It hasn’t been a good season so far for Sacramento, the only team to have fired a head coach since opening night. But with so many other Western Conference teams struggling, the 16-23 Kings currently occupy a play-in spot, with a half-game lead over San Antonio for the No. 10 seed.
The Kings are extremely motivated to make the postseason this year and would be interested in making trades that both improve their playoff chances and give them “a runway for sustained success in the future,” says Sam Amick of The Athletic. According to Amick, team owner Vivek Ranadive has given general manager Monte McNair the green light to make any roster moves necessary to meet those goals.
It has frequently been reported that Sacramento’s most likely trade candidates are Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III. Amick confirms that the team’s preference would be to retain – and build around – guards De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. However, Fox and Haliburton aren’t viewed as untouchable, according to Amick, who says no Kings player is considered entirely off the table in trade discussions.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Speaking to Mark Medina of NBA.com, Kings wing Buddy Hield acknowledged that he thought he would be traded to the Lakers during the offseason. However, it doesn’t sound like Hield is dwelling on what could have been — or worried about the possibility of being on the move before the trade deadline. “If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t,” Hield told Medina. “But it’s basketball, and you have to live with it. It’s the business side of it. At the end of the day, I still have a job. I can go to all 30 teams in the league. As long as I have a job, I’m happy.”
- The Suns‘ addition of Bismack Biyombo on a 10-day contract has been a major success so far, according to Jeremy Cluff of The Arizona Republic. Biyombo has made a case for a rest-of-season deal by averaging 13.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 2.0 BPG on 11-of-13 shooting off the bench in his first two games with the team.
- The Clippers‘ depth has been tested recently both on and off the court, writes Mirjam Swanson of the Southern California News Group. Besides missing several players due to injuries and COVID-19, the coaching staff has also been depleted, with assistant Dan Craig recovering from knee surgery and several other coaches testing positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, head coach Tyronn Lue exited the protocols today and is prepared to return to the Clippers’ bench, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).
Kings looked very bad last night. No winning attitude falling apart in the 4th quarter. Looked like a team tanking it for a draft pick.
Haliburton did really well releasing the team without Fox. He shoots extremely efficiently, leads the team in assists, doesn’t comment many turnovers and gets after it on defence. I think they should even look at possibly trading Fox and seeing what they can get to build around Haliburton.
For example DeAaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, Alex Len and this years first for Sabonis, LeVert and Tj Warren could be good for both sides.
Indy currently sitting 13th in the east they must be thinking of going young and starting again. DeAaron Fox (24), a near all star level point guard who would be top 5 for his position in the east. Add in Bagley (22) and you’ve already got a Turner (25) and Duarte (24).
Fox and Brogdan would be a very good backcourt in the east, Duarte coming off the bench gives you buckets. Down low Bagley and Turner are a athletic young duo, both can space the floor somewhat. Turner gives you elite shot blocking and Bagley helps with the rebounding.
Plus with the additional pick you could have two picks inside the the top 10 of the draft which would really help in a small rebuild.
For the Kings, Haliburton and Sabonis would be an awesome pairing. Both really good passing the ball, both can shoot the ball, both can rebound the ball. LeVert and Barnes would be really nice complementary pieces that can give you buckets in either on or off the ball roles. You’d still have Heild and Mitchell off the bench as guards, still have a bunch of good bigs to choose from and still have flexibility in making another trade.
Kings would boost their chances at making the playoffs and look to have a good direction in which they are building.
Indy would have a new identity under Fox and a brighter future with the picks. They would be a big threat in a season or two
People keep saying Sabonis can shoot. .297 for the season and .317 for his career from deep say otherwise. He’s a nice player that has some useful skills but hard to build around because he can’t shoot and doesn’t protect the rim.
Very good point, but the consensus around the league is that Sabonis is really good and worth it. There is also a little narrative that Fox is overrated and not worth his deal in which case Sabonis is on a much better deal.
Personally I just think Sabonis is a Sacramento kings type of player. He seems exactly like someone they would target and be happy to pay a little extra for. And in fairness on paper Haliburton LeVert Barnes and Sabonis is a good core. Bring Mitchell and Heild off the bench for a mix of shooting and defence and they have a bunch of big men. Would be a decent looking roster even if it doesn’t equate to being successful.
Fox is an All-Star level guard, guy is real good, SAC must keep him!
Sabonis is a phenomenon, I mean guy is a great, top 10 in the league, easily (even if he can’t protect the rim, which is a pretty useless skill if you think about it, when Sabonis scores, shoots, passes, rebounds, does it all)!!!
Haliburton so far hasn’t really shown much, has potential, but is hard to see that he will ever be as good as Fox, so he can be moved!
Idk Haliburton is pretty elite
He’s currently 4th in the league in steals, and 3rd in blocks among guards. He’s a pretty solid defender something Fox struggles with.
Offensively, he’s 7th in the league for assist per game. Shooting wise he’s currently 15th in the league from 3.
He also made history going 4 consecutive games scoring atleast 20 points and getting atleast 10 assists. Which hasn’t been done since the kings were in Kansas back in 1982. He achieved this when Fox was away from the team.
I think it’s worth cashing in on Fox and getting a really good player back like Sabonis who the Pacers are shopping around. Haliburton proved when Fox was away he is ready to take over and run this team. I believe he could do a better job than Fox.