Team: Sacramento Kings · Age: 31 · Position: SG · As of: 2026-07-18
2026-27 median projection
| GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 30.0 | .474 | .871 | 2.4 | 18.4 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
Nine-cat: top-85 to top-115 median. Points: B on efficiency and scoring, with limited peripherals. Dynasty: 3.5/10; contender-only asset.
Role and evidence
LaVine averaged 19.2 points, 2.5 threes, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists on 47.9/39.0/88.0 shooting in 39 games (ESPN statistics). He underwent season-ending repair of a right-pinky tendon on February 18 (NBA/AP).
LaVine exercised his 2026-27 player option on June 29. RotoWire reported both that Sacramento had listened to offers and that, if retained, he could take a back seat while the Kings develop Acuff (transaction report). GM Scott Perry then closed the offseason question on the record in July: "He knows what's expected of him, he's coming back here this year. I'm very clear with him on that" (NBC Sports Bay Area). ESPN lists LaVine as the starting shooting guard, so this projection preserves 30 minutes but removes peak-usage assumptions.
Correction 2026-07-18: trade risk demoted from a live offseason discount to a February deadline tail, on Perry's July statement. This raises LaVine's redraft floor — the opening-night role is now the base case rather than one branch of two — while leaving the dynasty grade unchanged, since a 31-year-old on an expiring option is still a short asset.
Range
- Ceiling: 22 points and 3 threes on strong percentages if healthy and traded to a team needing scoring.
- Median: late-round points/threes/FT% with ordinary assists and stocks.
- Floor: slow hand recovery, reduced developmental minutes, or a trade that compresses usage below 25 minutes.
Career record
Pre-NBA: UCLA, one season (2013-14). He played all 37 games almost entirely off the bench — one career start, against Oregon on February 27 — and averaged 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 44.1 percent shooting and 37.5 percent from three. His 48 made threes were the second most by a UCLA freshman at the time, and he made the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. Draft: 2014, first round, 13th overall, Minnesota Timberwolves.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 19 | MIN | 77 | 24.7 | 10.1 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.7 | .422 | .842 | 2.5 |
| 2015-16 | 20 | MIN | 82 | 28.0 | 14.0 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.5 | .452 | .793 | 1.9 |
| 2016-17 | 21 | MIN | 47 | 37.2 | 18.9 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.6 | .459 | .836 | 1.8 |
| 2017-18 | 22 | CHI | 24 | 27.3 | 16.7 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | .383 | .813 | 1.8 |
| 2018-19 | 23 | CHI | 63 | 34.5 | 23.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | .467 | .832 | 3.4 |
| 2019-20 | 24 | CHI | 60 | 34.8 | 25.5 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 3.1 | .450 | .802 | 3.4 |
| 2020-21 | 25 | CHI | 58 | 35.1 | 27.4 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 3.4 | .507 | .849 | 3.5 |
| 2021-22 | 26 | CHI | 67 | 34.7 | 24.4 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.8 | .476 | .853 | 2.6 |
| 2022-23 | 27 | CHI | 77 | 35.9 | 24.8 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.6 | .485 | .848 | 2.5 |
| 2023-24 | 28 | CHI | 25 | 34.9 | 19.5 | 5.2 | 3.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.4 | .452 | .854 | 2.1 |
| 2024-25 | 29 | CHI/SAC | 74 | 35.2 | 23.3 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 3.2 | .511 | .825 | 2.8 |
| 2025-26 | 30 | SAC | 39 | 31.4 | 19.2 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.5 | .479 | .880 | 1.9 |
| Career | 693 | 32.7 | 20.7 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 2.4 | .470 | .835 | 2.6 |
The 2024-25 row is a combined line. LaVine went to Sacramento in the February 2025 De'Aaron Fox three-team trade after 42 games in Chicago (24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 3.2 threes, 34.1 minutes) and played 32 games as a King (22.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.2 threes, 36.6 minutes). Field-goal percentage held at .511 across both stops; the free-throw split was the moving part, .797 in Chicago and .874 in Sacramento.
Fantasy history: 2023-24 finished around 81st in nine-cat per-game value, which is the only season rank in this stretch I could verify from a published season-end rater. The 2020-21 through 2022-23 seasons were consistently inside the top 40 on the strength of scoring, threes, and efficiency, but I could not pull an archived season-end table to fix the exact numbers, so treat those as unranked rather than estimated. The 2024-25 and 2025-26 finishes are also not verified. The shape is stable regardless of the precise rank: LaVine is a points/threes/FG%/FT% asset whose nine-cat value is capped by ordinary steals, near-zero blocks, and — in the high-usage Chicago years — turnovers in the 3.4 to 3.5 range. Points leagues rate him materially better than category leagues in every season he carried the offense, because the turnover penalty is lighter and the volume scoring is worth more.
Durability: 77, 82, 47, 24, 63, 60, 58, 67, 77, 25, 74, 39. The 2016-17 season ended with a torn ACL in the left knee suffered February 3, 2017 against Detroit; the 24-game 2017-18 season was the back half of that rehab, as he did not debut for Chicago until January 2018. The 60- and 58-game seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21 are partly schedule artifacts — Chicago played 65 and 72 games in those two years — with left knee maintenance accounting for most of the rest. He had left knee arthroscopy after the 2021-22 season, then answered with 77 games in 2022-23. Right foot surgery ended 2023-24 in February after he re-aggravated the foot on a rolled right ankle, holding him to 25 games. The 2025-26 season ended with surgery to repair a torn tendon in the right pinky finger, announced February 18, 2026, after he had already missed three games with the finger. Two full seasons out of the last three were ended by surgery, and only two of his 12 years cleared 77 games.
Trajectory: The career has two distinct halves. The Chicago peak from 2018-19 through 2022-23 was a usage story — LaVine went from 24.7 minutes as a Minnesota rookie to a 27.4-point season in 2020-21 while adding real efficiency, culminating in a .507/.849 line at high volume, which is not a minutes illusion. The second half is a role compression. The 2024-25 Sacramento stretch already trimmed the assists, and 2025-26 finished the job: 22.0 points and 2.6 assists per 36 minutes against 23.8 and 4.3 the year before, meaning he is now a catch-and-shoot and secondary-attack scorer rather than an offensive hub. The efficiency survived that transition — .479 from the floor, .390 from three, and a career-best .880 from the line — which is the encouraging part, since off-ball scorers age better than high-usage ball-handlers. At 31 with an expiring option year, a fresh hand surgery, and a Sacramento roster that has stated developmental priorities, the realistic 2026-27 outcome is efficient low-usage volume in the high-20s minutes, with a trade to a scoring-needy team the main path back toward 22 points. The durability record, not the skill, is what sets the range.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · StatMuse season-by-season per game · Zach LaVine (Wikipedia) · UCLA Bruins 2013-14 roster page · NBA.com — LaVine and Sabonis surgeries · Timberwolves announce LaVine torn ACL
Open questions
- Is LaVine cleared for full-contact camp work and unrestricted shooting?
- Does Sacramento keep him, buy him out, or trade him before the deadline?