The Sacramento Kings took a swing on 7-foot-1 big man Maxime Raynaud with the 42nd overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and the 22-year-old Frenchman was immediately seen as one of the steals of the draft. Now, Raynaud is finally getting the playing time that he deserves, especially while Domantas Sabonis is sidelined, and he is making the most of it.
Over his last five games, including two starts, Raynaud has averaged 15.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game, while shooting 59.6% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range.
In this stretch, Raynaud has become the first rookie in Kings history to average these numbers over a five-game span since Brian Grant in 1995, per Stathead.
Oct 17, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud (42) reacts during the second half against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. | William Liang-Imagn Images
Raynaud is turning heads, including Doug Christie’s
Raynaud has started the last two games for the Kings, and most recently, contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds in their loss to the Indiana Pacers. After that game, Kings head coach Doug Christie had some high praise for his rookie big man, though he did admit that he has some growing pains.
“Everything I see about Max is that he’s always trying to do the right thing,” Christie said. “One of the things that we have to live through with Max is the mistakes of learning the NBA game, and we’re okay with that. It’s not from a lack of trying or anything like that for him. He’s going to give you effort… I told him, ‘I’m super proud of you, man.’ He was mightily impressive. He just continues to impress me night after night.”
Through the first 19 games of the season, Raynaud logged 20+ minutes just twice, as he was a DNP in eight of those. Now, in his last five, Raynaud is averaging 25 minutes per game, and he has looked like the Kings’ center of the future.
With so much uncertainty around the Kings’ roster, even with star center Domantas Sabonis, the Kings need some stability. While they do not have one rising star to take over the franchise, guys like Raynaud, Keegan Murray, and Nique Clifford are vital to Sacramento’s willingness to jump into a rebuild.
So far, Raynaud has shown that he can be a game-changer when given the opportunity, and that is exactly what the Kings and their fanbase needed to see before they go all-in on their young core.
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