The Sacramento Kings are reportedly trading Colby Jones, Alex Len and a 2028 second rounder and acquiring Jake LaRavia from the Memphis Grizzlies. Chris Haynes was the first to report the trade, and Marc Stein provided the additional details. LaRavia fills a need for the Kings, as a legitimate 6’8 forward, LaRavia is averaging 7.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 20.9 minutes per game, while also shooting 44.4% on 1.9 threes per game. He’s a very solid addition for a very low cost.
So how did the Kings get a 23 year old forward with such promising upside for so little? Because the Kings now inherent Memphis’ blunder with LaRavia’s contract. Memphis had previously declined LaRavia’s contract option for 2025-26, meaning LaRavia will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. But it also means Memphis was limited in the new contract it could offer, and that limitation carries over to any team that acquires LaRavia. So the Kings are now limited to a first-year starting salary of around $5.1 million. If anyone comes in with a bigger offer, the Kings will be unable to match regardless of their available cap space. There’s a chance there won’t be a strong free agent market and the Kings could re-sign LaRavia, but the risk is why he came so cheap in this trade.
Regardless of that risk, even if he’s just a one-year rental, LaRavia adds much-needed size and playability to Sacramento’s roster. Alex Len and Colby Jones weren’t playable at this point, so this is really just some salary matching and a second round pick, a perfectly fine price. Best of luck to Len and Jones.
Welcome to Sacramento, Jake!
Seems like a solid bench wing with no risk other than he likely may walk in free agency. I guess the Kings get out of Colby Jones’ contract as a kicker.
As we all discussed in the other thread:
Solid bench 6’8″ PF of the wing type (that Keegan category) who is a bit slow footed but shoots the ball well. With the emergence of GG Jackson he is behind Jaylen Wells, Alti Saldama and in some respects Luke Kennard, Brandon Clarke. Of all of those choices, there is a reason he is available but I think he fits the Kings needs well – bench big who isn’t Jae Crowder.
I think his expiring and limiting contract also made him available. Seems to me the Grizz kind of bumbled his contract.
Interesting how Colby Jones saw essentially zero playing time with Coach Christie after all those minutes with Coach Brown.
G League star – which also points to The Peter Principle of professional sports. Skal Labiessiere is another example (Jimmer as well – there are many other examples). And then there are the ones that break out – Keon and hopefully Isaac Jones.
I hope he finds his place, he seemed a good, hard working sort.
Hey – you’re right on the roster count:
Domas, Monk, Keegan, DDR, Zach, Lyles, Keon, Devin Carter, Jae and McBuckets is 10. Add JV and LaRavia and that’s 12.
Hmmm…
I don’t know who’s available – but based on need/desire: Point guard is one way to add I suppose. What would you chose?
Don’t know yet. Need to wait and see who hits they buyout market.
That’s a Who. I was asking, ideally, for a what position.
I mean, a young athletic 5, a vet PG, another wing – defense or offense oriented (I assume if both, not available)? It’s a rockin’ chair on the porch question.
PG right now for me, in the traditional sense. He just needs to be the break glass in case of emergency kind, however.
(Pitino voice) Mathew Dellavadova is NOT walking through that door
Sac has McBuckets for the wing spot, Isaac Jones for the young frontcourt spot, even Crowder for the defender, sort of.
And there are two spots remaining.
Another springy shot blocker, rim runner would be nice, along with a vet PG. Adding anyone under 6’4″ to this team would draw ire if they are not a vet.
*whispers*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ben Simmons
Simmons is a springy shot-blocker, but the majority of the blocks come against his own shots.
Can’t miss a shot if you don’t take a shot.
Can’t have a bad game if you don’t play.
Can’t get injured if you don’t play. Unless you are Kelly Oubre.
I know are all kidding, but should Ben be bought out and be available for the vet minimum, he checks a lot of boxes. Can play PG, plus defender, can play 4/5, and he isn’t less than 6’3″, but just don’t ask him to shoot.
I kid, but only slightly. With all the offensive players on the Kings already, I could see a fit for him. He needs the ball in his hands to distribute, but there are so many other guys they need it too.
I mean, it’s not the worst idea…if he actually plays
Actually, having Dellavedova on the Kings squad for the 2022-2023 campaign as a veteran practice point guard was low key one of the reasons that team had a lot of success. A player of that type (a veteran pg) could certainly help the current iteration of the team to learn how to point guard.
Looks like Jaden Springer is getting cut. Wouldn’t mind taking a look at him. 22 and a very strong defender, but not much offense.
But 6’4″ with a 6’7.5″ wingspan. Not a bad gamble if someone definitively better doesn’t hit the market.
He was also known as a damn good defender. He and Keon Johnson were a good defensive duo at Tennessee. But neither are much of an offensive threat.
Cash Considerations, wicked from 3.
I don’t really know his skill set, but you kinda described the guy that killed us last night in Franz Wagner!
Wing depth, good shooter and defender, team option for next season, there you go.
Please respond below with your detailed comments about why this is franchise-destroyingly terrible.
The Jones dump again shows shocking lack of talent evaluation in the draft outside of Haliburton & Keegan over the last 5 years? That’s my negative 🙂
But’s its a pretty low cost pickup. He would’ve been a nice guy to have last night for sure and they now have… a balanced roster.
Are you really losing sleep about a second-rounder who, as it turns out, made it possible to acquire first-round talent?
Drafts are ultimately crapshoots, and you act on the best info you have, particularly so when you’re talking about 31-60. There are other teams who have had more success there, but you’re still talking about a substantial amount of luck being involved.
And sometimes who you don’t grab in round two can be important. Waiting for things to close and grabbing Ellis as a free agent was a smart way to avoid any guaranteed deal, and he turned out all right.
I think for me it is that we had a the #24 pick, packaged it with Holmes to dump salary. In the early 2nd took Jones who never cracked the rotation. Not every 2nd rounder will, but basically none have.
Also, and not to pile on, but I don’t really think he helped us acquire a first rounder. Jones may not even stick on the roster. He was a salary match for a first round pick where Memphis did not pick up his option and was going to lose him as a UFA, so they just turned him into a 2nd round pick from us.
If they don’t retain LaRavia, at least they moved off the smaller contracts of Len and Jones. Silver linings!
Colby was seen as a good value pick at the time of the draft. Many had him as a 1st round grade.
I don’t know what’s shocking about it. Going back ten drafts, and not including this seasons rookies as it is too early, here are the players taken in the second round who are contributing something of significance this season, and some I am being generous in use of the word contributing. Included some who are not playing but were significant. The rest are out of the league or end of the bench fodder. 44 players out of 270:
2023
Andre Jackson
GG Jackson
Toumani Camara
Trayce Jackson-Davis
2022
Andrew Nembhard
Jaylin Williams
Max Christie
Jayden Hardy
Vince Williams
Jabari Walker
2021
Herb Jones
Miles McBride
Ayo Donunmu
Aaron Wiggins
2020
Xavier Tillman
Tre Jones
Nick Richards
Isiah Joe
KJ Martin
Paul Reed
2019
Nic Claxton
Cody Martin
Daniel Gafford
Terrance Mann
2018
Jalen Brunson
Devonte Graham
Mitchell Robinson
Gary Trent Jr
Jarred Vanderbuilt
De’Anthony Melton
Shake Milton
2017
Thomas Bryant
Isiah Hartenstein
Dillon Brooks
Monte Morris
2016
Ivica Zubac
Malcolm Brogdon
Georges Niang
2015
Cedi Osman
Montrez Harrell
Richuan Holmes
Josh Richardson
Pat Connaughton
Norm Powell
Of those, the Kings drafted Tillman, KJ Martin, Jaden Hardy, Gary Trent Jr. but traded on draft day deals.
I like LaRavia! I wonder if he would go for a 1+1 or something. This is a good use of a 2nd. Too bad Colby never did anything and we signed Alex for one year too many.
No team option, and poison pilled.
It’s a rental.
This is distinctly whelming, in my view.
i liked the JV trade, though.
not over or under, huh
No just whelming.
Yus he is Nu
Nove!
Well played, edit boy!
Well edited, play boy?
A perfectly, mildly unexpected trade, but hey, we get a wing.
So now which point guard should we hope ends up in the buyout market?
Markelle Fultz and Dennis Smith Jr have both been free agents all season. I think either one would be worth picking up for the rest of the season to provide real PG depth.
Looks like the Kings are now around $3.4M below the tax, but need to sign two more players.
IT and Boogie. Get in losers, we’re going to the playoffs.
Who wants to volunteer to go pick Boogie up from Mongolia?
DSJ could be interesting.
I already pithily agreed with you on Fultz on Bluesky.
Wonder if Schroder will stick with Detroit or not.
Either way, if we get a real point guard, I would hope that can push someone to the bench to boost scoring. I want to say Monk, but his two man game with Sabonis is critical.
Love the Schroder idea, but can we afford him?
Should he become available, Tre Jones might be nice.
It’s funny about those two, I confuse them for one another all the time. As such, I decline to offer my uninformed opinion.
For once.
Reggie Jackson
I’m not a big fan of him.
Same, I think he’s washed as well.
Agree, that time has passed. Would rather gamble on someone a bit younger and more defensive.
He’s PG Jae Crowder
A toy that you play with the first day you get it, then never use it again?
Baylor Scheierman
Farewell Alex Len, you were an easy player to root for in your time at SAC. Not spectacular, but always reliable and ready to play. Good luck big guy
Good effort every second on the floor and a great team guy. All the best to Alex Len.
Was Alex Len the longest tenured King with De’Aaron Fox off the roster?
I agree with your words. Alex Len filled his role with aplomb.
He was, now I think it’s Sabonis! He was trade two days before Lyles.
And with Fox and Len traded, all of the players left from Vlade’s tenure as GM are now gone.
That’s wild. It’s 100% Monte’s at this point.
Everything here’s Vivek’s! Everything!
Seconded. Alex Len was always a pro’s pro.
So are we at 14 roster spots?
By my count, 12. Need to get to 14.
One of those will be I. Jones, as we have discussed. That means they can promote a G-League guy to a two-way deal. Might need a backup PG moving forward.
Samson,
Currently 3 spots open.
Slippy? Slappy? Samsonite? I was way off
Fat Thumbs. My apologies.
Slamson!
Made me think of Half Baked and Dumb and Dumber so no need to apologize.
Here is a link to a lengthy article on Yahoo Sports about Jake LaRavia.
Interesting.
The most the Kings can pay him is apparently $5.1MM.
https://sports.yahoo.com/jake-laravia-unexpectedly-became-grizzlies-222337426.html
Jake LaSacramentoRiver
Jake LaRivieraDrive
Jake LaRailyards Sniper
Jake “Hitting 3’s from” LaRioVista
With the Kings now having 3 open roster spots and 2 of needing to be filled here’s a good primer on the upcoming buyout market:
https://bsky.app/profile/keithsmithnba.bsky.social/post/3lhjx2xnbcc24
Len and Colby weren’t playing anyway. At least LaRavia will get some minutes. And the roster is much better balanced.
Solid move provided he can continue to hit shots at a high rate. The Kings had two big issues going into the deadline: Shooting and defense. They got a lot better at the first one and should still be pretty terrible at the second. Will it allow them to get into the playoffs? I’m skeptical but we’ll see.
One thing is clear. They either need to make the playoffs or miss the play-in. Missing the playoffs and losing a lottery pick is the worst case scenario.
Looks like Jonas will be playing tonight in Portland.
https://bsky.app/profile/jameshamnba.bsky.social/post/3lhjxyrt7ac2a
Nove! More excuses for when we get blown out!
Portland is playing really well.
Yeah, I fully expect a loss tonight.
and they really didn’t do much at the deadline. I thought for sure they would be sellers of guys like Grant, Ayton and Simons. John Collins and Cam Johnson weren’t moved either.
Well, conversely, wasn’t expecting the Kings to be sellers at the deadline, but here we are.
Sellers? Explain
I think they meant Fox
We ended up with more picks than we started with. That doesn’t happen when you are a buyer.
OKC says “hold my beer.”
The minute I hear one of our dingus announcers say “They need a full training camp to implement Doug Christie’s system,” as an excuse for being bad, I’m going to need a new TV.
you may be contemplating a new TV purchase by mid first quarter . Likely this discussion will occur a baskets are scored and ignored . Good luck on your purchase .
Solid point. Maybe I’ll mute the rest of the season.
Hell yeah!
https://bsky.app/profile/jameshamnba.bsky.social/post/3lhjxyrt7ac2a
I’ve seen this somewhere. 😉
You got me, Klam!
I think the consensus heading in to the deadline was to improve in a few areas: 3pt shooting, size/length, upgrade for non-Domas minutes, bench depth, overall defense.
-3p shooting: Add Lavine and LaRavia, send out Fox and Huerter – Upgrade
-Size/Length: Add Lavine, LaRavia, J-Val, send out Fox, Huerter, J-Mac, Len, Jones. – Overall upgrade for the guys that played actual rotation minutes.
-Non-Domas minutes: Add J-Val, send out Len – Upgrade
-Bench Depth: Add J-Val, LaRavia, send out Huerter, Len, Jones, J-Mac – Upgrade
-Overall Defense: Probably worse, or maybe a push (TBD)
The weight of needs and the players acquired/lost might vary, and seeing how the new pieces are integrated will be a wait and see process. I think the FO did okay, while also adding some draft capital.
I like this assessment. I see some sunshine on this somewhat overcast season
LaRavia and Jonas aren’t flashy, but they are solid NBA caliber players that are replacing guys that should not be getting meaningful minutes. Hopefully it all works out things synergize more on the roster. We shall see.
My question is can the Grizz re-sign him next year for any amount now? Because if so then they kinda win here because they lose nothing and could still bring him back. My other question is why do stupid rules like this exist?! Let’s not let teams re-sign their own free agents and guys they want and not be able to offer what they want, makes sense. This kinda stuff drives me crazy, it’s dampering my enthusiasm on us getting a wing. Win now moves are somewhat comical for me with the Kings as they haven’t done much winning thus far so what are they really pushing for. Whatever, I liked LaRavia in games I saw him against the Kings, love me a shooter, especially with size.
I think it “punishes” the controlling team for not fulfilling his rookie contract and eventual extension. It feels like a clause put in by the players association.
Kind of a “hey, you don’t value me enough to guarantee me the 4th year of of rookie scale deal, then you get back burnered in free agency.”
He wasn’t going to play much when GG Jackson came back. He is now the primary backup SF for the Kings, with a good shot at getting solid minutes. Maybe that matters to him. Sometimes being wanted can go a long way for a player.
And maybe the Grizzlies did him a solid for that chance
“Hey Monte, get me a guard that has won a championship to mentor the other guys!” 😉
https://bsky.app/profile/mikeascotto.bsky.social/post/3lhjysi27f22u
He is a guard…no championships but he could mentor
Among all of the moves that this front office has made over the years, this is one of them.
My extensive knowledge: pronounced la-RAVE-ia; looks from one You Tube highlight reel like a Young McDermott. I believe the correct term is ‘whelming’.
Just looked at the deal – man, we missed out. We could have gotten Bagley back!
Badge Legend