The 2022 NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone and the Sacramento Kings are a much changed team.
Gone are Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley III, Tristan Thompson, Robert Woodard II and Jahmi’us Ramsey.
In are Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday, Donte DiVincenzo, Trey Lyles and Josh Jackson.
After nearly two years of standing pat, Monte McNair has finally pushed in some of his chips to try to get the Kings back to relevancy.
Will Monte’s big bet pan out? That remains to be seen, but as of now, all indications are that the Kings are a better team than they were two days ago. Domantas Sabonis is the best big man the Kings have had since DeMarcus Cousins, and as shown in his first glimpse of action last night against the Timberwolves, brings a new dimension to Sacramento’s offense that hasn’t been there for quite a while. The acquisition of Donte DiVincenzo also brings back a player that McNair and Sacramento have coveted since last year. DiVincenzo has struggled this season after missing much of last year and this year recovering from ankle surgery, but if he can get back to form, he’s exactly the type of 3-and-D player the Kings have been looking to pair with De’Aaron Fox.
The Kings are also a far more balanced team than they were before. Whereas before the Kings were very guard focused and had little to no wing depth, the Kings now have a bevy of wings to try out for the remainder of this season in Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and Josh Jackson. None of those guys are necessarily future solutions or even going to be part of the future (only Holiday is under contract for next season and he’s the oldest Sacramento King, turning 33 in April), but they’re better options than what the Kings had been trotting out, and allow the team to play a bit more traditionally. Lyles has bounced around from team to team and hasn’t managed to carve out a consistent role, but his playstyle seems like it could fit next to a guy like Sabonis and he as a small team option for next season if the Kings like what they see over the final 25 games.
Moving on from Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III is arguably addition by subtraction in itself. While Buddy is one of the NBA’s premier three-point shooters, it’s been clear for a while that he’s wanted out of Sacramento. When Buddy is on, he can singlehandedly win you a game. The problem is that Buddy can also do the opposite, because he usually keeps shooting like he’s on even when he isn’t. In Bagley’s case, it’s more of just a clean break for the Kings and him. Bagley has had a tumultuous career thanks to a combination of injuries and draft expectations that he hasn’t been able to live up to. He now has the chance to start fresh in Detroit while the Kings no longer have to worry about trying to fit him in or figuring out when he’d be available to play.
The Kings were able to make these moves without giving up any future picks, which is always a shaky proposition given our recent history, but they did send out one of the most promising young talents in the entire NBA in Tyrese Haliburton. This is Monte’s biggest gamble. For this to be worth it, the Kings have to be right that these guys they have acquired are going to make the Kings a consistent playoff team again, especially if Haliburton becomes the star that many of us believe he can be. History has not been particularly kind to the Kings when they make these kind of gambles and so the criticism and apprehension that we’ve seen since the trade has been well deserved. In the basketball world, the Kings are guilty until proven innocent. Time will tell, but Monte is clearly hoping that these moves will be able to change that narrative and move us forward to a better future. For our sakes, I hope he’s right.
Admittedly me…
Tuesday night- “I’m done with them for good! Just fucking done.”
Wednesday night- “Hmm, this is interesting.”
Still should have traded Barnes. He’s been wildly inconsistent and had value. He’s an expiring next year and doesn’t figure into timeline.
Keeping him instead of getting a draft asset or young player with potential is a clear miss for me.
Barnes became indispensable when all the shooting was sent for Sabonis. I think we will see him finish out the year with many nights like last night with all the defensive presence put on Fox and Sabonis. I see Barnes’ value increasing rapidly because of this and the single year left on his deal. I could see him traded for a nice pick or trade up in the draft closer to draft day or a great return at the deadline this year.
I think its Holmes that should have been traded with all the centers on the roster. Personally I’d like to see Jones get the back up minutes behind Sabonis.
At the deadline NEXT year, obviously.
Well, I certainly believe we are a much better team now than at the beginning of the year. Our roster construction makes sense for the first time in who knows how long
Here’s hoping for the best, another gamble…..one has to go our way eventually right? Why not this one?
Reading the list of outgoing players and comparing it to the list of incoming players, it’s clear the talent level on this team has significantly increased. My gut says it’s too little, too late to make a serious run at the playoffs this year, but at this point I only care about next year. If Monte can make another good move or two in the offseason, we could be looking at the first Kings team in close to 20 years that should make the playoffs, as opposed to one that could make it if everything goes exactly right (which it never does, for any team).
Does anyone know what the cap sheet looks like at the end of this season?
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/sacramento-kings/cap/2022/
It’s complicated because the cap holds for Lamb and DD total about $30M.
Much appreciated. It looks like they’ll only need to fill 3-4 spots and nothing critical. It seems they’re in a reasonable spot for free agency.
It’s not that complicated at all. Fox, Barnes, Sabonis, Holmes, Holiday, Mitchell, Harkless, Davis, and Len are all under contract for next season. There is a team option for Metu that will kick in before July 1.
That’s 10 players.
There’s the draft pick, particularly the 1st round pick, and several 2nd rounders (Kings currently have 3 2nd’s next season) that will have cap holds as well.
All FA’s with Bird, Early Bird or Non Bird rights have cap holds. In order to get under the cap, you have to renounce all cap holds and exceptions.
As of now, the Kings are under the cap for next season BUT that’s before draft picks and cap holds. Chances are any major acquisition includes the 1st round pick, Holmes, Barnes or the combination of all 3.
I take it back. It probably is a tad complicated.
User name KingsCapGuru checks out
I could see the Kings selling some of this year’s 2nd round picks for cash.
Man, I hate that. At least trade into the future or pick up a Euro stash.
But when you have 3 picks in the 2nd rd? I get it. IMO, you’re doing good if you get a player, a stash and cash.
In general, I think Euro stashes and G-league rights are underutilized. And I’m not all that concerned with making sure the ownership pockets a few more million.
When it’s not my money I’d 100% agree with you. But unfortunately money is still a real thing, and in the real world that will never stop being an issue.
actually, it is better to spend for a late first- to a team over the cap, who is successful and wants the money and no increased burden, but I think have to be under to do that. Some good players snagged in that or similar way- Desmond Bane for example
just 2.
The Indy pick was 2023.
In 2024, traded their own but own the Portland pick
You can not play cash !
Kings have 2- their own plus Chicago’s. Helps to keep them because can pick a Euro and use as a trade filler if under cap. In 2023- have 2 as well- this includes the Indy pick
Looks like I’m back to spending money on Kings tix…
Heading in a direction, even if it ends up being the wrong one, is better than spending your life staring at the fork in the road.
Yep. I was all in favor of tanking and going full rebuild, but Monte picked the other path. Hope it works. I was really concerned the FO/ownership was just delusional and thought the (old) roster could somehow become competitive without major changes. Glad to know I was wrong about that.
I think the path was chosen for him. I could be wrong though
It kind of fits the way that Houston was built and rebuilt under Morey, so this could very will be how McNair works going forward.
I’ll say this much; my interest has been slightly piqued.
Ok, where are we? Kings are 2 games back of The Pelicans for the 10th spot. If they pass them, they’ve technically made the postseason. I feel like Bill Clinton saying that, but it is true. They would then have to beat two of the Lakers, Clips, or Wolves to make the playoffs. All three of those teams are flawed, so it is possible. After that… I’m not going there. But it’s a better place to be than it would have been before today. So props to the GM for showing chest hair. Hope it works.
Apparently players dont get their playoff bonuses for making the play-in. So if it doesn’t count for them, it wont count for me.
I just want the team to be better, and if they make the play-in because they beat teams who are actually trying to win as well, then cool.
I feel it’s just going to come down to the Pels and Kings for the 10th spot. A lot will be contingent on if Fox and Mitchell can stay healthy, because they are the only PGs on the roster and if Zion returns. It’s a crap shoot.
Play-in is considered postseason but not playoffs, according the NBA itself. Making the playin doesn’t end the playoff drought.
That’s where I am about it. Just because the standards have been lowered doesn’t mean you’ve accomplished anything.
Let’s go get that 10th seed!
If nothing else, I think the deadline suggests two things about McNair:
1) He won’t be rushed when it comes to big moves. He waits until there’s an option he’s comfortable with, and if that option’s not there, he won’t do anything— UNLESS doing nothing is a guaranteed loser: see Walton’s late firing.
2) He’s not sentimental. Over the course of three days, he’s dumped all the picks from his first draft. And while Woodard was a dud, Ramsey still had room to grow, and we all know how special Haliburton was. It didn’t matter; they were in the way of the moves he wanted, or felt he needed, to make.
I don’t mind these characteristics. Rushing into things can mean unforced errors; it’s nearly always better to find the right opportunity and/or take advantage of desperation of others. Likewise, sentimentality can keep blind one to seeing what needs to be done.
Still, sometimes I worry that McNair’s nature can make things worse than they need to be at times. Take the decision to keep Richaun Holmes. I don’t know what deals were available, but IF there was a half-decent deal, perhaps he should have just taken it. Short of Holmes and Sabonis magically feeling together, Holmes’s value will likely drop as a backup, and rob the Kings of a better starting lineup. Additionally, Holmes deserves the opportunity to start after everything he’s done. I worry that not only will the Kings get a diminished return on Holmes’ value, along with diminished returns on the season after not getting a shooting forward who fits better, free agents might remember what happened to Holmes after after taking that sweetheart of a deal.
McNair seemingly proved that he knows his job better than we do this trade deadline. Still, his actions leave me more unsettled than I’d like to be.
If there wasn’t a deal available that made the Kings better NOW, then he likely just gave it a miss. No biggie. Holmes value won’t drop, he’s a pretty well known commodity at this point. He’ll likely get shipped out in the offseason. I really like Holmes, and am bummed he’s leaving. It’s likely the deals just weren’t there, which is surprising.
I agree, re-signing Holmes at those figures was a minor coup, and he remains an eminently tradable asset, one who could be helpful to a lot of teams.
It’s weird for us to have a hand full of good cards, but I’m hoping that we’ll just need to get used to it.
Right, going into the summer, every team that needs a C will be calling Monte.
Yes, but they’ll also be calling the Rockets, the Spurs, the Suns (or Ayton directly), the Magic, the Hawks depending on how they see the Collins), perhaps the Knicks, along with Nurkic and Drummond directly. There are definitely options out there.
Not many locked down for three more years at $12 mil per.
They’re probably kick the tires. But ambitious teams likely won’t see him as starter.
I hope you’re right, on both fronts. However, I’m not yet convinced. For one thing, I think the Holmes has had a few great years, but he’s by no means a guaranteed commodity, and it remind the league of some of his weaknesses if Metu or Harkless are beating him out for a starting spot. And I’m more concerned about the immediate costs; the Kings did what they did to make the play-in and look like a play-off team for the near future. Unless Holmes and Sabonis can pull a Mobley and Allen thing, they lack of a trade makes that harder.
I think the idea that NBA GM’s whose job it is to know the league would be “reminded” of Holmes weaknesses because he isn’t starting over Metu (who has a different skillset) doesn’t hold a lot of water. I think if the last two days should teach us anything is that the majority of these GM’s know what they are doing.
Doesn’t mean every move is right and doesn’t mean they might take a gamble that doesn’t pay off…but they aren’t attacking these problems with a lack of knowledge and information. I doubt Holmes value changes much at all. He is an undersized, high energy center with a great mid range game. If Monte didn’t get a deal he liked, then it makes Holmes a great back up, which isn’t a terrible thing to have in the short term and you wait until a team gets more desperate.
You make some good points about Holmes, and I very much hope you’re right about Monte’s strategy. Only point of disagreement is about GMs knowing what’s they’re doing; I have very distinct questions about the competence of the GMs for the Blazers, Mavericks, Wizards, Lakers and Knicks— at minimum— after this trade deadline.
FOs generally know the players and understand market values. That doesn’t necessarily mean their team building approaches are all brilliant. Bad GMs are usually bad because of their strategy. Not because of their information. Holmes is well known around the league as a high level back up big. Just because he’s been starting for the Kings doesn’t mean other GMs or the market are going to value him as a “starting C.” We saw exactly that in his FA. We didn’t get a steal. We got a lesson in how much Kings fans were overvaluing Holmes relative to the market. Ultimately, he’s a high quality, dependable rotation-worthy big on a reasonable deal even if he’s a backup. That has value either on the roster or on the market.
Finally someone who agree with me regarding Holmes. I called him a below average starting NBA post player and got hammered for it. I thought we over paid for him and thought 3 years at 30 million with a team option in year 3. I didn’t think he could get more than that and I wouldn’t have paid him more than that. He’s a high volume backup on a good team and I stand by that.
Bad strategy would indeed include things like acting on poor understanding of whether someone is a starter or not, and who should fit around that player, which happens pretty frequently in this league. Regarding your thoughts as to Holmes, I appreciate that your approach is well-reasoned and fear that the following months and years may prove you right. Still, I sincerely hope your analysis is proven incorrect.
Holmes is high-quality but being overvalued? I’m super happy he’s still on the team. He’s a badass backup center and seems to positively contribute to team chemistry.
The Wizards in particular. I can’t make any sense of them taking on such a long and expensive contract for a player who can’t be relied on because of injuries. This hamstrings them for years.
Whatever else the Mavs’ GM did or didn’t do, he got rid of one of the worst contracts going.
Yeah but the Mavs did take back Bertans along with Dinwiddie. Bertans contract isn’t great either.
Yeah, that Wizards deal is kind of a disaster. Really glad he didn’t end up here.
Very much absolutely.
You are simultaneously arguing that Monte should have gotten value for Holmes and that Holmes has limited value. You’re probably right on both or neither.
For his sake, I definitely would’ve liked it if Holmes had been traded before the TDL. Hopefully there’s a good deal for him in the off-season.
Holmes best “deal” was Hornets- who looked at him, at Heurtl and at Harrell. Went with Montrez. I think they traded PJ Washington, Not certain of his fit in Sac.
Forgive me if I misunderstood you, but the Hornets did not trade PJ Washington. He was my preferred target for the deadline, and seeing how Harrell is an expiring, I hope McNair gives a go
at him in the offseason.
It was Harrell for Ish, Carey, and a 2nd. If that were on the table, I’d rather just keep Holmes for the time being.
That is crazy cheap for Harrell. I still don’t know why the Wiz did that.
Expiring and not worth more. Hollinger made this point in The Athletic today about expirings: Why overpay in trade when you can wait until they get bought out? Wiz took what they could get, I suspect.
It feels like we (me included) over value Holmes compared to the market. I don’t believe Holmes took a sweetheart deal to remain with the Kings. There did not appear to be any interest to sign him for more money when everyone knew how much the Kings could offer.
His contract seems like great value, so it is surprising to me that no teams apparently were willing to offer much in return. I was expecting at least a late first round pick in return.
Holmes is a good player. However the question from other teams is if his increased productivity last season was moreso due to Haliburton being a stud and Fox having a career year. I heard that point made last summer, I don’t remember by who but it makes sense. Thinking that way will allow you to see his value more appropriately.
So I keep seeing on Twitter that Monte flipped Bagley for Donte and I’m not sure that’s the case. Yes it appears Detroit had some desire to get Bagley, but really it was the Bucks who basically gifted the Kings Donte while Bagley brought back JJ, Lyles and a 2nd rounder from Detroit. It seems to me that the Bucks needed to dump salary to bring in Ibaka and the Kings used that 2nd rounder to land Donte, so in the end the pick looks like it went from Detroit to the Bucks.
I mean the whole thing could have been done without Detroit. The Kings could have offered their own future second for Donte and the deal could have still been done sans Detroit and Bagley.
It’s almost as if there were two seperate deals and some tiny details of where a 2nd round pick is the only thing that linked them.
Anyone following me on this?
I would have been happy getting Lyles for Bagley, straight up. If they got Donte for a 2nd rounder … that’s just a steal. Either way, fantastic IMO.
We almost got Donte for Bogdan Bogdanovic not too long ago, so yes, this is a huge steal, assuming DD can come back from his ankle injury.
Bucks clearly had concerns and decided Grayson Allen was a better fit !
Not really, the Bucks attempted and failed to come to an agreement on an extension with DD first. Since he was likely to receive more in FA than they were willing to pay meant they would have lost him anyway. That’s when they traded for Allen and signed him to an extension instead.
DD is gonna be a RFA so the Kings have excellent leverage after his try-out/recovery period over the rest of this year and as result of still coming off his injury, DD is unlikely to receive a deal that the Kings can’t match if they want to.
Because Kings over cap, I don’t think they could have got Donte for a second rounder. The “Kings pick” that ended up in Milwaukee was not actually owned by the Kings- it had been traded previously. Kings needed 4 teams to make this happen.
Kings- at the end of this TDL did not give up any picks but did gain one from Pacers.
The two big names in this deal were MB3 and Donte- that’s why it looked as though an even exchange. Kings got 3 guys because that is how high Bagley’s salary was.
Hmmmm, but the biggest name in the deal was Ibaka. it would still be interesting to know how that deal got pieced together. It seems like there were two seperate deals (Bagley to Detroit and Ibaka to the Bucks) that didn’t pencil out so they were brought together by a few of the parties. I wonder how long it had been stewing. I also wonder if the Bucks contacted Monte, because they know of his previous interest in Donte, to see if he wanted in. Maybe the Clippers didn’t want or couldn’t afford Donte? He is the only tangible linchpin between the two other deals.
I’d love to know how these kinds of deals get done.
I agree Ibaka is the biggest name, but I really think DD is the best player in this trade (when all are healthy of course).
I’m convinced (with zero evidence) that we got Big Ragu this time around because after the first debacle they owed us. That’s probably not how it went down at all. It’s just interesting that we traded Bagley for 3 players and, I believe, a second rounder. Maybe Monte just knows how to negotiate.
The fact that Monte:
and didn’t have to take any bad contacts or give up any future picks …… amazing, amazing work.
You’re basing criticism & apprehension on things with which McNair has no connection. The franchise has had terrible luck, in pretty much any way that you can name, so it’s understandable that people would be nervous.
Criticizing the trade at face value? It seems to be built entirely on the premise that Tyrese Haliburton is going to become so special that his career will shame that of Sabonis. Frankly, I’d love for Ty to become a HOF guy. Whether he does or not has nothing to do with where Sacramento is right now, and realistically, for years to come.
Small sample size, admittedly, but the first games without Ty have averaged over 30 assists per game.
The trade as done is a trade you do if you’re in the kind of position that the Kings are. It changes the team, which is something that absolutely has to happen. The subsequent haul for Bagley dovetails with the Sabonis trade very nicely, and gives the team more flexibility.
And, you still have all of your draft picks.
The past is prologue, but it isn’t necessarily predictive. There’s no way to know the long-term results until we live through them, but this team is now a better one, has more options going forward, and when McNair hires his first coach, the sky may not necessarily be the limit, but I don’t think that we’re doomed to be trapped underground.
And, you still have all of your draft picks.
The fact that Monte was able to substantially upgrade the Kings to this degree without bumping up against the Ted Stepien Rule deserves applause.
Doing it without losing a single draft pick (and even picking up a mid-round second in the process) gets Monte a standing ovation in my book.
Would love for someone to do a pretty detailed comparison of the players we sent out vs what came in and how good some of these guys might be for us. I’m not that familiar with a few of the new guys so not sure what to expect.
It was going to take a LOT to get me interested in watching a Kings game again… but with this many moves I have to admit I am curious. These moves feel bigger than the past 7 years of so of rearragning the deck chairs.
Happy to help:
Players coming in > Players going out
I know everyone isn’t great at complex statistical analysis, so please let me know if you have any questions.
Oooooh. NOW I get it. Thanks Andy.
Sabonis is the best player the Kings have had in awhile. Some of the other players are likely to be or could be useful players in the rotation.
The TKH folks will do an analysis but here is a summary start:
Out:
In
Overall a plus because D is better, chemistry is better, redundancy of Fox/Hali improved, better rebounding. Kings will be less reliant on Buddy trying to bring them back. Even without Hali, more team game
For now, yes.
Thanks. That is what I was looking for – although really it’s just Donte, Holiday, and Lamb I was wondering about. I should have said it that way in my poorly conceived question. I’m familiar with Sabo and all of the Kings guys.
I know Sabonis is a big step up, and I wasn’t even mad about trading Hali because in the last forever or so that I remember, we have not really ever done a great job of developing any of these high potential young players and I think he has a better future someplace else. I also think Buddy (to me) is addition via subtraction because his streaky shooting and his insane turnovers drove me nuts. Bagley I would have traded for a bag of peanuts if offered – I just didn’t like him on this team at all.
So I guess… other than Haliburton, I don’t think we gave up anything that mattered other than trade asset value. I was just kind of curious as to what we DID get of value other than Sabonis. As in, what do we have in Holiday and Donte (who it seems has some injury issues.) I guess we’ll see soon enough.
They’re all fine. Throw Lyles in there too. All guys that sit in that 6th-to-10th in the rotation type of range. Useful depth guys to have on cheap deals. Basically, the value we got beyond Sabonis goes:
I also would include how you could build the roster with Fox and Sabonis as your top 2 guys atm, but I think that’s quibbling. There’s an important addition by subtraction and roster turnover element that really matters here.
I hope we don’t get suckered into overpaying for DD. I kinda wish he was a clean expiring.
What do you mean you wish he is a clean expiring? What the hell does that even mean? I really hope you aren’t talking about the QO…..
I think Kings-Rebuild was referring to matching an reasonable offer made by another team and since we just traded for him the Kings could feel some extra pressure to keep the asset. I don’t see that being an issue because the decision ultimately rests with the Kings on whether or not any offer is worth it to match.
With his injury and down-ish year, I would guess we could retain him on a reasonable deal if we want to.
Yeah, he is a really good player when healthy and he’s not injury prone.
Wasn’t DD having a better season than Bogi in most offensive statistical categories if not all last season before getting injured? That was my impression/memory of it.
If a healthy DD is better than Bogi than we have one hell of a return for Marvin
“In the basketball world, the Kings are guilty until proven innocent.”
This is what I have to remember every time I check the national temperature on any Kings move. Moving Tyreese hurts and carries potentially huge downside. Monte also used his biggest trade asset to balance the roster with another player who makes teammates better in Sabonis.
It can pay off and I’m intrigued, but until then I expect Kangz sticks and stones thrown our way.
The franchise will always be doubted until they prove people wrong on the court.
Which, after so long, is certainly fair.
100%
Monte’s Press Conference Live
Credit to /streamable.com/dey088#
This is amazing with sound
Totes magotes amazeballs, in fact.
These trades make the Kings better in the short-term & I hope they’ll be better in the long-term. Hali has a lot of potential & he could be better than Sabonis in the long-term, but that’ll be tough since Sabonis is already a great player (it looks like he’s the best player the Kings have had in a long time).
When you suck as bad as this team has, a change is in order. That said, few teams roll half of their roster in 48 hrs.
I really don’t care how this year finishes out, other than I hope to see more basketball as entertaining as I saw last night.
As bad as the Lakers have been, I still think that they are at least a .400 team from here to the finish line, which means that the Kings would have to go 15-10 the rest of the way to tie them. That’s playing at a .600 (or 50 win) clip, and I just don’t see that happening.
The Pels added McCollum and have been playing much better of late. Look at their record after their 1-12 start – they are 21-20 since then. They will be tough to catch.
Ultimately, I see the Kings finishing 11th in the West, 21st or 22nd overall. They will wind up with the ping pong balls of an 8-9 lottery team – they were probably heading towards 6-7 before these trades.
If the Kings can play anywhere near .500 for the rest of the season, that would be fantastic for this bunch. The off-season would need to see the addition of another top level player, as well as difference making head coach.
I don’t know that I’m doing backflips over what the organization has done in total over the last two off-seasons and trade deadlines, but I sure am impressed with the last 48 hours.
And 1 – Turning a #12 pick into a player like Sabonis is how you start to turn a franchise around. Big ups to the organization for spinning a tepid late lottery draft slot into gold.
I mostly agree.
But this is some serious mental gymnastics in regards to the trade analysis:
Tyrese wasn’t some unknown 12th pick. We had lots of NBA playing data on him.
Now, I think you are saying that Monte did so well with the 12th pick that it eventually turned into Sabonis and therefore Monte did some good GMing, and I accept that. Just wanted to point out that some people used Hali’s draft position to support the trade and that is a no go for me.
I’m saying that we had the #12 pick in the 2020 draft. It yielded Domantas Sabonis. This is not in the top 1,000,000 of my controversial takes.
That’s not the way to look at it and it won’t be. This comes down to Haliburton vs. Sabonis and nothing else. For the Sabonis deal to have any chance the Kings are going to have to surround him with a couple of more good players and I’m not talking about the BIg Ragu. They also have to find these players quickly which presents an additional challenge because the Sabonis contract time clock is clicking louder and louder as each day passes. I’d suggest to immediately work toward a Sabonis contract extension and hope like hell the ping pong balls pop their way in this upcoming draft. After watching these trade deadlines the last couple of years, it’s quite apparent Barnes doesn’t have the trade value many we’re hoping for and now Fox with that max contract may also not have much trade value. So the trade chips are draft picks and I wouldn’t depart with this years and perhaps Mitchell. Bottom line, getting the additional pieces around Sabonis within the needed timeline presents a large challenge.
But it is the way that I look at it. You and 1951 need to take my comment off the stove, because the two of you are overcooking the ever living shit out of it.
You’re entitled to look at it that way I’m just sayin it won’t be evaluated that way eventually. It’s kind of analogous to a sunk cost in this case a sunk gain. I’m sorry I don’t know a 1951 but I’m sure he’s a nice guy and a smart basketball analyst if he agrees with me. Lol
I took it as meaning that if you tried to trade the #12 pick for Sabs, it wouldn’t be enough, but Monte found a player at #12 who was proven to be good enough to trade for Sabs. Monte turned a lesser asset into a greater asset.
The Kings as a non-destination need to be able to upgrade assets like this every once in while in order to stay competitive.
Why are you lumping me in?
I thought my comment was pretty clear.
I had heard that Buddy and MB3 had no trade value- they actually did. Hence, I think Barnes had a great deal of value, but the intent was to get better and to keep some shooting around Sabonis.
Buddy’s money paved the way for Sabonis, and Bagley’s useless contract retrieved Donte + 2.
Buddy’s trade value is that he is so bad, the Pacers had to take him in order to get Hali.
I tried replacing Sabonis’ name with Haliburton’s, and the phrase still means the exact same thing.
You are explaining to us that water is wet.
Barnes absolutely has trade value around the league. You have applied reverse analysis to find a result.
Hope— last year Bulls picked up Vuc for a few players- Wendell Carter and a lottery pick (Wagner) and this was the impetus for their turnaround. Kings gave up not a lottery pick, but Hali-can this be the pivot for a 2023 turnaround?
Then Bulls added DeRozen, Ball and Caruso plus a late round steal (Ayo).
That’s the blueprint going forward given the lane we’ve chosen. Good post.
Unfortunately that blueprint is dependent on convincing multiple high level RFAs that they should sign an offer sheet from the Kings.
As I said in a previous post it’s a big challenge. These moves I fear may ultimately be a sugar high unless we hit the lotto.
yes- with one difference: Bulls gave up the free acquisition (the #8 pick) while the Kings gave up a young player. So, while the Bulls had to add solely through free agency, the Kings have a draft pathway ahead plus any luck in free agency.
The Kings don’t have much cap space, if any, to offer anything more than the NT MLE at this point. With trades, and a potential S&T, that could change.
Just wanted to throw it out there.
Barnes + Holmes in a S&T for Miles Bridges? Done.
But the Kings won’t have the space to sign Bridges to the offer sheet. You have to have the space BEFORE the sign and trade, right?
Probably. I don’t actually think that would be realistic even if we had the space. I fully expect CHA will match any offer and keep him. I think a more likely deal would be something like Barnes + Holmes for Hayward + young player(s) (Washington/Jones/McDaniels/Thor) + pick(s).
To be clear, I don’t think that’s a likely deal either. I just think it’s more likely CHA pays a decent price to get off of Hayward’s deal and keep Bridges.
I agree, they aren’t letting Bridges go, but Washington on the other hand. He is a RFA and they really don’t have the space to match unless they want to go into the tax. They also don’t have any bigs guaranteed next year either. They are all guards and wings and over $100M in guaranteed salaries. Maybe summer would be a good time for a Washington for Holmes S&T
This is definitely a move that makes sense. Not sure how the Kings figure out the mechanics of that deal without cap room though.
Yeah, the Kings currently sit around $104M in guaranteed contracts, the cap jumps to $115M next season, but the Kings will have their cap holds on their draft picks. Monte will have his work cut out for him trying to add more talent. Full MLE maybe? What’s that next year, around $11M? Could Washington come that cheap?
Cap is supposedly at 119M now, and the Kings by my calculations are over the cap with exceptions, cap holds, and draft picks included.
To get under the cap, you have to renounce all cap holds, and exceptions, and make sure you have at least 12 rostered players.
So assuming the Kings get the #1 pick in the draft, they would be paying
102,028,933$$ right now for Fox, Sabonis, Barnes, Holmes. Holiday, Mitchell, Harkless, Davis, and Len (that’s 9 guys). There’s a team option on Metu that has to be picked up by June 30th that adds 1,910,860 if the option is picked up. Your 1:1 pick would cost 10.5 million if you got lucky in the lottery. You keep how many of your 2nd round picks (3 total) but at minimum the cost is around 950K.
Technically that adds up to around 116.5 million which puts you just a few million under the cap.
That’s why I think a trade is much more likely than cap space having much of an impact.
Kings wheelhouse will be Okogie, Finney Smith or Derick Jones in the offseason. Bridges is going to get a serious bag. probably 30 mil. 3s that can shoot and defend are commodities.
I fully expect Bridges to get maxed. The other guys you mention don’t interest me much They’re all plus athletes with negative BBIQs. Which just isn’t my particular kink.
Finney Smith signed an extension with Dallas today. He’s not going to be on the market.
No. But the issue is that Bridges would probably be BYC in that transaction (simply meaning trade value is half of salary for that transaction) and without cap room the Kings wouldn’t be able to pull a deal like that off.
A more workable S&T involving Bridges would be Holmes for Bridges with the Kings having the cap room to make up the difference. For instance.
Like Petrie did in ’98-2000?
Is there someone in there I’m missing beyond Divac?
No. There is no one else.
I was just thinking, when was the last time the Kings signed a RFA or someone via a S&T? I honestly can’t think of anyone.
Brad Miller is the last actual S&T I can remember honestly, and that was in 2003. LaVine was offered a deal, but ultimately Chicago matched.
There isn’t many, either way, to your point.
Yeah, it’s somewhat rare overall. Though for some reason it feels like it’s getting more common. I’ll have to go look and see if that’s true.
Technically S&T’s happen all the time every summer now. Teams generate TPE’s (trade exceptions) so they are willing to work with a team that has cap room to generate a large TPE. OKC did that with Danilo Galinari in 2020. And the only real “downside” is that you get hard capped at the apron when you do that. But when you are so far beneath the minimum cap like OKC is, you’re not even remotely worried about the apron.
I wouldn’t have called VD a “high-level” free agent at that time. A good signing to be sure, but not a guy that anyone would have considered much of a difference-maker.
If I were Monte, I would be circling the following names:
Each of these guys can provide some offense (especially from 3) but are mainly defensive-minded guys to help round-out the starting unit. Boucher is a really nice fit on paper next to Domas.
Options for backup wings
basically, under Monte, the team flipped a #12 pick for Sabonis (wow), then got Mitchell at #9 (solid pick) and then traded away a couple players we didn’t want for Divincenzo and some expiring contracts that may provide some value. not bad so far. Also worth mentioning that he did not trade Barnes for Nesmith.
We will see if that #12 pick actually has a name in a couple of years. My guess is that the #12 pick is going to have a long and illustrious career on strong playoff teams with his skills.
I hope Haliburton does have that kind of success. It was tough to receive the news that he was traded. Whoever got the better deal in the trade is TBD. However, if we’re looking at what the team has done with their last two draft picks at #12 and #9, it is Sabonis and Mitchell. If we were asked what we could get with those picks two years ago, it would have been unrealistic to hope we could get these two players.
Haliburton is gone, so my hope is that the Kings can look at this as part of a transition where the team established itself over time as a perennial playoff contender. Perhaps, that is still wishful thinking, but Sabonis is the kind of player who gives the team credibility, and one can see the signs of a foundation of such a team.
More moves to be made, and we need a good draft choice next year, but there is a path. I would have moved out Fox, even at a discount, to build around Hali, Mitchell and next year’s pick, but, even if that were possible (and it may not have been), this is the path that McNair has chosen, and time will tell whether it works or not.
Would you rather have Haliburton, Randle and Hield? Or Fox Sabonis and no Hield?
I feel like this is what it comes down to.
Until Indy can trade Malcolm Brogdon ( minor injury ) Hali will likely be a backup ?
I doubt it. There’s no reason you wouldn’t play Hali and Brogdon next to each other.
Then Duarte and Hield are off the bench. They do currently have a bit of a log jam at guard.
I’m expecting them to just go slightly undersized with Brogdon-Hali-Duarte for the time being when they’re healthy. They’re all 6’5 with good length so it isn’t totally disastrous.
And who cares if it isn’t all that successful? Are they trying to win a NBA title this year? LOL
Exactly.
And, of course, I meant slightly undersized at the 3. They’d still be plus-sized at the other two back court positions.
And, before anyone “well actuallys” me, yes in the modern game I consider the 3 to be a “backcourt” position. We aren’t playing 2-3 zones anymore.
The question to me is whether or not they can rebuild Buddy Hield’s value. They obviously are publicly saying yes. It’ll be interesting to see what happens there now they have him with 2 years left on his deal.
At the least, he’s an expiring after next year. I don’t think they’ll have too much trouble moving him with having to pay to do it and they don’t have to be in a hurry to do it.
I can see the Pacers not waiving him, but I can also see a John Wall situation where they ask him to stay home until the situation can be resolved. I’m not optimistic Buddy will suddenly become a good citizen all of a sudden in Indy.
Kings traded 4, released 2: Hali, Buddy, MB3, TT and Woodard/Ramsey. Hali, unique and exceptional. Buddy and Bagley- time to go, no hope here. and the other 3 were extra.
Got back 6: Sabonis, DD, Holiday, Lamb, Jackson and Lyles. Got 3 guys who can play, got rid of one who can play and one who shoots a lot.
Team is better, more balanced and more cohesive. Got 3 smart players, lost one.
Next 10 games are critical- if less than 5/5, trouble brews. These trades commit Kings to ply-in push. SAS, Blazers and Pacers have jointed the race to catch the Big Bad Bottom Four.
Lost 3 guards: Hali, Buddy and TD (injury) and replaced with DD, Holiday and Lamb. Leaving out the injury- Kings are slightly worse but by far better on D.
Lost MB3 and TT- replaced with Sabnis and Lyles- much better now.
This team was less than sum of parts- now may be as good as sum of parts.
That in, out list is stunning. Out – Tyrese Haliburton and a bunch of garbage. In – 25 yr old 2x all star, young 3&D wing, and 3 long rotation forwards. Excellent value.
This 3&D term is really getting overused. It used to be a term for a special player who was an elite shooter (3) and an elite defender. I wouldn’t place the Big Ragu in that category. WATCH him play and I don’t think you’d give him that 3&d title. That’s not to say he’s without value as a solid bench player.
you could re-state this to Out: Hali + garbage In- 2 time AS + 4 rotation wings, although only 2 are consistently playable.
still good value .
For now, in two years if we don’t sign Sabonis and Hali is an all star you could restate this Disastrous.
Or Sabonis is still an All Star signed with Kings and Hali is still the backup to Malcolm Brogden ! Home run trade !
Yes my point TBD. Just don’t take a few extra wins this year as a home run.
I was really hoping Monte would go for Phillys unprotected first that Brooklyn got as a final middle finger to Morey at the conclusion of the deadline. Improving our draft assets significantly while making the Sixers newest nemesis even better would have been too sweet.
All in all though, bravo Monte 👏🏽
Gonna miss the hell out of you Hali! Time will tell if we made the right move.
In the meantime, welcome to Sac Sabonis Jr!
Lots of ways to take all this. I guess here is the way I took it.
Your team had no future as constructed, you’ve opened not only potential for growth for Fox but Sabonis as well. His future was limited in Indy, too.
Your cap is about the same as it was before you started all of this. A little under the cap before the draft but not enough to make a major splash signing a big time FA.
You moved out one of the worst assets in the NBA in Buddy Hield, and paid a high price as part of trading your most valuable player asset in Tyrese Haliburton to do so. And, you got Domas plus you didn’t give up picks. Just from an asset to value standpoint, the Kings got an A+ IMO on that front. You don’t maximize the value of a Haliburton better than what the Kings did short of getting a Giannis type back in return.
You moved on from Bagley, and got some upside in DiVicenzo to figure out. I know Lyles and Jackson are in the picture too, but I have less hope for either of them. Most of this deadline from where I stand is about Sabonis, Holiday, and DiVicenzo. Everything else you get from Lamb, Lyles and Jackson is a bonus.
You still have assets in Barnes, Holmes, and your 1st round picks. That’s what trading a player of Tyrese Haliburton’s caliber can do for you.
Davion Mitchell is still here, and that’s interesting, too.
This team got more physical and tougher. A lot more physical and tougher.
Hopefully there is a role with Richaun Holmes for the rest of the season if the play-in and ultimately the playoffs is still the goal. Because I do not see how anyone can justify him only getting 15 MPG a night. I’m sure the Kings did try to trade Holmes, but none of the deals available made real sense.
The next head coach matters, and I don’t see Gentry being retained if this team is playing 500 ball and misses the play-in.
This is now Monte McNair’s team completely and totally. While I wish it hadn’t take a year and half to get to this point, better later than not at all. The Kings are currently at 21-36, New Orleans is at 22-32 and San Antonio is at 20-35. I see one of those 3 teams in the 10th seed, and the Kings do have 2 games remaining against New Orleans (1 is during the trip right after the ASB and the other is in early April in Sac) plus a game against San Antonio on the 5 game trip right after the ASB, too.
The Kings have 2 home games against Denver, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, and Phoenix, Golden State and the mentioned game against the Pelicans on April 5th.
This road trip is @Washington, @Brooklyn, and @Chicago. The next 5 game trip is @Denver (after playing them at home 2 days prior), @OKC, @NewOrleans, @San Antonio (SEGABABA with Spurs having the rest advantage) @Dallas, @Utah, @Indiana, @Orlando, @Miami (the must win game of the year), and 2 home games @Houston. The season finishes on a b2b in LA at the Clippers and in Phoenix the next night to finish the season.
By my count, that’s 9 home games and 16 road games to finish the season off. So you need to go 18-7 to get to 39 wins.
New Orleans has 28 games left, and 16 of those are at home. But if you say they are a 500 team as they have been since their 1-12 start, than you are looking at them finishing with 36 wins. And they don’t have a supremely easy schedule.
San Antonio has 27 games left 15 of which are on the road. The schedule is mixed, and I could see them winning 14 or even 15 of those games. But that puts them at 35 wins.
So ultimately the path to the playoffs could end up being that the Lakers bomb out of the bracket altogether and somehow 2 of SA, NO and Sac find their way in. (I don’t see the Clippers bombing their way out of the playin.) That all said, the Kings probably need to win at least 36 games to get to the 10th seed, and I think 39 games is a safer bet to be in the thing at the very least. Would I bet on the Kings being in the playin? No, not now. They need to win some games that nobody expects them to win, and there’s at least 15 of those moving forward.
Stranger things have happened. Here’s to an interesting 25 games of NBA Sacramento Kings basketball!
I’m just glad we aren’t saying we had a better team two days ago . . .
I like what Monte has done and feel getting a young star in Sabonis is the potential difference maker ! The rest are not exciting but getting rid of Buddy and Bagley is ! Hope one or two prove worth keeping ! I truly liked Hali but not certain about Star status . Time will give the answers .
The loss of Haliburton will hurt for a long time. He’s likely to end up in a category of special players like Andre Igoudala, Draymond Green, Kyle Lowery and others that help teams win championships. A player who will immediately improve any team because of his versatility.
I expect to watch him in a lot of playoff games.
With that said, McNair is the first GM since Petrie that I can recall who understands how to construct a team in a way that recognizes how the NBA game is actually played. Sabonis and Divincenzo are indicative of it, especially in how Monte recognizes that the team needs higher basketball IQ guys and ones who can move the ball given Fox’s limitations as a distributor.
For the first time in a long time, the Kings look like an NBA team, even if it remains flawed.
Fox, Sabonis, Mitchell and next year’s pick, where I expect to Monte to continue to exercise his good draft judgment, should be the foundation of a team with real potential. Maybe, still a bit short, but finally moving in the right direction.
Overall, I get the moves and think it’s an interesting direction. But this team is still pretty much in the same place in the BBIQ department. They basically replaced their highest BBIQ player with a roughly equally high BBIQ player. Otherwise they just shuffled a bunch of average-to-below average BBIQ guys. Now, they definitely strengthened their 6-10 slots in the rotation and improved their roster balance by moving some of those rotation bench slots to the wings. But specifically talking about BBIQ, I don’t think there was a lot of movement.
Yes, but the ability of the Kings to move the ball through Sabonis in the front court will have a big impact.
Sure, front court facilitators are a big deal. I still think the team is light overall on BBIQ. Which makes maximizing the team offense and defense tough.
Respectfully disagree. All the players the team just acquired are BBIQ geniuses compared to Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley. This team got much, much smarter overall, simply by dumping their two ultra-low outliers.
This is a huge overstatement. The Hield & Bagley narratives have gotten complete out of control. And I say this as somebody who’s never been high on either of them.
Interesting fact: Z-Bo once got high on Buddy Hield.
The thing about Fox’s limitations as a distributor have been popping up a lot in the past few days, and I may need a clarification.
Last season, Fox averaged 7.2 apg, and is at 6.2 apg for his career. I don’t think it’s a complete stretch to suggest that those numbers would be even better if he’d ever had any first-rate talent to play with. These figures don’t seem limited to me.
This isn’t to say that Fox is one of the best assist men in the game, but I don’t see what he’s accomplished as being merely average, let alone limited. I was happy when Haliburton put up big assist numbers, and the last couple of games have shown those figures have moved elsewhere, Mitchell, Sabonis, Barnes & Lamb, for example.
It’s certainly less incumbent on Fox to rack up assists than it has been for most of his career, but he made a number of very deft passes last night that reinforce that he’s got both the vision and the skill necessary for games where he absolutely has to focus on dishing.
I’ll concede less so with alley-oops. Haven’t been able to figure that out.
The majority of what you say here is dead-on. This one point has been hard for me to reconcile with what I’ve watched since Fox was drafted.
Agreed on the parts about Fox and facilitating.
His AST numbers were/are inflated a bit by his ball dominance for the past few years. On a theoretical successful team, I’d expect him to be closer to the 5 AST/GM range. He’s a decent passer, but his vision is average to below for an NBA PG and he isn’t especially adept at orchestrating the half court offense. His greatest asset as a passer is his ability to collapse the defense and kick out or drop off to teammate in his line of sight. Once in a while he’ll hit a guy that isn’t directly in his line of sight, but it isn’t often and he often misses open passes that are relatively easy for high vision guys. Which is useful, and Fox obviously creates that situation at a very high rate, but unless you want to go full George Karl dribble dive offense, it isn’t really enough for a true full time PG. Now, if he’s your secondary because you have another elite half court facilitator, then his passing is more than fine.
Middling team – just middle aged
A step in the right direction
This team will be exciting this last 25. The only thing, is the window for this team is very, very small. Esp in a down year for the West: Porter, Murray, Kawhi, George, Zion are all out.
Kings won’t have the luxury they have this year.
The KIngs need to improve exponentially by next season.Sabonis will be 26 in a couple months.He will be 28 at the end of his contract. Do the Kings really want to extend a Center into his 30s? Depending on the salary, of course.
Espcially,when you look at Fox/Sabonis. I think they are both at their ceiling. Davion is really now the only young player that has upward growth potential.
Any less than .500 rest of the season will tell me this team still has a lot of work to do. . I am not concerned with Playin, playoff. I want to see consistent real progress .
Obviously it’s one game, but I saw a bunch of guys who were excited to be together and playing with joy last night. Fox and Sabonis looked like they needed to get a room a couple times. I can’t remember the last time I saw that Fox, and Sabonis’s comments about loving Sac and feeling like he found a home here were both surprising and those of a leader. In all these discussions about BBIQ, fits, and needs, the value of a mental reset shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s what got the Suns and Bulls going, and Monte may have just given this team what it needed.
Last night.
Easy to root for this team now with 4 players with high BBIQ – Sabonis, Barnes, Mitchell and Divinzenso. All the rest have average to good BBIQ.
Thanks Monte for getting rid of Hield and Bagley.
“I’m going to get (rid of) you, Buddy Hield.”
Vivek Ranadive
Solid job! The wait was long and painful, the team even took a hard dive waiting. Was mentioned at least a month ago Sabonis was a target and they accomplished the mission. Monte also does something other GMs here have failed at constantly, during the draft he takes the talent. If the talent doesn’t fit, JR’s axiom still holds true, takes talent to trade for talent.
Agreed. On a team lacking overall talent, you take the most talented player regardless of position or “fit”. If the new guy is better than the old guy, you trade the lesser for the exact talents you need. I loved Hali’s play and personality and hope he has a brilliant future, but Fox is still a better scorer. Fox can’t be the only star and succeed. He needs someone else to take the load off. Sabonis is that guy.
Once again we got a passing big! Princeton Offense! Yoda!
Great analysis by everyone here. Well most of y’all. Stars make the difference. Sabonis is a star at a position we need. Holmes only scores off put backs, lobs, and wide open push shots. Sabonis can get the ball down low and make something happen. Plus he seems to have better hands and is a much better passer, making everyone else more effective. Lamb, Holiday, Jackson, Lyles let’s see what they have. They will certainly contribute more that Thompson, Woodard, Bagley, and Ramsey. Buddy would have that one in 6 game where he would go 6-8 from deep. The other five games, he’s going 2-8 with off balance rushed threes, bad passes leading to fast breaks, and poor ball handling. I think Donte will be a consistent role player.
how do you think the the trade worked?
Pacers calling Monte: Hey, what about Sabonis for Halliburton and two firsts?
Monte: Hahaha, you can get Fox and I’ll take your first.
Pacers calling Vivek: Hey Vivek, interested in a new toy? What about a two-time All Star? For a second year rookie and two firsts?
Vivek: Hey Monte, make it happen.
Monte: (damage control)
LONG POST, sorry, I needed to process this week: Apologies to those who hate long posts:
First off, I like that we got Sabonis and Donte, and that we are rid of Buddy and Bagley … but c’mon. The bottom line: These were short term fixes that don’t address our team’s main, glaring problem that has made us crappy for over a decade: Terrible defense, inside and out .. individual and team, never addressed by the revolving door of coaches.
Sure, this team might gel and make the playoffs (prob not this year, but next) HOWEVER they ain’t getting outta the first round. And this is the problem when you lose your gamble on a max player. This is why I was so deeply sad to lose Haliburton — yes, its not certain he will be a multi-all star, but it is certain that at 21, he’s already a DAMN good point guard and leader, far better than Fox will likely ever be. Fox isn’t even in the top 100 in assist to turnover ratio. Rese was #19 last I checked; just seeing what he did when he took over for Fox in those four games should’ve put people’s mind at ease. Rese ticked all the boxes and then some; he wasn’t a major scorer quite yet (but dropped 38 and was averaging over 20 plus … will likely soon be NBA leader in assists, and was already #6 in steals, and seems on the way to being an elite 3-pt specialist). He made everyone better, played both D & O with energy, and made the team fun to watch. His biggest problem was being too unselfish, passing up shots. His floater was near automatic. He’s a hybrid of Chris Paul and Reggie Miller in the making.
Fox is going to Fox. He’s like the kid in Pee Wee basketball league who just says, gimme the ball, back away, and watch me run full speed and dive into a crowd, over and over. Predictable. Bad decisions. He’s got that one skill: speed, and that is only going to deteriorate year by year, while his complaining to ref goes up. We’ve been patiently waiting for years on the jumper .. and still waiting. Now we got the same old Fox problem plus a real weak link at the 2 guard; and really good 3-point shooting teams are going to blow us out of the water w/ease. Fox refuses to be aggressive and attack the rim, opting for inconsistent fall-aways in traffic. He doesn’t see the court like Rese does, but at least Sabonis can pass.
Being a Kings fan is the definition of insanity: Every year some of us babble on repeat: The only good NBA teams are ones that play great defense. Yet every year, fans talk about offense, and seem to mostly worry about offense. Right now, we’ve got ONE DAMN PLAYER who is solid on both ends of the floor and that Davion. Unless Fox shocks me and suddenly becomes the mutli-dimensional player that his contract should guarantee — the dominant/clutch/all-star level that his peers Jah and Donovan have become … then we are just kicking the can further down the road until we finally find another PG leader like the one that we just traded away for a fringe East Coast all-star center (who def. makes us better).
But make no mistake, the future is in Fox’s hands: Will he be another John Wall? Another Tyreke Evans, who was another highly promising rookie who it took fans (and coaches) way too many years to realize WASNT A GOOD POINT GUARD AT ALL …. Like Spinal Tap, Evans resides in the “where are they now” category.
Good luck to the new feel-good Kangz … I know Im going to be watching the Pacers more, since they just took my favorite King since Bobby Jackson. But Ill still always root for the Kings and hope they get lucky … since they seem incapable of creating good luck. Last time they got lucky? They took a veteran center from LA who smoked cigarettes, a college bad boy who smoked weed and played like Pistol Pete, and a bad-attitude big run out of Oakland who was known for the dumbest play in history of national championship game — and somehow that crew (plus Peja and Christie) became, for a brief time, most watchable team in the NBA.
So I know it can happen, I was there the first time and watched it up close. And that literally feels like three or four lifetimes ago, now. That’s why I’m impatient. Thanks to anyone who read this far on this stereotypical vent.
Hope we get in range for AJ Griffin, sign Otto porter Jr (finally haha) to a modest contract as the bridge sf.
Fox, Davion
Donte, TD
Otto, AJ
Barnes, metu? (Would be nice to get another stretch 4 with a Holmes trade in the offseason)
Sabonis, Holmes (D Jones if Holmes traded)
I have encountered some real difficulty in visiting TKH……..don’t know if anybody else had the same problem.
Anyway, I felt so happy for the last move…
Just no more Marvin Bagley on the team is already a “HUGE WIN”……….
I don’t need to capture the gif of his ball being stripped…..
And we no longer need to suffer from watching those dumb plays from both Bagley and Hield.
I’m betting you got the best sleep of your life last night.
AnyoneButBagley must be going through an existential crisis. No that Bagley is gone, does his life have meaning.
I think the larger question is, did it ever?
A Euro perspective here 🙂 I don’t know if anyone realizes is this, or whether this matters, but with Domas you have also just expanded your fan base by 3 million basketball crazy Lithuanians, myself included. Many of us avidly follow and support teams for which our comaptriots play. Every Lithuanian considers himself a basketball expert (this is not true, of course). I have been following NBA and especially the careers of the Lithuanian bigs (Arvydas Sabonis, Big Z, JV, and now Domas) for many years.
Normally I don’t post much if at all, but I was incredibly impressed by the depth of analysis, and civility on this and other Kings blogs, and by the reception of the new guys in the arena. Having followed Indy sites, there was this very toxic and divided fan-base which was seemingly rooting not for the team, but mostly for Myles to outplay Domas. Moreover, when the trade happened, Indy fanbase rejoiced (rightfully) at getting Hal but most of the actively posting fans did not lament AT ALL the loss of Domas, despite all these years playing his heart out for Indy, like you guys are lamenting Hali’s departure.
I can’t say whether Domas will stay after 2 yrs, but I can tell you this. Lithuanians are extremely loyal, and it runs in Domas’ family. His father Arvydas came back to finish his career in his hometown in Kaunas after his Portland days were over. Definitely not for the money or victories, but out of loyalty. With active fan base, appreciation by management, and hopefully an upward trajectory of Kings team, I totally can see him staying into his gull prime.
Sorry for a long post, but I really wanted to let you know that SACTOWN has now more devoted fans. Go Kingz!
Welcome to you and your countrymen. And thanks for your insight.
Welcome. That is nice to hear. I remember watching Arvydas back in the day. Just an amazing passer.
I think Domas already found a warm welcome the other night.
However, I think a lot of Kings fans have a bone to pick with Jonas Valanciunas.
A big welcome to all of our Baltic brothers and sisters!
Lord have mercy, every link supposed to take me to TKH takes me to my profile page. I feel like I should win a prize for finally getting to this article. Probably stating the obvious but things are quite buggy.
And clearing your cache doesnt help you either.
Nope
Badge Legend