Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports joined the Deuce and Mo podcast Monday evening to follow up on his recent article discussing the possibility of the Kings trading De’Aaron Fox. It’s a wide-ranging conversion that I’d definitely suggest checking out in full, but there are a few comments worth highlighting.
Haynes says that everything he’s hearing suggest the Kings are going to be one of the most active teams around the trade deadline. The Kings have a lot of pieces that could fit into a variety of deals.
Haynes also offered some additional insight on the De’Aaron Fox front. Haynes told Deuce and Mo that Kings management informed Fox that the plan is to build around Fox, but it’s not a given. Basically that the Kings aren’t eager to trade Fox, but are being honest that if the right deal comes along Fox could be involved.
Haynes added that Fox asked management to let him know first if there’s a trade, because he would rather not find out about it via social media.
Haynes also followed up on his article and noted that if a deal was to get done with the Kings and the 76ers, there would be a third team involved. We saw a lot of talk on Twitter following Haynes’ report that the Sixers aren’t sold on Fox being the key piece in return for Ben Simmons, and Haynes confirmed that in this show.
Around the rest of the Kings roster, Haynes also discussed Marvin Bagley and Buddy Hield. Haynes says Bagley is still enticing to other teams because he’s still young and teams feel like he could succeed in the right situation. Haynes notes that he could see both players moved by the deadline, but he thinks Buddy is the more likely of the two to be traded.
Definitely check out the full show for all the details and specifics, as well as a lot of insights from Haynes about various teams around the league and what they might do at the deadline.
Thanks to a certain giraffe, I’m just gonna drop this here:
https://twitter.com/TimMaxwell22/status/1483467225235292161
I really feel Fox is just a worse worse shooting, worse defending, and worse passing, and worse rebounding version of John Wall. Is that the kind of player you want to build around in today’s NBA?
I’m pretty sure if Fox ends up on the Sixers it will destroy me once and for all.
My main takeaway is that if Fox is traded, he is 100% finding out through social media at 2 AM.
Because KANGZ.
This is beautiful.
And then the other team will nix the trade and get Russell Westbrook instead.
Hope the Kings are extremely active ! Would seem logical that Fox would need to be moved to acquire any significant player ! Doubt that Barnes, Buddy and Bagley could bring back anything other than late picks and younger , unproven versions of themselves !
The needle that the organization is trying to thin is anorexically thin. They are trying to improve the team in the longer term without sacrificing anything in the nearer term.
Let’s look at last year’s rumored offer for Barnes, which was Nesmith or maybe Pritchard and a mid-1st rounder, which became Sengun. I would do Pritchard and Sengun for Barnes right now, but it would make the team worse for this season, which means that the organization is highly unlikely to make such a deal. If they deal Fox, it would likely be for another high priced deck chair, although there would at least be the possibility of attaining better roster balance.
Maybe the organization will face reality at some point, and maybe this “retool not rebuild” mantra is a bit of a smokescreen. But based on what we have seen (and not seen) so far, I’m not holding my breath that a deal of any significant note will get done. The usual setting for a Kings fan: hold out hope, prepare for reality.
Yes, that is the fan’s dilemma.
We can dream up plans to make the team better in a realistic way but that dream does not match the reality of what the FO is likely to do.
When I think of team-building, I think of selling off assets for draft picks, prospects and looking ahead four years (think Memphis, Houston, OKC).
When I think of shipping out our value players for “superstars,” I don’t see it happening. I see the deck chair scenario.
Remember when the Kings dealt Kevin Martin for Carl whatshisname. We went from a team that had outside scoring but no inside offense, to a team that could score inside, but could not hit a three.
I fear that’s what will happen if we “go for the play-in.”
Ultimately, wouldn’t it be funny if the Kings couldn’t make a deal, couldn’t even dish Bagley somewhere. What if all they do is trade Mo Harkless for some other bench player.
C’mon, how you gonna do Top Hat Landry like that??
Your Sacramento Kings, bringin’ the scimitar to the trade talks.
I’m shocked Kings media were told the Kings are about to make significant moves.
Shocked.
Kings announce significant move:
“10 game packs are now half-priced!”
There’s been a lot of this “Kings are the most active in trade talks” talk for a couple / few weeks. I feel like its just that, though; talk. I see no smoke, I see no fire, nothing that really seems like its going to move this team in the right direction in terms of “available” players. Simmons, Sabois, Turner, et. can be difference makers but I think this team needs more than just one legit all-star and I don’t think the Kings have the assets or savvy to get such a tall task done. So I could literally see the trade deadline passing with little to nothing happening, in favor of an off-season “retool” (cuz coaching change, draft, etc.) and then we’re in the same boat next year regarding the roster.
I’ll also add that chucking Barnes for whatever lowball asset we can get back will leave us with exactly 1 SF who wouldn’t likely crack the rotation on a playoff team except in emergencies (Harkless.) Next year Barnes is an expiring contract which is just as valuable to us as it is to any other team, so unless you can use him as sweetener in a quality deal I see zero need to offload him simply for the sake of offloading him.
Last thought, if you’re trading Fox for Simmons it might be prudent to keep Hield for those last second buzzer beaters that Simmons won’t take.
I’m concerned that they’re planning to build around Fox. I find it funny that they’d tell him that but also tell him to not be surprised if he’s traded.
Sam Amick’s podcast. Sam says Kings have a definitive order. They’re shooting for, in order:
1. Simmons (+Harris)
2. Sabonis
Chris Haynes has the Fox camp side covered. I trust Sam for FO sources. Simmons for Fox may be in the table if the Kings accept Harris.
Sam also says he’s more plugged into the Kings than normal because he’s not traveling due to COVID.
Badge Legend