The Fantasy Basketball Encyclopedia

Player Dossier · Sacramento Kings

Dylan Cardwell

Dylan Cardwell is Sacramento's specialist rim protector: nearly fantasy-irrelevant while the frontcourt is healthy, but a strong blocks-and-rebounds handcuff if two centers are unavailable.

Team: Sacramento Kings · Age: 24 · Position: PF/C · As of: 2026-07-18

2026-27 median projection

GP MPG FG% FT% 3PM PTS REB AST STL BLK TO
38 7.0 .590 .540 0.0 2.0 2.5 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.3

Nine-cat: watch list; top-120 blocks specialist if above 18 minutes. Points: D healthy. Dynasty: 6.0/10 in deep center-premium leagues.

Role and evidence

Cardwell's rookie line was 5.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks in 20.6 minutes across 44 games, with 58.7% FG and 51.0% FT (ESPN statistics). He recorded five-block games twice, showing the category that translates most cleanly.

Cardwell originally joined Sacramento on a two-way contract in July 2025 and is now carried on the current standard roster by both NBA.com and ESPN. ESPN slots him behind Sabonis and Raynaud at center and fourth at power forward.

Hashtag's July 18 crowd keeper board ranked Cardwell 128th, far above his healthy redraft role. That price reflects contingent blocks upside, not a projected 2026-27 rotation job.

Range

Career record

Pre-NBA: Five seasons at Auburn (2020-21 through 2024-25), almost all of them in a low-usage backup role — he never averaged more than 5.3 points and did not start regularly until his final year, when he started all 38 games at 20.3 minutes for a Final Four team. What he did every season was finish and protect the rim: he shot .690 or better from the field in all five years, peaking at .747, and blocked between 1.2 and 1.6 shots a game in each of his last four. Free throws were always the hole (.318, .324 in two of his last three seasons). He left as the all-time winningest player in Auburn men's basketball history with 115 wins. Draft: undrafted (2025); signed a two-way with Sacramento on June 26, 2025.

Season Age Team GP MPG PTS REB AST STL BLK 3PM FG% FT% TO
2025-26 23 SAC 44 20.6 5.4 7.5 1.4 0.7 1.5 0.0 .587 .510 0.9
Career 44 20.6 5.4 7.5 1.4 0.7 1.5 0.0 .587 .510 0.9

The rebounding is the outlier worth naming: 7.5 boards in 20.6 minutes, of which 3.3 were offensive. Sacramento converted him off the two-way to a four-year, $8.3 million standard contract on February 6, 2026, which is the clearest signal available that the team views the rookie year as real.

Durability: No injury history reported. The 44 games and single start reflect two-way status for the first half of the season, not availability.

Trajectory: A five-year college backup who arrived undrafted and immediately produced the two things he has always produced, at NBA scale: offensive rebounds and blocks. The per-minute rebounding rate is genuinely rare, and the mid-season contract conversion says Sacramento agrees. Everything else is narrow — no shot outside the restricted area, 0.0 threes, and a .510 free throw mark that becomes a real category drain the moment his attempts rise. He opens 2026-27 behind Domantas Sabonis and Maxime Raynaud at center, with Precious Achiuwa also in the mix, so his healthy allocation is close to zero. The path is straightforward and entirely contingent: a Sabonis absence, or Sabonis and one of Raynaud/Achiuwa unavailable together, puts him at 20-plus minutes, where the demonstrated rate is roughly 8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. That makes him a legitimate blocks-and-boards handcuff to stash in deep leagues rather than a player to draft.

Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia — Dylan Cardwell · Kings sign Cardwell to two-way (NBA.com) · Kings sign Cardwell to multi-year contract (NBA G League)

Open questions