Good teams have depth at multiple positions. Good teams have redundancy for roles and positions. But do good teams pay that much for their depth players?
Houston had the best record in the league, and paid their #3 scorer Eric Gordon 13 mil a year. Their 20 mil player Ryan Anderson is viewed as one of the worst contracts in the league right now. Ariza was making 7 million.
Next up was the Warriors. Their third best player, Klay Thompson, was also an All-Star calibre player and making 17.8 million a season.
After that, Portland's duo of Lillard and CJ were making 26 and 24 million each, and those are their top-flight 1/2 players on the team.
The point is: I understand the Kings have to overpay to get FA talent, but WHY are they spending this much on players that are NOT a core player, NOT an all-star level player, and NOT going to ever be that? Why hinder your cap flexibility by overpaying? Because they "have to" to get players? Then don't bring in players! If you have an area like free agency that you know you are at a disadvantage, the smart strategy is to not use that area as a focal point to bring in talent. Use areas you have an advantage: trades and drafts. You have cap, so let the market dry up and then don't over pay.