The Kings Herald Show returns to discuss what’s going right, and what’s going wrong for the 2023-24 Sacramento Kings.
Jerry Reynolds, Will Griffith, and Tony Xypteras break down recent difficult losses, uninspiring wins, Keegan Murray’s offensive explosion, Chris Duarte’s starting role, the NBA Trade Deadline, Fox and Sabonis’ strong play, and more on the podcast this week. Thanks for listening!
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In addition to our bi-weekly podcast with Jerry Reynolds, we also record a Patreon exclusive Q+A once a month where Patrons at any level can Ask Jerry Anything.
You can submit questions for Jerry on Patreon, or write your questions in the comments below this post! Or you can just yell questions to Tony or Will on Twitter.
Looking at just Kings’ losses to some of their quality opponents thus far (Celtics, Clippers, Pelicans, T-Wolves): what do those teams have in common?
The Kings are clearly lacking size at the PF/Wing position. They need an upgrade over Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Sasha Vezenkov and they need someone who can take starting minutes.
I don’t know what the solution is, but quality players at that position are not cheap!
And compared to other teams looking to add those types of players, the Kings have little assets in comparison. Fox, Murray, Sabonis are more than likely off the table. Monk is getting to that point now (his contract being up might make things a little interesting).
So they have Barnes/Huerter and 1st round picks not until 2027 or 2028 (?) Going to be tough to add much in the way of an upgrade unless Monte clears the cache of average assets.
Seems Barnes, Huerter, and Davion could have some value but may not be enough to get a real upgrade . Do agree with fact that Fox, Sabonis, Keegan and Monk are the keepers .Hope Monk can be signed . Also, think Lyles can handle a bigger role and deserves one .
I don’t know, but if it’s one guy on this team that deserves a promotion it’s trey! .
I like Trey. One of those players you can count on in playoffs/big games. Consistent performer.
I think you can rely on Monk in playoffs too. Both keepers for playoff noise.
One of the most interesting comments to me was talking about getting a 4th or 5th best player on the team as opposed to a number three. Right now Murray is the third best player on the team, and I agree that trading him feels like a mistake. So what you’re really looking at is a two who is better than Huerter/Monk or a 3/4 who is better than Barnes/Lyles who you could get for a package not including Murray.
With that in mind, a SG might be cheaper to get, but the biggest bang for your buck would probably be replacing Barnes. The problem with that is you need to make Barnes part of the trade.
So maybe a three team deal where you trade Barnes to one team and package what you get back with draft picks to pick up a quality 3/4?
Or you take a huge risk and trade Murray plus picks for a big time all star. But that is such a huge risk with a second year player as good as he is.
Definitely not easy, because like Jerry said, you already have a bunch of role players so trading for another one doesn’t help much.
Going to be interesting to see what Monty does.
IMO I would’n go whole hog on one player. You would have to use up all you first draft picks. Now what do you have left? What if he doesn’t work out or gets hurt. Now what do you have left. IMO I would go after not one but possibly two 2 tier players who would be better than Barnes or Huerter. 2 players that come to mind are Alex Caruso at the SG. He scores usually a little lower than Huerter but his defense is near the top. His hussle is near the top and he can also shoot. We need his defense and hussle. At the 4 I like PJ Washington. Only 25 fits Monty’s timeline and hasn’t hit his prime yet. He has a 7’2.5″ wing span and can defend multiple positions. He also can shoot and is a bigger upgrade over Barnes. If the Kings can’t trade Barnes then he would be a great backup to either Murray or Washington.
Thanks for another good show!
I was particularly relieved to hear Jerry’s “you-don’t-trade-Keegan” opinion, and I liked the comparison of Keegan with Peja. Compared with Peja’s first two years, when if memory serves Peja came off the bench, Keegan’s growth has been meteoric, whereas Peja didn’t take a leap until year three.
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