NBA 2019: Top 5 young cores in the NBA TODAY

#3 Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings have the most competitive young core out there

The Sacramento Kings surprised everyone last season with an amazing season where they were very close from making their first playoffs since 2005-06. They were buoyed by some amazing performances by their young stars, starting with Buddy Hield.

Hield made a huge leap last season and became an elite three-point shooter, making just under 43% of his three-point attempts, which were at a career high of 651 shots attempted.

He was a solid defender too and made an effort off the ball, proving his critics wrong and enjoying his best season ever.

Another player to make a leap was sophomore DeAaron Fox, who showed everyone just how good he can become.

He improved his three-point shot as well as his passing ability, making everyone around him so much better instantly. He defended well too and was very fast in transition plays, drawing comparisons to Russell Westbrook.

The Kings have a lot of young role players in Harry Giles, Frank Mason III, Yogi Ferrell but their other two essential cogs have been Bogdan Bogdanovic and Marvin Bagley III. Bogdanovic and Bagley both missed chunks of their season due to injuries but showed superb skills when given the chance to play and will be looking to breakout this season and look to end the Kings' playoff drought.