Multiple reports have come out now that the Kings are sending Devin Carter and a 2033 second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks. No return has been mentioned for Sacramento and right now this looks like a pure salary dump move as the Kings look to get below the luxury tax and first apron. This move along with an expected waiving and stretching of DeMar DeRozan will bring the Kings well below the tax line, whereas now they are over. This should also give the team more room to operate in potentially re-signing free agents Precious Achiuwa and possibly Russell Westbrook without going back over the tax.
This is an ignominious end for the former lottery pick’s tenure in Sacramento, and an indictment on both the past and current regime. Carter was selected with the 13th pick in the 2024 NBA draft but missed a big chunk of his rookie season as he recovered from shoulder surgery during the offseason. He came into camp healthy this season but failed to really carve out a role and played in just 38 games for the team, averaging 8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.9 steals in just 18.4 minutes per game. Carter was often tasked with playing out of position at Point Guard instead of his more natural position of shooting guard, and also had to deal with a glut of guards on the roster.
Carter likely wasn’t a part of this team’s future but dumping him simply in order to save some money has now cost the Kings yet another asset, even if it’s just a second round pick 7 years in the future. The Kings are now so bereft of second round picks they only have one more next season and then none until 2034. That might not sound like a big deal, but second round picks are a valuable commodity when trying to add pieces to your team. Instead of using them to gain talent (like we’ve seen this summer with seconds being used to acquire valuable role players like Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Stewart), the Kings have been using them to get rid of mistakes. That’s not a winning formula.
I don’t envy Scott Perry’s job in trying to clean up this roster after years of mismanagement, but outside of his draft classes, I’ve yet to be impressed with his efforts in the trade or free agency market. The offseason is still young, but if history has taught us Kings fans anything, it’s that optimism is often misplaced where this team is involved.
Best of luck in Atlanta, Devin.
Hopefully this clears up playing time for their latest draft picks to fail to develop and lose value.
I’m confident it will.
Did you mean money to re-sign Westbrook? JFC what a mess.
Gee, I’m sure glad that we didn’t draft Ware, McCain, DaSilva, etc. We might have had trouble getting under the tax!
Alonzo Gee?
Gary Gerould, the original Gee Man.
Thanks for clarifying that
Ghee whiz you guys
Ok, but drafting those guys would have meant addressing a need for a team that just finished 3rd in a weakened Western Conference. Why address a need and try and push further into the playoffs when you could just draft a sixth guard instead?
Why do that when you can draft an older, undersized combo guard when the team needed someone that could play the 3 or 4.. or be a shot locker paired with Sabonis.. everybody knows you have to collect multiple undersized combo guards to be successful especially when they’re injured
Would have been great if we sent Carter in the Schroeder trade instead of Ellis.
Imagine if we were looking at a future of Acuff next to Ellis?
To restate what I said in the other thread, the wrinkle in all this is it gets the Kings below the first apron to start the NBA calendar year. This may mean the Kings do not need to cut and stretch DDR just yet. It buys them some time, but it could also mean LaVine and DDR with be Kings to start next season as DDR can be cut at any time up until his guarantee date in January to get below the tax.
The Kings have have their full MLE and BAE to go into free agency.
Shitty use of asset management, IMO. They could have simple cut and stretched Carter and achieved the same results.
Also, why the hell haven’t the Kings declined the TO on Killian Hayes? Do they intend to bring him back?
I count 13 on the roster, with 14 being TWC contract on Daeqwon Plowden
12 with the first round rookies and Hayes. 11 if they release Hayes.
I’m starting to wonder if this is a precursor to open roster spots to send out a big contract like Sabonis for multiple smaller deals.
So running it back with Lavine and DeRozan and adding Acuff would be the most Kings thing ever
100% Vivek.
Devin(e) Providence
Friar fried!
Rolled Island.
Hair to the throne.
Receding assets.
Maybe he get scalper tickets for Magic City Monday
Is it still considered a “trade” if you give a player away and add assets to give said play away?
Technically ATL has give something in return. It could be Cash Considerations or even the rights to some stashed player. Or…there could be more things coming that we are unaware of at the moment.
ATL has the BAE and a $6.7m TPE that they could absorb Carter into and not have to give anything in return.
Sure, but by league rules the Hawks have to send something in return, no matter how minimal. There are no unilateral deals allowed.
Just learned that Kuminga is now an unresricted free agent. I wonder?
Morant to Portland
Hey he likes strips clubs and guns. Portland/Oregon is perfect. Lol
Good gravy. Is this a sabotage deal to make the fans hate the team so the new owner can move out of town?
They need a war room video where everyone yells “Ja Rocks” into the phone
I don’t get it at all. Apparently they’ve shared with media that they intend to start Morant and Lillard together. That means they are going to bench Scoot and Jrue? Absolutely insane.
Gotta love new owners. Wish our owner would learn and move out of that stage
WTF? I forgot that Lillard went back to PDX. Makes this even worse.
THANK THE HEAVENS!
Ja to Blazers
They traded for Carter and have now released Kuminga.
Perry and Vivek are licking their chops right now. Even with the tax issues, they’ll find a way to finally get the player they’ve coveted for so long.
Do the Kings have their non tax MLE now? I could see them making the Carter trade to duck under the tax in a “wink wink” deal to sign Kuminga.
They made some association with Kuminga and his agent last Summer and the Warriors signed him to a deal negating the move to Sac.
I would think that Sacramento is moving pieces to finish “a commitment” to Kuminga and his agent. Guess we will find out tomorrow around 3PM or just after.
If they give the MLE to Kingminga – what is left for Precious Achiuwa?
If they give the MLE to Kuminga, what’s left of any semblance of defense on the Kings? Or 3pt shooting?
I really hope he isn’t a King next year.
Ringing endorsement there.
I’m so glad we picked up his option last fall…
The three picks right after DC:
Bub
Ware
McCain
Monte just couldn’t help but draft another undersized guard. The obvious pick at the time imo, especially considering need was Ware. The same way the obvious pick when Davion was drafted was Sengun.
Constantly missing on draft picks compounds a crappy roster over time.
Memphis obtained 5 2nds to move down 5 spots and we only have one 2nd until 2034?!
At least we now have Acuff. Nothing else to be excited about.
I’m going to try this at work next week…
Monday: Do bad job, mess stuff up.
Tuesday: Do bad job, mess stuff up.
Wednesday: Do bad job, mess stuff up.
Thursday: Clean up mess I made.
Friday: Expect applause on social media for Thursday’s clean up.
Do you work in the Executive Branch?
Sounds like the plan for California. If we’re talking Feds, Saturday is “Blame someone else for my mess.”
Carter was a total scrub with no value…
They didn’t even want to play him last year on a rebuilding team because supposedly he was a clown behind the scenes. Perry tried to move him last summer as soon as he took office.
He is an undersized old SG prospect shooting 26% from three
One look at his regression shooting wise in nba/ g league points to clown work ethic
Maybe it was hidden joke in the recap above, the comment about always having to play out of position. He is a shooting guard who cannot shoot.
The chef’s kiss in all this is Perry exercised the 3rd year option on Carter in in October of last year!! Perry now had to attach a pick to remove him less than 9 months later.
So Kangz.
Which only had to happen at all because this front office signed Schroder at double his value and then salary dumped him with an asset to add salary.
Perry is not good at free agency. Signing. Guys. Perhaps he’s good in the draft. It looks maybe. Don’t know about his trade yet.
Crazy move…yes man strikes again
Ja traded to the Blazers for Jerami and Keegan’s brother.
Duren reportedly will meet with the Kings at the start of FA to structure a sign and trade.
Kings have renewed interest in Kuminga.
I told ya’ll during the playoffs, this offseason was going to be epically entertaining with a ton of movement.
Amick says Kings NOT expected to pursue Kuminga in free agency.
That makes too much sense to be true.
Good. Would be morons to pursue Kuminga
. That must mean we are in that short window (a few weeks?) where Vivek actually lets his GM run the show.
Duren’s agent using the Kings as leverage? Seen that story many times.
Worth a shot even if we can’t get him
May not be leverage. It may simply be that the only franchise dumb enough to overpay him is the Kangz.
Unfortunately, I think the only way the kings get a player of this caliber/potential is to overpay
New Jalen Duren Rumors on Potential Landing Spot amid ‘Sizable Distance’ in Pistons Contract Talks
Duren meeting with Sac. S&T for Sabonis?
The Pistons resigned Kevin Huerter for three years, $27 million. That’s an insanely bad contract. Huerter shot .308 from three last season and .338 the season before. Dude has the yips, and if he can’t shoot, he’s not helping you. They’re out of their minds.
KH hasn’t been good for a few years now. That’s an inexplicable contract.
They took on Duncan Robinson’s contract, so maybe they like overpaid, one trick pony shooters that can’t always shoot.
Speaking of crazy contracts: The Dubs extend KP for 2 years 40 mil.
For a guy that never plays
11 year vet: Games per year: 72, 66, 48, 0, 57, 43, 51, 65, 57, 42, 32 = 533 total
I think they are desperate for shooting and feel they can’t afford Norman Powell or trade for Herro. They are grasping at straws now.
We have a slightly worn LaVine they might want to take a look at!
WTF? How is that even possible. Kings don’t have the ability to offer him a contract in RFA. From my understanding a team has to have the cap space to offer a contract to a RFA, and can then work out a S&T.
What if they waived/bought out LaVine and DDR? Would that get them low enough to offer the contract?
Or in a total Kangz move, trade LaVine into someones cap space along with multiple picks to chase Duren, lol.
Getting rid of DDR will allow them to acquire Kuminga.
Ok, so looking at the numbers the most Duren can sign in FA is for 4 years at $177M. The Pistons, however, can sign him to a 5 year $287M deal!! That’s why they are balking. That’s crazy money for Andre Drummond 2.0.
The wrinkle is in a S&T the Pistons can only count 50% of Duren’s base year compensation. So a max deal accounts for 30% of the cap (roughly $50M per year) but the Pistons can only use 50% of that in trade. This rule is in place to prevent team from signing players to bloated/overpaid deals to immediately be used in trades.
This means the Pistons would only be allowed to get a return of roughly $25M in a max sign and trade of Duren.
That means no Sabonis or LaVine in a swap, but two dudes who have numbers around there are Keegan and Hunter.
That’s stupid money for Duren. No wonder the Pistons are balking
It really is and I don’t think Duren is worth it, but more importantly only teams with significant cap space could afford a S&T due to the BYC rules. I don’t see how this works for the Kings unless three or more teams are involved.
The Kings just can’t absorb $50+M while only sending Detroit $25M.
This feels like smoke screen to me and Duren’s camp trying to create leverage. I bet he stays in Detroit for more than what he can get in FA but less than that ridiculous max number he wants.
Starting lineup on opening night:
Acuff
Monk
Kuminga
Keegan
Duren
Assuming Lavine, Domas and DDR are all traded and DDR possibly released.
With the arm’s race in the West, that starting lineup is not even getting you in the play-in.
But a core of Acuff, Keegan and Duren is probably something to build upon.
I would go with Clifford, as Monk needs to go play where he is needed. Even if we are forced to keep him until the trade deadline, he seems to be best in aa 6th man role. I would like to see what Hayes can do on his small contract– maybe he can be a serviceable backup who can develop his shooting.
Why would you want Kuminga. A player that has been let go or traded twice and can’t shoot.
No. I don’t want him. The kings don’t need to chase. These non-shooter.
I realized Duran can’t shoot from deep but he’s got about 1 billion other good things
And I agree that acuff, Keegs and Duran would be something to build around. I think the kings would get very lucky to land Duran.
Could we also get rid of the other DC?
Yeah no problem getting rid of him but having to give up another second round pick is concerning. This takes me back to the perplexing move of giving up draft capital to move from 34 to 29 to get Karaban. Most draft board indicated Karaban was likely to be there at 34.
Interesting now that Kuminga has been released by Atlanta. I guess it’s reasonable for the Kings to make a move for either Duran or Kuminga but I fear another massive overpay coming. I’d make a modest offer for Kuminga but nothing beyond that.
I don’t want nor like Kuminga at all. There’s a reason two teams have already gotten rid of him.
The guy can’t shoot and he’s not a great team player.
Funny hearing all that bullshit about how “Kuminga looks so great in Atlanta, Steve kerr/doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Amd the Kings should take a flier when he was on Gs. Kuminga-like Lavine are who they are. Any GM/org would stay away.
Scooter Perry ain’t it…Next
Carter is a total scrub.
Ridiculous shooting undersized SG who they have been trying to trade since last summer
Wow. So we’re still doing that thing where we give up assets to move a player? He’s so bad another team won’t take him on even as a back up. Not without a 2nd round pick attached.
why the F did we pick up his option again? Oh, so we can lose him (a fucking lottery pick) with only 1 year under his belt plus a future second round pick.
Badge Legend