter, who faced injuries during his rookie season, is being moved as General Manager Scott Perry shifts the team in a new direction.
NBA free agency officially begins on Tuesday at 3 p.m., and the California Classic tips off this weekend at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google