After six seasons with the Sacramento Kings, Kyle Draper is leaving his role as play-by-play announcer.
Draper tag-teamed the role with longtime ESPN announcer Mark Jones, calling plenty of games while Jones was on national duty. However, last week Jones announced his own departure from ESPN after serving the WorldWide Leader in Sports for the past 36 years.
In saying that it was his choice to leave ESPN, Jones also said that he looked forward to continued work with the Kings. We don’t yet know the nature of his future role with the team, if it will be full-time or part-time as he pursues another national gig.
What we do know is that it won’t be in tandem with Draper, who posted on social media that the Kings would not be renewing his contract.
CAREER UPDATE 🚨🚨 Sunday was my last game as Sacramento Kings play by play announcer. After 6 seasons on the job, my contract is not being renewed. I want to thank all the Kings fans and the people of Sacramento for making me feel welcome. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/xC3bWqNkia
— Kyle Draper (@KyleDraperTV) April 14, 2026
As far as what’s next?? Stayed tuned. Whatever is next, I’m going to bring the same passion and love for the community I showed here in Sacramento!!! 🟣🔦💜
— Kyle Draper (@KyleDraperTV) April 14, 2026
“Sunday was my last game as Sacramento Kings play by play announcer,” Draper said. “After 6 seasons on the job, my contract is not being renewed. I want to thank all the Kings fans and the people of Sacramento for making me feel welcome. Your passion and love for your team was felt every night I walked into Golden 1 Center. And I’ll always hold the love you showed me close to my [heart]. Sacramento became home for me and I hope you could feel I was 100% invested. I was with you every step of the way. As far as what’s next?? Stayed tuned. Whatever is next, I’m going to bring the same passion and love for the community I showed here in Sacramento!!!”
Kyle Draper has one of the great stories in sports media as he has been very public in sharing his sobriety journey. He joined the Kings in 2020 to work with Jones as one of the team’s lead voices. For the previous decade, he had worked for NBC Sports Boston as a studio host for the Boston Celtics and fill-in announcer.
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