On Thursday morning, NBA agent whisperer and league insider Shams Charania of The Athletic dropped an article chock-full of trade rumors as the deadline approaches in just a few weeks. In the piece, he mentions that there are few sellers in the market, aside from the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are willing to move Andre Drummond, JaVale McGee, Taurean Prince, and Cedi Osman, and the Detroit Pistons, who will likely buy out the once great Blake Griffin and the once-remembered Wayne Ellington.
Other than those two obvious tankers, Shams goes on to describe many contenders desires, and a couple of Kings players popped up in the discussion, although interestingly enough, Buddy Hield was not one of the names mentioned. Instead, Sacramento's two veteran forwards, Harrison Barnes and Nemanja Bjelica, were both described as popular trade pursuits for multiple teams. Barnes has been previously linked to the Boston Celtics, although his combination of scoring, defense, positional versatility, and shooting would be a welcome addition on any contender, while Nemanja Bjelica has reportedly received interest from teams such as the Philadephia 76ers, the Miami Heat, the Golden State Warriors, the Milwaukee Bucks, and again, the Boston Celtics.
Assuming that Monte McNair could get Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge, a historically miserly trade partner, to agree to a reasonable deal, Boston stands out as a sensible place for both of Sacramento's veterans, as the Celtics have become well-known for their severe lack of depth this season. Boston's record-breaking Traded Player Exception of $28.5 million, which allows them to absorb contracts without sending matching salary in return, would comfortably fit Harrison Barnes, although a small amount of salary would need to be sent back to Sacramento to keep the Celtics under the tax apron. Bjelica's much smaller contract of just over $7 million could be swapped for a player like Daniel Theis, while young prospects such as Aaron Nesmith or Romeo Langford could be included as key pieces, as well as a future first round pick from Boston.
For the other teams solely pursing Nemanja Bjelica, the price tag will be much, much lower. The Sixers could certainly use Bjelica's floor spacing, as they currently rank bottom-three in the league in three-point attempts and three-point makes per game, and swapping out the expiring salary of Mike Scott and one of their many future second round picks could be perfectly satisfying for Monte McNair. Miami could take a similar course of action with a guy like Meyers Leonard, whose contract is a team option next year, but they own only the less favorable of Denver and Philly's 2022 second rounder and their own 2027 second round pick. They may struggle to meet Sacramento's requirements for Nemanja's services.
The Warriors are probably the most challenging trade partner for Monte McNair, as their salaries don't match up particularly well with Nemanja Bjelica's. They would either have to send two or three players Sacramento's way, some of whom are currently important rotational contributors for Golden State, or the two-team transaction would need to be expanded as part of a larger deal. And finally, Milwaukee would make a lot of sense for a sharpshooter like Bjelica, and the Bucks could send back non-factors such as Torrey Craig and DJ Wilson, while also throwing in a future second rounder to properly compensate Sacramento.
As the trade deadline grows closer, the number of NBA rumors and smoke machines will only grow, but suffice it to say names like Harrison Barnes and Nemanja Bjelica will draw plenty of attention in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for additional updates!
What does it say when multiple contending team have interest in Nemanja, but Walton can seem to find constant rotational minutes for the floor stretching big?
To be fair to Walton, I’m not sure he’s been allowed to play Bjelica as much as he would like.
Eh? How do you mean? Is he being told by brass to not play him?
Yes.
That’s what Amick described in his interview with CD.
Ah, I didn’t hear that interview. Is there a reason behind it?
Competing interests in the FO. Vivek/Dumars/Vivek’s son/Monty.
Same ole shit!
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
(lightly paraphrased quotes from Amick on CD’s show this morning:
About Monte’s relationship with Dumars:
“The one thing that should be said is in terms of how Monte has approached the job he’s had a very positive outlook on all of it, and Monte himself sees Joe as somebody he values and appreciates having around”
On Aneel’s involvement:
“Aneel has been focused on a lot of other stuff and not as involved as he was a year ago.”
On Vivek’s meddling:
“it feels like there’s a correlation between [I believe Aneel taking a lesser role?] and Joe kinda giving Vivek a person to constantly talk with about the team. Vivek always needs that outlet in some form.”
On Ainge trading for Barnes:
“do we go all in for a big name and really empty the cupboards in terms of assets to try to get back into title contention right now. Or to we go to plan B which is somebody like Harrison Barnes, who can really help us, but that we could get with much less, and the cupboard wouldn’t be bare. So if you’re the Kings do you want to play that role?”
(there was also a part about what deals are available versus what deals would Vivek actually sign off on for his faves like Barnes and Buddy)
On trading Buddy:
“I did not get the sense that there’s going to be a robust market. The main reason is the length of his deal”
In addition (and I hope this isn’t true), Sam said that Vivek may balk at a Buddy and/or Barnes deal b/c he has a personal connection to them… Good god.
Buddy sucks on defense, has low bbiq, and has shot poorly this year. He isn’t even a one-way player this year. He is overpaid. I’m not sure what team wants that. Not even the Kings.
If he finds his shooting touch, like he did against the *akers, then perhaps there is some hope. I imagine any trade will involve receiving another bad contract though.
Sometimes I think Buddy is Ben McLemore with a little better 3 point shot
They basically want to see what they have in Bagley.
LOL, by benching him in the 4th quarter of games? They could play Bagley 35 minutes a night (he’s only getting about 25) and there would still be time for Nemanja.
Totally agree abt benching Bagley in the 4th.
Benching Bjelly opens up developmental minutes for Bagley, and mitigates the risk of an injury that would tank Bjelly’s trade value.
This is a solid point.
Good point
This is probably good policy, since Bjelica always appears to be on the “dad bod” workout and nutrition plan.
Bjelica is the unimpressive-looking guy at the gym who absolutely schools the young, Adonis-like Bagleys of the world because he actually knows basketball.
No doubt.
Back doors and up-and-unders all day long.
Yeah, it’s definitely a mixed message. But it could be a sign the HC is only so much on board with the FO’s wishes.
cognitive dissonance. He wants to play and develop Bagley but around crunch time the desire to win overwhelms Bagley’s developmental needs.
“Hi, I’m a pretzel.”
or the coaches and front office are in agreement that the best way to develop Bagley is to give him plenty of minutes in low leverage situations, but make him earn his spot with the closers.
That they believe we have closers is fairly amusing. đŸ˜‰
ok how bout “best 5-man lineup?” And to be clear, the other 4 starters plus Haliburton has been one of the best lineups in the NBA so far this season.
For sure. I can’t get too excited about the 5 man lineups quite yet, since the samples are still very small.
Plus, Barnes and Hield (and probably Holmes) are unlikely to be on this team over the longer haul. Seems smarter to throw Bagley into the fire, IMO.
150 minutes probably isn’t enough to be predictive, but I think it’s enough to say if it ain’t not broke, don’t fix it. Also, there’s just a lot of competing interests. What’s good for Bagley’s development, may be bad for Fox and/or Haliburton’s development. If Fox/Haliburton are the future, then they have to be thinking about the type of players they work well with. Right now it seems like that’s a shooter, big wing, and rim running 5.
Thats probably a better way of saying what I tried to say.
Ding, ding, ding.
I still find that hard to believe, since that is really enmcroaching on the authority of the coach.
I could see it if there was a trade-off, and that could be a handshalke deal to keep Walton on for the rest of the season.
I still want to pose this question to Jerry: will a GM try to impose his will on a coach about rotations, and will a coach allow that?
Didn’t Hinkie/McNair do that in Houston when they acquired CP3. Didn’t they suggest/dictate minutes and rotations to D’Antoni?
There is a difference between making suggestions to a guy you hired and colobarate with versus telling who to sit and play against a guy you did not hire and who knows he’s on the hot seat.
There’s dozens of examples of players being healthy scratches because the team is planning on trading them. Just look at ZBo he went from leading the team in scoring to playing zero minutes the following season.
I believe the word is “encrotching.”
Yeah, there have been some weird reports about that, including from Amick.
JA had that article about how restricting Bjelly’s minutes was part of McNair’s plan to build around Fox as well.
Do you have a link to that article? I’d like to understand how benching a floor spreader is going to help Fox. Isn’t he better with shooters around him?
Here it is. But Amick was the one that specifically said that McNair essentially told Walton to cut Bjelly’s minutes.
It means the entire universe can see that Bagley isn’t a good player but he gets the minutes because #kangz
So very myopic.
As he should.
Otis/Andy, I know I’m a big fan of brevity but these short responses are hard to follow. Ă°ÂŸÂ˜Âœ. Keep in mind I expect to be disagreed with and that shit doesn’t bother me at all.
My favorite subplot of this season is your desire to see the Kings lose as many games as possible, along with your disdain for giving minutes to a guy who (in your opinion) would help the Kings lose as many games as possible. đŸ™‚
FYI, I’ve never once complained about Bagley getting minutes. I’ve complained about the narrative that he’s worth building around.
Hmmm…ok then. I swear that’s not the impression I get from your comments, but could be misinterpreting.
I, too, am struggling with that impression Marty. I don’t think wanting Bagley on the court is a bad thing at all. He should be on the court IMO.
Also, I’m seeing small but incremental improvement.
It could mean that while Bjelica getting minutes in Sacramento doesn’t necessarily advance the team’s goals, he is the kind of player who could advance the goals of a different team.
“What does it say when multiple friends of yours want a slice of your pizza, but you won’t eat any more of it because you’re full?”
Honestly.
If there’s any validity to the rumors, it says we should move him soon for whatever we can get. It also says there’s no use giving veterans who have no future with the Kings playing time that should go toward evaluating and developing our young players.
Then explain Cory Joseph.
The only thing I can say about Joseph is this. He has his limitations and he’s not a fit for the Kings and he’s overpaid BUT he does work his ass off and he has a great attitude. Maybe Walton wants to reward that.
Maybe, but it doesn’t fit with the reported narrative that the Kings are benching a vet like Nemanja in favor of a youth movement.
Joseph doesn’t have standalone trade value. They probably aren’t going to get much to help build around Fox unless he’s included as salary filler.
It does fit when Walton wants to send a message that he’s going to reward effort and attitude especially when there’s so much negativity. I don’t see a lot of passion in Bjelica’s game right now although he’s had patchy success. I also havent seen anything from James in terms of either passion or performance so frankly I’d release him. There was some irrational exuberance going around about Jeffries and I still play him but he’s showing his limitations. You know we all focus on the top of our drafts which haven’t been good but our performance in the second round has also been abysmal. I realize second rounders are a long shot but you’d like to think we’d get something serviceable at some point. We had Trent jr and traded that pick for some inexplicable reason.
Give it time. Woodard is showing some really good moments in the bubble before the injury.. Hopefully after the trade deadline he could get some burn with the main club.
Miami can fit Bjelly into their $7.5 million TPE.
You are very correct. I had that in my notes to include, and then I just…didn’t?
Yeah, i think that one makes a lot of sense, but Miami doesn’t really have ay future assets to trade. All of their own 2nd rounders are spoken for through 2026. All they have the less favorable 2nd rounder of Philly or Denver in 2022, and that is gonna be in the 50’s. All that being said, I wouldn’t mind a KZ Okpala.
The Sixers also have an $8.1MM TPE.
Others over $1MM for current playoff competitors.
Celtics – 28.5, 4.7, 2.5
Pacers – 4.7, 2.8
Jazz – 3.5, 5.0
Clippers – 3.5, 1.4, 1.9
Blazers – 2.3, 2.3, 1.7
Nuggets – 9.5, 3.3, 1.8
Warriors – 2.1, 1.6, 1.8, 1.9, 1.6
Grizz – 4.1, 1.8
Bjelica to PHI for Paul Reed and/or the 2021 NYK 2nd seems like a natural fit.
Sure does, but can a team trade a rostered player for a two-way player?
That would mean the Kings can’t trade anyone on the roster.
yes but we potentially have to cut one of our 2 way guys
Or could we upgrade one of them or Reed to a full NBA deal? Either way, I’m fine. I’d rather have Reed than either of our 2-way guys.
LOL I just made this:
I would love to get Paul Rudd, great in Anchorman!
The best part is he never ages so we can have him for an infinite amount of time.
The Paul Rudd fan boyz have arrived:
I love the edit when he was eating with himself lol
Who in the SAM HELL is Paul Reed?
google Paul Reed highlights. He’s fun as hell. Also, he’s been killing it in the G League. 22/11/2/2/2 plus shooting 44% on almost 4 threes a game. His shot looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down, but it goes in!
And he’s all energy, all the time. He probably needs to focus more on positioning and tame the whirlwind a bit, but he’s an impact defender and rim-runner.
speaking of all energy, all the time check out this sick steal and windmill dunk by my boy Trev Queen:
Yeah, Trev just started getting some real minutes. You know I’m a fan.
You had me at “he’s killing it”. Pretty lengthy too. Where does he sign???
We’re going trading! Come on …
Can we trade Walton?
Yes, but the Kings would have to send him with multiple picks.
And a ball gag.
Let’s hope the kings are on the correct side of buy low, sell high.
They’ll try to sweeten the deal with some $GME shares.
The Celtics beat writer on The Athletic did mention Buddy as a potential trade, but discussed the amount of money still owed compared to his diminishing production.
So there has been no rumors at all since early December about Buddy Hield. I’ve been saying it, he’s untradeable at this point especially if the Kings are trying to get good value (either a promising young player or a 1st rounder). Even if he goes to the bench, teams aren’t committing to take on 3 years $60 mill plus for a 6th man.
If we think that Buddy has value just because he can shoot than we are insulting NBA scouts all around the league. They aren’t casuals like Shaq, they watch our games and see no IQ, no ability to dribble for more than 3 steps, no mid range or rim attacking and atrocious defense just like we do. No one is giving up anything of value for a $21 million Tim Hardaway Jr type, who btw is a better player at this time. We’re stuck with him unless we juat take anything to get rid of that contract.
Nobody is untradeable, but your caveat is important. We’d have to take back a similarly overpaid player, although maybe we get out from under a year of Buddy.
That’s why I do the eye roll at the remaining Sixers/Buddy talk. Anyone watch the Sixers recently and think they need to push Seth aside for Buddy?
Now, if Buddy wants to come off the bench and stand in the corner that would friggin awesome, but his contract suggests that’s too small a role for the Sixers to lose valuable assets for.