TUESDAY, 12:10pm: Sacramento is “desperate” to trade McLemore, a league source told Sam Amico of Amico Hoops.
3:17pm: The Timberwolves are among the teams talking to Sacramento about McLemore, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 2:53pm: The Kings and Ben McLemore are working together to find a new team for the former lottery pick as the trade deadline approaches, report Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Cavaliers are one of multiple Eastern Conference teams with strong interest in the shooting guard, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last week, though it appeared then that Sacramento was resisting offers for the Rich Paul client. Sacramento wants someone who can help them immediately and not future draft picks, Stein and Windhorst write. McLemore, the seventh overall pick from 2013, is making almost $3.157MM in year three of his four-year rookie scale contract.
The effort to trade McLemore is similar to the one the Kings made to try to facilitate a trade for Caron Butler in December, according to Stein and Windhorst. However, Butler remains with Sacramento.
The Kings drafted Nik Stauskas at No. 8 in 2014, one year after they took McLemore, but they traded Stauskas this to Philadelphia past summer, ostensibly designating McLemore as their shooting guard of the future. Instead, his minutes have shrunk from 32.6 last season, when he started all 82 games, to 21.0 this year. He’s shooting career bests of 37.2% from 3-point territory and 45.1% from the field, but it hasn’t translated into more playing time, and he wasn’t in the starting lineup for the last two games in which he appeared before going out with a wrist injury for Sacramento’s final three games leading up to the All-Star break.
So the wolves want to clear space for muhameed and their other wings but want mclemore? Lol
The wolves need a shooter. Badly. McLemore makes perfect sense for them
If they’d be willing to take Danny Green, Spurs should consider
Why would the Spurs do that? Danny Green is so much better than McLemore. His contract won’t even be that bad when the cap jumps up $20 million next year.
damn it kings…
other teams want McLemore to help them in playoffs. doesn’t that tell you something.
can’t get ahead of belinelli in the rotation, who wants belinelli? no one. McLemore has a 3 and d skill set, with improved handles could maybe be Jimmy Butler like or at least Wes Matthews, although Mac has exceptional quickness.
cuz, willie and Mac are only guys who play both ends of floor and should be building team around.
heard bazz and rubio could be on way out.
lavine, Mac, Wiggins, ?, kat
be pretty nice long term if they all developed handles.
Dammit Kings, stop giving up on another young player. You already did that with Stauskas.
stauskas has no potential
guy guards like belinelli
Obviously Kings mgmt knows something no one else does…or they think they do anyway. Odd that first they have 3 lotto guards fighting for time, now they will be left with Bellinelli? Really makes no sense, and that’s no slight on Bellinelli but his upside is limited, and Thomas showed that he can be very good if given a chance, one would suspect McLemore will as well.
your forgetting James Anderson he plays as much as McLemore and he’s got alot of potential….
said no one ever…
Lakers would be smart to jump on this. They need an athletic young wing.
McLemore has disappointed after going in the lottery but a change of scenery might do the trick.
he could be a college player still. shot is there handles need work.
tons of potential.
hard to say who he’s like, more of a perimeter Jimmy Butler best case. Wes Matthews worst case, barring injury
I think you have Jimmy Butler confused with Robert Covington.