Acuff selected No. 7 by Sacramento Kings in 2026 NBA Draft

One season was all it took for Darius Acuff Jr. to write himself into Arkansas basketball history.

Now he’s taking that next step to the NBA.

The Sacramento Kings made the Razorbacks guard the seventh overall pick in Tuesday night’s 2026 NBA Draft, landing a player who put together the most decorated freshman campaign the program has ever produced.

Acuff is the eighth Hog taken in the lottery since the system launched in 1985 and the 17th first-round pick in program history.

At No. 7, he’s the highest-drafted Arkansas player since Anthony Black went sixth overall to Orlando in 2023 and just the fourth Razorback the Kings have ever selected — the first since Corliss Williamson in 1995.

There’s a personal thread running through the Sacramento connection.

Kings general manager Scott Perry coached Acuff’s father at Eastern Kentucky in the 1990s, giving Tuesday night’s pick a bit of added meaning beyond the basketball.

Calipari reaches milestone with 30th lottery selection

For John Calipari, the pick carries its own significance.

Acuff is his first lottery selection since arriving in Fayetteville in 2024 and his 30th overall as a college head coach, tying him with Mike Krzyzewski for the most in history.

Calipari is also the only coach ever to have at least one player drafted in the first or second round in 19 straight years.

His career total of NBA Draft picks now stands at 63, third-most among all college coaches.

Season statistics made Acuff impossible to ignore

The case for Acuff as a top-10 pick was built one game at a time throughout the 2025-26 season.

He averaged 23.5 points and 6.4 assists per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 44% from three in 35 minutes a night.

He was the only player in the country to average at least 20 points and six assists.

That scoring mark ranks third all-time at Arkansas and made him the first SEC player to lead the conference in both points and assists since Pete Maravich.

He swept every major SEC individual award and earned unanimous First Team All-American recognition nationally.

The Bob Cousy Award, presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the nation’s best point guard, also went to Acuff. He is the first freshman to claim it since the honor was established in 2004.

A 49-point road performance at Alabama, played just two days after he’d been in a boot, stands as the second-highest single-game scoring total in Razorbacks history.

“He doesn’t care.,” Calipari said after the game. “Hurt, whatever it is.”

Postseason run cemented his legacy at Arkansas

Acuff’s résumé didn’t stop with the regular season.

He led the Hogs to the 2026 SEC Tournament Championship with 30 points and 11 assists in the title game against Vanderbilt.

It earned Tournament MVP after averaging a record 30.3 points across three games.

In the NCAA Tournament, his 60 combined points in the first two rounds set a freshman record in tournament history.

The Kings have finished above .500 just twice in the past decade. Acuff arrives with plenty of room to make an impact.