Sacramento Kings General Manager Scott Perry’s message in his post trade deadline press conference was centered around patience and not making any moves “out of panic.” He framed the De’Andre Hunter trade as filling a need for size and balancing out the roster and brought up how Hunter’s contract is expiring next season, providing flexibility.
Perry said, “we’re at the extreme early stages of laying the foundation,” and it will be the 2027-28 season when the Kings will have “a window to start having a little more [financial] flexibility in making some more moves.”
The timing he mentions aligns with DeMar DeRozan’s and Zach LaVine’s contracts coming off the books.
While all of this may be true, the fact remains the Kings are 12-41, going through an unintentional tank, and have a lot of salary wrapped up in a bunch of veterans other teams are not jumping at to take off Sacramento’s hands. Perry gave up Keon Ellis and a second-round pick while getting rid of the big offseason signing in Dennis Schroder to get Hunter.
Perry had this to say about Schroder: “As the season unfolded, and you just see the fit didn’t work and so that happens sometimes,” he said. “He didn’t change as a person at all, he did what he was capable of doing. Unfortunately for him and us we had a lot of our guys we thought he was going to play with miss a lot of time too, so then you pivot.”
And losing Ellis?
“We had a lot of guards on the team this year,” and with inconsistent minutes Perry said Ellis was never able to get a strong foothold in a role with the Kings. “You’re going to lose solid players in the process of making deals. And so again, we needed to get bigger, we needed to get some more size and length here. That is what De’Andre brings.”
Perry said he understands the frustration of Kings fans (as every Kings general manager says at some point).
“You’re talking years of drafting, developing, trading, guys working, not working – there’s a lot of moving parts. And I understand the frustration of the fanbase. We’re in a society where people want things now, you want to win, but what I would submit is that what we are doing, again, is we’re not going to just chase shiny objects for the sake of doing it, or make deals for the sake of it to try to stay in the middle. This process that takes a little longer with the drafting and developing is the more solid foundation, in my opinion. We’re not trying to become a team that’s hanging in the Play-In realm every year,” he said. “That’s probably the worst place to be when you are just stuck in the middle.”
And while the team is on a great trajectory right now to secure a top pick in the NBA Lottery, Perry said he doesn’t believe in tanking.
“We’re not doing this, so let’s be clear on that to what I would call institutionalizing losing. No, that’s not in our vocabulary: tanking. You’re not going to see a team that’s going to go out in these final 30 games and say we’re trying to lose. Absolutely not. Because the lottery system itself, look the team that won it last year had the 11th best odds, Dallas. They weren’t trying to lose last year and they won it. I think in the last 20, 25 years, 3 or 4 times the team with the worst record won the lottery. So, there is no guarantee. It’s not like football,” he said.
In Friday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Doug Christie only played DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Russell Westbrook 20 minutes or less and rookie Dylan Cardwell took more shots than DeRozan and LaVine combined. Whether that is tanking or not is up for debate considering Sacramento has been losing a lot with the veterans playing a lot of minutes. Regardless of who plays on this roster, they will probably lose. At least with the young guys playing more they will be more interesting to watch.
Perry confirmed during his press conference that there will be no buyouts of the veterans this season.
You all ready for more patience in the hope of sustained playoff success? Where have we heard that before?
2027-28? Does he know that natural life cycle of a GM in the wild under a predator like Vivek?
In all seriousness, the only course of action at this point is to simply let all the bad deals expire next season. Maybe you can flip one to a desperate apron handicapped team, but in all reality it’s going to be a 20 win season next year as well…and I’m all for it.
I’ll add, a team like Toronto will be more desperate next year with all of their guaranteed deals. IMO, Quickley and Poeltl to the Kings for Sabonis next season will get more of a return if it should happen.
Yeah, that’s the first thing I thought when reading the article’s title – why is Perry talking like he’s actually going to be here for much longer?
Not ok to make moves out of panic, but ok to make them out of stupidity? That’s exactly what the Schroooder and Hunter deals were.
I respectively disagree.
I’m curious – which of the two deals was a decent move in your opinion, and why? I see both as gross overpayment for proven mediocre players, giving up valuable cap space and a proven strong contributor (Keon), along with a draft pick to help cover up the Schröder acquisition.
Perry did take over a messed up team with several problems . It is worth remembering that team won 40 games . This team won’t and he should accept much of the responsibility . He supposedly hired the coach and brought in much of the current roster and 12-40 is the worst record in the league . Hope he has success in the draft and summer moves but many are tired of plans to nowhere .
Yeah he took over and made it significantly worse lol
Typical GM speak. Try to buy yourself more time, act as though the fans lack patience in spite of the FACT that many have been here for every second of the Ranadive shitshow.
You took the job, Scott. And since taking it, you strapped assets to players that you yourself brought here in order to get out of them.
Patience? Sell that somewhere else. And while you’re at it, shove those six pillars up the organization’s ass. We’re all out of patience here, and rightfully so. And you fucking knew that when you took the job, and you took it anyway.
Spare us the platitudes and the attempts to placate us. Give us something – ANYTHING! – to get excited about.
You are the GM for a team that is a (and perhaps THE) laughingstock of professional sports. And you’ve been here for an off season and a trade deadline, and the team is absolutely rudderless, with no rich past, no relevant present, and nothing to look forward to in the future. The Kings may very well have reached the point that even if they land the #1 pick, the top player may have no interest in coming here.
This is Vivek’s team, Scott. Save the excuses for him.
He’s right though. There are no moves to make this season that will make the team better in the next 1-5 years. No other team was going to help get Levine or Derozen’s salary off the books sooner. Morant is not going to make this a playoff team. Unfortunately the only answer is to wait a couple of years and try to nail some draft picks, then have more financial flexibility in 2028 to make better free agent signings. It’s the situation we are in, face it:
No thanks. Vivek can keep changing the lackeys, but that does not get him or anyone else “running” this circus a reset or the comfort of patience or time. I’ve seen that show too many times under this owner. This is what, the 4th GM in 13 years? The 8th coach? Again, no. No more using resets as an excuse.
Look at the Western Conference today. Which teams are positioned more poorly than the Kings? And did signing Schroder, trading JV for Saric and then trading Schroder, Saric and Ellis for Hunter help the present or future in any way?
Perry might not own all of it, but Ranadive does. And 1-5 years may be the reality (and that may be optimistic as long as Vivek owns the team), but I’m not giving Perry a pass for what he has and has not done this season.
I get it. These moves aren’t good. But it doesn’t change the facts – no move available would have made this a better team now. No move available would have gotten salary off the books sooner. The only option is to wait for contracts to expire, keep losing , and hit on high draft picks. That’s the only option. Period. You can be frustrated that that is the position the team is in, but it’s still the position the team is in.
You’re totally correct. He’s just playing to a choir as usual looking for as many thumps up as possible. The guys never played or coached a lick of basketball in his life.
No, he’s not right because even though he inherited a crappy situation, he’s made it even worse with his bizarre and clearly inadvisable personnel moves. Any casual fan knew that grossly overpaying for Schröder, both in terms of money offered and personnel jettisoned away, was a losing move. Any casual fan knew that essentially giving away Keon and a 2nd round pick to try to undo his Schröder mistake was a losing move. Perry did both these things anyway and I’m genuinely TERRIFIED about what his future moves may be. Wait a few MORE years now? Maybe, but definitely not with Perry as GM. And unfortunately, anyone else Vivek brings in will probably be god-awful as well. As Tim’s article said, right now it looks like there’s no hope.
Oh boy, cap space in two years. Because we’ve always done so well with using cap space wisely.
Exactly!
And Perry has shown me nothing to make me feel it will be different this time.
Ok next mailbag question….in 2027-2028 free agency who is going to be Zach Randolph, Vince Carter, George Hill?
That was the last cap space Scooter P moves in Sac.
A logjam created by Perry. He brought in Dennis and Russ, drafted Nique, all while keeping Lavine and Monk.
Yet somehow the guy that wasn’t good enough for the Kings is in Cleveland doing what he does. Playing defense and hitting 3s.
I don’t see a vision from Perry. Just a paper shuffler sitting at his desk looking busy enough not to get fired.
This is the same schlock the front office, under different leaders, has been peddling for years now to explain why no consequential moves are made: “maintain flexibility.” Followed by explaining the need for “patience.” It’s nonsense. If your strategy is to pay out the existing bad contracts and let the players walk for nothing when they expire, why not just buy out the contracts now or at this season’s end and accelerate your rebuild by a year? In the meantime, why not send DMD, LaVine, and Westbrook home (with pay) so the young guns can get some run and the tank can fire on all cylinders? There’s no need to wait until 2027-28 if the plan is to just pay out the contracts.
You traded future assets for future flexibility? Along with an inflated mid level in an era where such players aren’t able to be rentals on the back end of their deals with the new CBA margins (thus negating the likelihood Hunter could be flipped later).
And lest we forget this was the GM that entered the year thinking this was a low seed playoff contender. A perspective that led to signing Schroder to his own inflated mid level, which forced attaching a rookie scale player of league wide intrigue to get off for a worse contract in his prime.
Im sorry but theres no margin for waxing or glass half full BS. This GM wouldnt have a job in any other franchise.
Hitting the panic button is the only way this franchise has been run since before Vivek even took over. Year after year, silly little moves – like getting rid of Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vuchevik because Sasha suddenly didn’t want to play in the NBA anymore – have all been shortsighted and a demonstration of squandered assets. Other blunders include signing players to overpaid contracts where they were not necessary, and not signing indispensable players during the timeline when they ought to be signed. All these mistakes have occurred under the watch of Matina Kolokotronis as the COO.
Perry really hasn’t done much to inspire hope. Finding a decent role player in Reynaud gives him a little credit.
Besides that it’s been alot of bad moves.
Not extending Ellis in the offseason
Adding more guards: Schroeder, Westbrook(Intially chasing after a play in.
Once Keegan, Then Sabonis went down. The tank was a foregone conclusion.
Trading Ellis and Dennis for Hunter is a typical Kings trade of ineptitude.
Hunter has looked awful all year. Cavs couldn’t wait to get him out of there.’
Sure, the Kings will have cap
space in the next couple years. That doesn’t mean anyone is coming here.
The Blueprint is OKC, Detroit, and Spurs
All 3 built through 5-6 years of drafting well. The Kings couldn’t possibly mess up this upcoming draft.
Marvin Bagley would like word with you.
Can we add the local media amplifying the same message, that Perry is doing the lords work and there was nothing else he could have done.
I accept that the Kings are Probably stuck with Lavine, and its tough with Sabonis
But his one move is to add money to this roster, and lose what’s the best trade asset to trade a player he signed to a multi year deal he had no competition for.
So the Kings have a roster space but being up against the cap means they can’t take a flyer on a young player for an extended look
I fear when the Kings have cap space he will sign the players he drafted when he worked for the Knicks. I look at some of the other moves made and I’m impressed with the imagination other front offices have. Look at the deal the Thunder made to get McCain or the Anthony Davis deal the Wiz made (not that I want AD). But I feel the Kings front office are just asleep at the wheel. That the local media won’t push back makes it worse
I love the spin that maybe they could move Hunter next year, that would take vision and smarts
In negotiations the two lines you are trying to evaluate for yourself and your negotiating partner are maximum value of an asset and what the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) are. Scott is going to put his BATNA out there for everyone to see. Signaling to the league, fans, etc. that the Kings for once are OK with a long rebuild and anything less than young assets and/or draft picks aren’t going to cut it. After the Beam Team they made a series of horrible moves which is why they are where they are. Schroeder was one of those but that was far from the worst and didn’t result in hamstringing them long term. Losing Ellis isn’t great but also isn’t a franchise breaker, he’s a role player and role players can always be found. The team needs to establish a core and the cupboard is bare right now. Maybe a team will take Sabonis for picks as I think he’s on an equal value contract. DDR could have value in the right situation. LaVine isn’t going anywhere. Kings are stuck in a rebuild and the last thing they should be considering is giving up future assets to try to bridge the gap. At least Perry is saying the right things.
Perry is saying a lot of the right things to satisfy the compliant media . Most are totally onboard just as they were when Perry taking the job felt the team with minor additions would challenge for a playoff spot . All I know for certain is he inheirited a 40-42 team which is now 12-42 . How many years to be 40-42 again?
Badge Legend