The Sacramento Kings are trading Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Jalen McDaniels, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Kings will also send the 45th pick in the draft.
The Raptors are sending Jalen McDaniels to the Kings in the deal, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/7wsl5cI2sx
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2024
The Kings are sending the Raptors the 45th pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft as part of the trade, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/TtvJfea9Fi
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2024
This move clears some salary for the Kings, gives the Kings a wing with size, clears some of the guard logjam by sending out Davion Mitchell, and frees Sasha Vezenkov for a new opportunity. This move isn’t some franchise-altering home run, but it’s seems like a solid move to accomplish a few of the smaller needs of the team before free agency.
The selection of Devin Carter is also a little more palatable with Davion being traded, as Carter is basically a slightly bigger version of Davion.
Hopefully the Kings aren’t done dealing, though. We’ll continue to see what happens.
LET HIM COOK!!!
yeah, let Davion cook in Toronto.
This deal was pretty bad, did Divac phone this one in? ????????
Couldn’t they just have used Duarte instead of Davion, or declined his club option to save the money, they make almost the same. A former 9th overall pick for one of the poorest performers in the L last year is just bad. King should’ve been the team to get two 2nds, or an early 2nd/late 1st even.
This
A boneless wing, with no sauce.
The move (bad players and pick for worse player) saves the Kings $9m in payroll this year. This either means that there is a bigger deal on the horizon, or that they just expanded the beer garden at Sutter Health Park.
I’ve never heard of Jalen McDaniels. If only it was Jaden McDaniels.
As part of the deal, Jalen has agreed to change his name to Jaden, as reported by Jalen’s furious mother.
Seriously, underrated comment
Costs less than $5m to waive him.
Bummer about the 45 pick. Was hoping for a PF there. Is McDaniels any good?
Apparently not. Bench guy. Sounds like, as stated in other thread, opens up MLE and brings em under tax
Nope. I can see us either waiving him, or using him as salary filler since he’s expiring.
Two years ago he had ok numbers. Last year was a disaster for him.
It frees up a slot on the 15 man roster and provides a trade exception as well as about $6MM + in cap space and the Non Tax MLE.
Hope something else in the works.
McDaniels is likely going to replace Kessler Edwards spot on the roster.
I didn’t realize that they needed to clear salary to have access to the non-taxpayer MLE. Guess that was the motivation, in part, of this trade.
Hobby, I think that is right. The Non taxpayer MLE and the cap space. Perhaps two trade exceptions…I think. I’ll have to check that though.
That doesn’t make sense. They use the non-taxpayer MLE if the over the tax at the end of the season. They should have the full MLE this summer since they were below that tax at the end of last season.
Yeah, idk man, just what I heard.
You have a link to that? I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that is how it is determined.
Heard Deuce and Mo mention it on their live stream.
Yeah, I beleive they are wrong The non-tax payer exception is determined at the end of the season when teams are either above or below the tax. The Kings have never been a tax paying team in the Vivek era. They have the full MLE.
Here is a link: It shows who has what exceptions and who is above each apron.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/_/year/2024/sort/cap_maximum_space_optimized/dir/asc
I remember discussing this during the season, and I thought they had the full MLE. Then it was brought up and made me question myself (do that a lot lately). They were getting close to the 1st apron though, right? (you looking at “Total Cap” or “Active” column to determine that?)
No, there were far from the first apron at the end of last season. $12m under. They are just 23rd in payroll.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/sacramento-kings/overview/_/year/2024
So what did the savings in salary of the McDaniels trade open up for them?
From what I understand, absolutely nothing, but mayb eMonte is 4 chess moves ahead? IDK.
They had to move Sasha and we, the stalwart members of the TKH community have all agreed, with rare exception, that Davion HAD to be moved. Monte McNair, Wes Welker and their staff obeyed our stance and made it happen.
It cost the 45th pick in a weak draft to have Raptors take those two and we get back Jalen (not Jaden) McDaniels as well.
sounds like a Kosher deal to me. Sort of Kessler Edwards acquisition but with more pork.
A kosher deal with more pork?
That’s meshugene!
Oy Gevalt! Nothing gets by you!
Another way to think of this (in my mind, anyway) is that the cost of taking the extra money of Davion and Sasha was MickeyD (Jalen) and the pick 45. Given the cost difference, Toronto spend $6M on the 45th pick.
and the Portland 2nd next year.
And that’s why you don’t shit the bed when every problem isn’t solved at once.
Look, when I’m the voice of reason, there is a serious problem.
Yes, because that’s what most fans were doing. Not just questioning Monte based on last year
Apparently everyone was losing it except for you, all hail Mr. Sims.
As long as you feel good about what you are.
They got the wrong McDaniels!
I like the trade except that I think they should’ve kept the pick. I was hoping they would take a developmental big who could spend a year or two in the G-League.
The pick might have needed to be attached to make the deal.
Oh. I get it, I just want the team to spend some of those 2nds for a player that might be ready in a year or two. I don’t really like how the FO treats 2nd round picks.
I believe developmental players on multiple timelines are important to keep a team good over the long-haul and 2nd rounders playing the G-League are great for that.
Just my guess –
But if the Kings really wanted a 2nd rounder that they couldn’t get in the G-League anyway, they could use cash considerations, but they spring the green, instead of being on the receiving end.
It is a bummer that Davion and Vez didn’t work out.
They both seemed like odd fits for todays NBA and/or this team.
Davion def didn’t work out. The obvious pick was Sengun, but MM stuck to his M.O. as he always does.
edit: wrong reply
Great link. Thanks for this. At what point does a team start paying the luxury tax?
I think I found it at that same sight.
The consensus at the time seemed to be Moses Moody. Sengun (and others) were certainly in the conversation.
My issue with Davion pic was- just too short. Players can shoot over him whoever and his shot was questionable. Why draft a limited player.
Amyway
I think Sasha was misused and could’ve been a valuable contributor
They will both be better in Toronto than they were here. /Hot take
They’ll probably get more playing time at least. That said, I don’t think Sasha is very good and didn’t think he was very good before he got here so I’m doubtful he’s a contributing NBA player. I think Davion could actually be pretty good for Toronto.
Raptors also have a good number of guards, so he will have to find playing time there.
I thought so too, but I guess we’ll see how the rest of his NBA career goes.
Putting Sasha on an NBA roster is a misuse of Sasha.
Agree. I thought the Sasha pic showed a disconnect between McN and Brown perhaps.
Brown style/and O he ran -defend-shoot or drive past and dish- a bit I’ll suited
Let’s gooo!!
Note: Since the Kings no longer have a 2nd round pick, we’ll use this thread in lieu of an open thread.
Soft.
Here we select the best thread available we don’t comment for fit.
I’ll comment anywhere for cash considerations.
Cash is (a) King
Greg ruined my King’s draft complaints
Can we pretend we have a second round pick? I have it on record at home and everything.
Also – if you look at the 1st round selection caption yesterday, they said the Kings had picks 13, 45, 48.
Ok – I am going back to pretending now
I guess this officially means Davion was a bad pick. I won’t say bust, but ultimately an unproductive use of an asset.
I will say I liked Davion when he was drafted. His college film had indications that he could be a play maker and run an offense. Unfortunately that did not come to fruition at the NBA level.
To be fair – the 2021 draft was pretty abysmal. There wasn’t much after pick 9 that would have moved the needle much, except for Sengun. That’s about it.
I don’t know, Jalen Johnson had one heck of a breakout season and would look pretty good on the roster. As a totally unrelated sidenote, Sengun and Johnson were my 1 & 2 for the Kings at the pick.
The Sengun alternate timeline is an interesting one to think about. He’s basically the young version of Sabonis. If they take Sengun, do the Kings hold onto Haliburton and Sengun as their core because of “timelines?”
Herb Jones would also be nice to have on the roster, but no one was considering him at #9.
The pick of davion over Sengun still makes no sense to me. He just hit a home run getting hali the year prior, have fox already, and you take an undersized point guard over the big man of the future we needed. Only to turn around and trade that home run for basically the same archetype of sengun. I love domas but it makes no sense.
My suspension is Monte drafted davion with the intention of trading fox. On paper hali/davion fits a lot better than fox/hali due to hali’s shooting abilities playing. For whatever reason it may be, the team chose fox over hali. I have a hard time believing the pacers wouldn’t have taken fox
Suspicion *
You’re suspended for mistyping!
That trade is still one of the crazier trades to wrap my head around…
At time, I thought without a doubt that Hali/Domas is a better pairing than Hali/Turner while thinking Fox/Turner would be a better pairing than Fox/Domas.
It could be that I don’t know anything or maybe that all four of those players are just really good and would’ve worked in any combination except the one they were already in.
You can’t deny that it definitely worked out for both teams; gotta love a win/win.
Somebody help me here. Was it really necessary to give them our 45th pick?
It saves us the salary of the 45th pick, which is apparently also needed to free up enough money for the MLE.
the 45 pick doesn’t have guaranteed salary.
The 45th pick is highly unlikely to be an NBA player. The guy you sign into MLE space is definitionally an NBA player.
They had the MLE before the trade.
If there’s a next deal, the $9m and roster spot freed up makes sense. If not, it doesn’t. And something to be considered is that at least some of that $9m will go to the additional open roster spot created by this trade.
At present, it’s a cash / payroll grab, at least until such time that this new found yard sale scratch is used on something else.
From what I understand, the $9M saved does not get them below the cap, so they have the same MLE they had before the trade. Same spending power, just with lower overhead. It stinks of a cash grab.
i do wonder/have been about shackles put in MM because Vivek won’t go over tax?
We shall see.
Be careful, your questions might be flagged by negative police.
With the new Monk contract, I believe using the MLE would have put the Kings over or close to the 1st Apron. This ownership is only a couple of years in to being willing to be operate over the cap. We’ll see if they’ve graduated to living over the tax yet.
That only would apply to the 2025-26 season…if they were still above the apron by then.
Right but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are not willing to start that clock coming off this season.
True, why go into the tax with a team that didn’t make the playoffs, but when ownership never goes into the tax I have to question if playoffs are even a priority.
They are not trying until they decide pay up like all the real teams do.
This year is the first time that questioning ownership not going into the tax is a viable discussion. Given their past frugality, it may take the FO some time to convince them of the cost to contend. Monte has experience with this dance while with Houston.
It certainly does. But Davion and Sasha were not going to get playing time next year. If I could pay two useless employees $12M or just one useless employee $5M, I know which one I would opt for.
I would have like to use those contracts in a larger deal. There was no rush to move those guys, Davion especially, since his deal was expiring this season.
Maybe they are trying to get to 48 million dollars.
Ah. Gotcha.
Do we need another too small G league guard?
Think of it as Monty McNair being the Oprah Winfrey of undersized guards. Oh, we can pick one here and we can pick one there. We can pick one everywhere you get a guard I get a guard as long as they’re an under size guard.
WOOF!
What an absolute fucking waste of assets to simply save money.
What assets? the 45th pick? Sasha and Mitchell were pure liabilities at this point – Sasha wasn’t coming back and Mitchell would just be taking minutes from Carter and Jones.
The move doesn’t get the Kings below the cap, so what does it accomplish other than saving ownership money. They have the same spending power they had before the trade.
Don’t think that’s accurate. From what I read, it takes the Kings below the luxury tax, unlocking the full MLE and how much they can take in a trade.
No. They had the full MLE because there were below the tax at the end of last season. That is when it is determined, just like the salary tax.
They did not have the full MLE prior to this move according to multiple cap experts like Bobby Marks and Keith Smith.
The Non taxpayer MLE allows them to take back more in salary then they send out, a key to the next step imo, and it provides additional salary cap to be below the first apron by an additional $6MM + in addition to the current $4MM + under the salary cap after the signing of Malik which will occur shortly when FA officially opens up.
The emergence of Keon + the drafting of Carter + the potential of Jones made Davion expendable.
Saha was a risk and a hope that did not pan out at all.
this isa sunk cost issue- don’t follow money with bad money.
The 45th pick? nice to have that but what are the chances? Maybe Toronto insisted on this in order to facilitate the salary dump by the Kings
A MLE will be a better player than either of the two traded and the 45th as well.
It is unfortunate that Jones is still here.
I like Jones. A lot of potential there and could be used as soon as this year.
Always the potential.
…in three more years…if this player does what we think….then we make the playoffs.
This is a problem. Monte hasn’t done a great job of acquiring assets.
On the surface I agree it seems like a waste and even bad return, but let’s see what’s in the works that may have precipitated this trade.
Monty might have something up his sleeve.A big trade, the MLE and the BAE. We will see.
My guess is incremental improvement, nothing big.
Ladies and gentlemen, your Incremental Kings!
You assume someone else was interested in our garbage and a 2nd round pick is far from an asset. They needed to get rid of a guard and Sasha was never playing for the Kings again. Sounds like a good move to me. Not to mention we get a wing back in return which we could surely use. Don’t sleep on McDaniel, he may not light up the scoreboard but he can play D. Anyone that plays for San Diego State kows how to play D or they don’t play, period!!!
The dude played less than both Sasha and Davion on a Toronto team that won 25 games. This trade wasn’t about acquiring him. He’s not even worth the 2 second rounders that were also sent out in the trade.
That shows me that the value of Davion and Sasha was terrible. They had to attach the 45 and the 2025 PDX 2nd rounder to dump their salaries.
I also did not see a path to playing time for either next season. Keon pushed Davion down the list, and I think Huerter probably sticks around, for now.
Sasha situation needed to be remedied. There was too much noise about him this offseason.
I wanted them to not give up as much as they did, but apparently that was the price to dump them.
I like Huerter and hope plays before Keon does.
That being said…I don’t think anyone will make a deal for him until he shows he can play again. The injury and last years stats are keeping him here for now.
I like Huerter and I think he’s just fine coming off the bench as a SF but in no way, shape, or form, should he get on the court before Keon.
On this team with this roster, Keon > Huerter.
At least we have two players good enough to argue over.
The entire roster should be that way.
I agree. Keon earned that spot. Period.
After Huerter went down with an arm that was basically amputated.
Get rid of Heurter. Last year. Please. He’s not worth shit in the playoffs. Move on. Now
I fully support discussing actual NBA players and their playoff performance. I hope that discussion grows. It is a great thing that Keon has developed to this point in his career.
I think both players have trade value. I don’t think Huerter can be dealt this year. He isn’t going to be looked at as real until he plays again. That leaves Keon as the trade candidate.
We moved two useless pieces for one useless piece. Room for one more decent player.
This is the win for me.
The Kings trash is worth more than gold here.
He was good on D against Fresno State not much in the NBA
I will bet good money that the Kings starting five cannot hold Fresno State below 90.
Paciencia y fe, hombre. These moves aren’t made in a vacuum. I highly doubt McNair freed up $9M in salary just for the hell of it. Just let the offseason play out before we judge.
But the money saved doesn’t give him anymore spending power. It’s just money saved above the cap and below the tax.
I really hope my pessimism is wrong, hopefully maybe time will tell.
Just an idea. The Jazz drafted Filipowshi. Because of that it might make John Collins avaiable for trade.Just an idea.
I don’t think Davion and Sasha are assets for this team.
Subtraction by subtraction! Or maybe Monte ‘Under the Cap, Boss!’ McNair really thought he got his brother. Now that would have been a trade. This is his stock in trade, pun intended. Get Sabonis, trade Holmes just to get rid of him. Get Carter, dump Mitchell for a guy whose physique makes Haliburton’s look like LeBron. Under the cap, boss! So far, so meh.
Monte doesn’t get enough criticism for his complete waste of a lottery pick in Davion. Especially considering Fox and Haliburton were already on the roster.
Sasha was a dud as well and it’s pretty wild that the organization went all out to recruit a 3rd string player.
I don’t have alot of faith in Monte putting together a roster that makes sense. He’s had a ton of misses that get brushed aside too easily by fans. The same issue that was present last summer (too many guards, not enough wings, Harrison Barnes) are still the same issues this summer. Why would I believe he can get something done to fix the mess of a roster he’s put together?
Pretty sure Davion has been discussed on this site as being a bad pick, even at the time of the draft, for a couple years now.
Yes, Monte has not done a good job of accumulating assets with Davion pick and everyone picked up last year. His lack of assets has but him in a bind. He’s gotta thread the needle.
Great first year. Very questionable last year. This is why people are questioning him and wondering if he’s doing the right thing this year.
The Kings still have Barnes, Huerter, Duarte and maybe Jones. Should be enough to get a good PF next to Sabonis. Could also get Isaiah Stewart from the Pistons. Well see.
I apologize for the incompleteness of my last comment. Monte traded:
Two players
And a draft pick
For one guy who played 10 minutes a game last year
And has had 5 years to prove himself and his minutes and stats have declined each of the last two years, with three teams
I did it boss! I got us out of the luxury tax!
Good job Monte. Gotta go; firing up the Gulfstream to hang with John Fisher in Vegas! You just paid for my plane!
Point of order: two draft picks
He too could be added to above names. We also have Edwards but is a FA.
OK so have up two serviceable players and a pick for someone who won’t crack the rotation. All to give us $$ room to potentially bring on new guys. Got it.
The two players were serviceable and highly expendable. Not saying it was great deal, but Davion’s time was coming to an end, and Sasha obviously was not in the plans for Coach Brown.
And he didn’t want to be.
Ok, I’ve been scoring the interwebs in hopes of clearing the air on this trade and it’s rationale. This is my armchair amateur GM interpretation, so take it with a gain of salt.
1) The Kings were above the cap and below the tax BEFORE the trade, as determined how they ended the 2024 season.
2) That means they had the Full MLE and b-annual exception BEFORE the trade and the same AFTER the trade. There is no change in their spending ability
3) That salary saved DOES NOT get the team below the cap, so they have no additional spending power in free agency or trades
4) Now, the Kings WERE slated to go above the tax line ONCE they signed Monk and Carter to his rookie deal, BUT THAT WOULD NOT HAVE TAKE AWAY THEIR FULL MLE THIS SUMMER.
5) The Kings can operate above the tax line for the entire season if they so wish. Tax penalties do not come down until the end of the 2025 season. That means they have until the deadline to get back below the tax, if they do go over it. Only 2025-26 full MLE is determined by this upcoming year’s tax threshold.
6) All in all, they money saved by this trade does not give the Kings any more spending power and really only saves ownership money because they are hovering between the cap and the tax.
Take it for what it is worth, but I feel that this is the second straight draft the Monte has had to attach draft capital to a trade in order to move contracts that he signed. The only reason for this was to save money.