Signing Deandre Ayton gives the Lakers two of the top three players picked in the 2018 NBA Draft. The Suns selected Ayton with the top pick and the Hawks picked Luka Doncic at No. 3. The Hawks then traded Donic to the Mavericks for Tre Young,  the fifth pick, and a first-round selection in 2019.

The 1985 draft was the NBA’s last with a weighted lottery, which gave teams with the worst records in 2017-18 the best shot at the top picks. The Suns (21-61) won the first pick with the worst record. The Grizzlies (22-60) were not as fortunate and slipped to No. 4 with the Hawks (24-58) going third.

The Mavericks also finished at 24-58 and drew the fifth pick. The Hawks’ jump from fourth to third was nothing compared with the Kings (27-55) drawing the No. 2 pick with the fifth-worst record. They had a choice of players such as Doncic, Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson.

And they drafted Marvin Bagley III, who worn out his welcome with the Kings in 2022 and has since played with three other teams. Wasting a first-round pick was nothing new for the Kings, who also blew it in 1985 with Joe Kleine at No. 6 and in 2011 when they acquired the rights to No. 10 pick Jimmer Frederette.

Longtime Sacramento fans do not need to be reminded of the players the Kings could have picked in 1985. The three players drafted immediately after Kleine were Chris Mullin, Detleft Schrempf and Charles Oakley. And let’s not forget Karl Malone was picked 13th by the Jazz and the Pistons got Joe Dumars at No. 18.

Frederette was a popular acquisition by the Kings in 2011 after capping his record-setting career at BYU by being named the National Player of the Year. The Kings bought out Frederette’s contract on Feb. 27, 2014, just two weeks after he had a career-high 24 points in a 106-101 overtime win over the Knicks.

As with Kleine, the Kings missed out on three players in 2011 who are all likely destined for the Hall of Fame. Imagine the Kings with Klay Thompson (No. 11), Kawhi Leonard (No. 15) or Jimmy Butler (No. 30). The Kings have made one draft mistake after another and paid a hefty price for each.

Even when the Kings get it right in the draft, it can still go wrong. They took Tyrese Haliburton with the 12th pick in 2020 even though they were set at point guard with De’Aaron Fox. The Kings broke the backcourt logjam in 2022 by trading Haliburton to acquire Domantas Sabonis from the Pacers.

The addition of Sabonis gave the Kings a legitimate center He was instrumental in the Kings ending their 16-year playoff drought in 2023. Haliburton led the Pacers to the NBA Finals in June and would have likely been the Finals MVP if the Pacers had prevailed against the Thunder in Game 7.

The award went to Gilgeous-Alexander, who was also the regular-season MVP and scoring leader at 32.7 points per game. And to think Gilgeous-Alexander, Doncic (28.2 average) Brunson (26.0 ) or Young (24.2) could be playing in Sacramento. That might have been enough to prompt Fox to stay.

Sticking with Fox and dealing Haliburton backfired for the Kings in February. Fox rejected a longterm contract extension and was dealt to the Spurs. The Kings got Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, three first-round picks and three second-round picks. The Kings now have more picks to botch.

Haliburton was the right pick in 2020 – much to Pacers coach Rick Carlisle’s chagrin.  Carlisle was then the Mavericks coach and feared Haliburton would be gone by the time Dallas made the 18th pick. Carlisle offered the 18th and 31st picks along with Brunson to any team to climb in the draft.

Carlisle had to wait two years and part with Sabonis to finally get the player he coveted. “Finding a franchise-caliber point guard at age 21 is extremely difficult to do,” Carlisle said at the time. The Kings once thought they had a franchise-caliber point guard in Fox. As usual, they got that wrong as well.