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Kings Pulse: Trade Deadline Reactions w/ Tim Maxwell

Tim Maxwell joins the show as we express our reactions the somewhat quiet deadline for the Sacramento Kings and how it impacts the future.
By | 30 Comments | Mar 25, 2021

The Sacramento Kings found themselves regularly mentioned in the rumor mills leading up to this deadline. I was excited for today, as I’m sure most Kings’ fans were and I am walking away disappointed.

None of Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, or Richaun Holmes were traded. Tim does a great job breaking down why the moves that were, and were not, made complicate the idea of re-signing Holmes this offseason.

The four trades that did take place for the Sacramento Kings were:

Acquiring Mfiondu Kabengele into a TPE along with cash considerations.

Nemanja Bjelica to Miami for Maurice Harkless and Chris Silva.

Cory Joseph, LAL 2021 2nd, and SAC 2024 2nd to Detroit for Delon Wright.

MEM 2021 2nd to Toronto for Terence Davis.

These fringe moves probably make the team more enjoyable this season, and may even lead to a couple more wins. Yet, after this season, only Delon Wright and potentially Chris Silva are under contract.

Jabari Parker and Kabengele were both waived as Sacramento were rostering too many players.

This pod was our general reactions to the underwhelming trade deadline that led to us questioning Monte McNair and his plan for this team.

These seem like win-now trades, even if they are minor, and the team is not currently fit to win.

Let us know your thoughts on Sacramento’s deadline as a whole and what it means for the future of the draft pick and re-signing Richaun Holmes.

The Kings Pulse podcast is available on all major listening platforms.

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Kosta
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March 25, 2021 4:45 pm

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4on5
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March 25, 2021 5:21 pm

Kings fans getting Viveked again by Vivek and then trying to reverse engineer what happened into the outline of a complex plan they hope will come together in an unlikely way in 2-7 months in the future is a biannual tradition for much of a decade.

ArcoThunder
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March 26, 2021 1:49 am
Reply to  4on5

Thats a cop out, i”m done with all this “it’s Vivek’s fault” every time a GM doesn’t do what seems like the obvious and smart thing. WE held pete D accountable, We held Vlade accountable. No one gets a free ride just because we’re tired. F that.

Pete D sucked!

Vlade sucked

Monte… I’m not feeling optimistic and that really sucks. It’s sad actually

RORDOG
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March 25, 2021 5:30 pm

Lol €œIf those are your arguments I’ve won€

SexyNapear
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March 25, 2021 6:11 pm

Eyeing that 10th seed like a hungry dog.

ScottyPop
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March 25, 2021 6:40 pm
Reply to  SexyNapear

Dating App GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Kayte_Hunter_Fan_club
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March 25, 2021 6:45 pm
Reply to  SexyNapear

Tonight is actually a big game in that regard. I think the Warriors and Spurs are catchable maybe even the Grizzlies with 2 back to back games with them in May. Not the objectives I would have established but every time I ever took the court, I played to win and that’s now what the Kings need to do.

SelecaoKOJ
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March 25, 2021 8:28 pm

Asking the Kings to sweep the Spurs and Grizz. Not too realistic, al all.

Kings schedule not that light.
Utah 3x
Lakers 2x If Healthy
Spurs 3x
Dallas 3x
Grizz 3x (JJJ should be back)
Suns
Bucks
Dubs again
That’s 17 of 28 teams over .500 and currently in playoff seeding.
I don’t think any of them will be tanking. ESP, the Spurs.
Pop will get his young team in.
The only real ? Is the Dubs.
Will they tank now?
They have a chance to get 2
Top 10
picks this year. With Minny’s pick if it is outside the Top 3.

Gregoryl
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March 26, 2021 9:43 am
Reply to  SexyNapear

Where are all my guys that love calling out that Karl Malone was drafted #13 (in 1985…)??

BlessedEdward
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March 25, 2021 7:01 pm

I find not part of these deals that make any sense for now or the future as we just gave up two 2nd rounders to pick up 6 million in salary next year and at a average of 3 million for a 2nd round pick recently we paid 12 million to move to Wright for next year which is crazy as he is a average in all area easily replaceable rotation player. The loss of th 6 million plus the 6 million we could have sold the 2nd’s for means we can’t sign Holmes next year with making some major roster changes….the rest of the trades are useless also as Silva is another undersized 6’8″ big man and Harkless is a joke and Terance Davis is a criminal for a 2nd round pick and we could have had Evan Fornier for 2 2nd round picks and matching salaries and he averages almost 20 points a game. This trade deadline was a complete bust and I now have lost faith in our new GM who appears to be a only slightly better than Vlade but still worthless.

Want-to-be-gm
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March 25, 2021 7:28 pm
Reply to  BlessedEdward

Yeah it’s not so much what they didn’t do but rather the moves they made. Why taking on an additional $6 million on next years payroll for an aging journeyman and then giving up two second rounders on top of it is beyond me. The Bjelica trade is also puzzling. After the trade with Detroit is made sending a message that we are trying to improve for the stretch run, why do we come back and make the Bjelica trade which arguably weakens the roster for the stretch. It makes no sense anyway you try to couch it. The two trades send opposite messages and I think this management is so conflicted they are spinning in circles.
You laid it out well.

ArcoThunder
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March 26, 2021 2:02 am
Reply to  Want-to-be-gm

exactly, If you want to win just start giving Bjelica more minutes, Bagley is out pretty much the rest of the season, it’s a perfect fit. Plus he slides off the books at the end of the season and you still have 2 second round picks that you don’t have anymore. Maybe you make a playoff appearance and have the most under rated stretch 4 in the league in your back pocket. WTF

Makes no sense. feels pretty dumb if I’m being real. this feeling sucks

rockbottom
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March 25, 2021 9:22 pm
Reply to  BlessedEdward

Selling the second round picks does not help in signing Holmes ! It is just money to ownership and not part of player cap or payroll !

jjdski
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March 25, 2021 10:18 pm
Reply to  BlessedEdward

Thank goodness that I did not need to put my readers on for your post. Thank you.

Want-to-be-gm
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March 25, 2021 7:35 pm

-These seem like win-now trades, even if they are minor, and the team is not currently fit to win.-

They do? The Bjelica trade is a win now move? Heck we could have taken those two seconds we gave up in the Cojo trade and gotten Fournier and that would have been a win now move.

NorCalKingsFan
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March 25, 2021 7:51 pm

I don’t get the argument of “their 2nd rounders, who cares”, 2nd rounders have value.

NorCalKingsFan
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March 25, 2021 8:16 pm
Reply to  NorCalKingsFan

*”they’re…

RORDOG
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March 26, 2021 8:01 am
Reply to  NorCalKingsFan

they can probably just flip Wright for a couple second round picks in the future if they need to.

eddie41
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March 25, 2021 8:04 pm

It’s better than tanking.

SelecaoKOJ
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March 25, 2021 8:33 pm
Reply to  eddie41

It’s only better than tanking if they make the playoffs. Not play in. But, playoff.

i expect the team to go over the cap to sign Holmes.

That will be your Sac Kings, at least for the next 2 years. I expect more of the same 10-12 pick, maybe 35-38 wins and roll it back again and again and again.

it’s not a playoff team. The team has benefited from other teams misfortunes injuries, COVID, etc.

Once again. In this winning streak. They have beat a bunch of sorry teams. An Atlanta team missing 2 starters. A Boston team that’s a joke, and The Lakers without 2 HOF’ers.

eddie41
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March 25, 2021 9:32 pm
Reply to  SelecaoKOJ

Kings to resign Holmes? Sounds good to me.

NorCalKingsFan
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March 25, 2021 8:04 pm

Can’t the Kings just buy Bagley out sometime this season?
How does that impact the salary cap for next year?

Mike120
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March 25, 2021 8:15 pm

The GM can only do so much with limited resources if other GMs don’t want to give up their assets. I’m fine with the changes.

jjdski
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March 25, 2021 10:16 pm

When I saw these moves, I had to go poo. So I went poo. Go Kings!

ArcoThunder
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March 26, 2021 2:06 am
Reply to  jjdski

Well, one shit show for another.

CastlePeak
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March 26, 2021 8:42 am

That was a really dark podcast.

Expect McNair tried mightily to move Buddy, Bagley and possibly Barnes and Holmes for fair value. There is not much he can do If other GMs were not buying what he was selling.

WizsSox
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March 26, 2021 3:32 pm
Reply to  CastlePeak

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WizsSox
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March 26, 2021 3:53 pm
Reply to  WizsSox

I really appreciate the podcasts and keep up the good work, but just a perspective that this particular pod was seriously doom and gloom and felt over the top. I’m not quite sure why there was so much talk in absolutes when none of us are in a information loop that knows more than anyone else about what the plan or thinking is. I guess you can blame the FO for not being forthcoming with that, but that doesn’t automatically make every move reflexively dumb or make it so they have no vision/plan. Yes past experiences teach us to think that way with this team, but there is new management, who I think has shown a different model than the past 2 GMS (no aging vet signings, making the smart pick etc.). I get the frustration, but until we know how the offseason plays out (Holmes etc) it feels out of place to judge so critically when no major moves happened that obviously affect flexibility. Debatable I suppose.

Didn’t really understand the contrasting takes on similar teams as well. Bulls make a bold move costing them picks that will likely have a ceiling of the 5-8 seed (in the East) going forward barring other moves in future years. This move was praised on Pod bc they will be fun. Kings work to create slight bench upgrades that might be able to start them down that path (they have a quality and fun starting 5 right now) and it’s crapped on as shuffling deck chairs.

We all know they have operated with the worst bench in the league, but they already have a starting 5 that is ELITE…there’s no other way to say it looking at the ratings and taking in the rather large sample size in mins. Even the Bagley starting 5 is pretty positive. So when Monte seeks to address the main issue facing the team without sacrificing real assets, why is that seen as doing nothing?

I think a lot of this comes to whether Holmes is resigned, which Tim admits a bit in the pod. Until we know that though I think it’s super hard to aggressively judge all the moves in the way it was. Maybe it was just the immediate frustration following the deadline.

Appreciate what you guys do, just wanted to offer a counter to the main views on the pod.

Last edited 3 years ago by WizsSox
PhutureKings
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March 26, 2021 11:24 am

As somebody who was begging for the tank and is somehow NOT upset about the trade deadline, here’s my two cents:

If the Kings don’t make the playoffs this year, they will be tied with the Clippers for the league record for consecutive years not making the playoffs. Next season might be even more difficult to make the playoffs, at which point you’re looking at these Kings being the sole record holder for playoff drought and no end to the streak in sight.

I don’t think Vivek wants that distinction and honestly, if you’re an impact player, you don’t want to play for that team. If the Kings can sneak into the playoffs this season, the streak of futility is over (at least for now) and you’re sending a message around the league that you’re a team on the rise with Fox and Haliburton still having room for improvement.

As a fan, the length of the current streak is far less important to me than the chance to draft a top-5 player and build a team that can contend for the foreseeable future. But, I’m not the owner or a high-level employee associated with the failure of an embarrassing streak. Nobody in the business wants that on their resume, and the players/coach aren’t going to stink it up on purpose. They might stink, but not on purpose.

So, all things considered, the Kings were at a crossroads, but arguably closer to “playoff” contention than a top 5 pick. The Kings weren’t going to sink lower than DET, ORL, WAS, MIN or HOU in the standings, so you’re statistically already outside the top 5 (I know the odds would be better to end up with a top 5 pick if you’re slotted at #6 or #7 going into the lottery versus wherever they’ll be now). Then you look at OKC, NO, MEM and CLE, which are all in relative parity with the Kings. So, SAC is looking at likely selecting anywhere from #6 to #10, at which point there’s not much difference compared to the benefit of getting these guys some playoff experience and sending the message you’re a franchise trying to turn things around with your talented guard duo.

I’m sure if Monte could’ve gotten anything of value for Bagley or Buddy, they would’ve been moved. I don’t mind hanging onto Barnes bc he’s been playing well and can still be moved in an off season deal if you want to go that route.

I also think they can make moves needed to resign Holmes, so he’s not a lost cause to still remain w the team. The starting lineup is one of the better lineups offensively in the league. They need a better bench and defense, and they’ve improved after the deadline.

Even if they traded away Barnes, Buddy and Bagley, I don’t see the team being much worse. Whatever you get back for Barnes to make the trade worth it would’ve likely helped the Kings (unless it was strictly a Nesmith and draft pick, which seems like a low return). Buddy doesn’t help/hurt you, and not having Bagley on the floor helps the team. So, I don’t see the Kings falling too far from where they were given the play of Fox and resurgence of Hali being in the starting line up.

Which brings us back to the decision the Kings had to make; tank or try for playoffs. The tank seemed to be stuck outside the top-5 and the playoffs are at least tangible, so it makes sense to go for it given the increased revenue and message you send to the league about being a team on the rise.

And whereas I was rooting for them to lose every game in a close, fun way I will now be rooting for them to win. I know it’s only the 8th or 10th spot, but if the Kings make it into the play-in and somehow go even further, it’ll be fun and worth it. Especially given the other choice was to tank and hope for an unlikely top 5 selection.

KingOfTheMonsters
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March 26, 2021 3:36 pm

Excellent podcast. Great analysis. Can’t find this quality anywhere else. And we might lose even that if all of you at TKH drift off to other teams.
Couldn’t blame you. I’m pretty much a Jazz/Heat fan now. It’s part of my 12-step program to wean me away from Kings fandom.
Heard you last week and your analysis opened my eyes.
After the trade deadline, I was in denial and reasoned that there were just no good deals. I was happy that they tried to deal Bagley, as that was a sign that they definitely don’t see him as part of the future.
However, I’ve sobered up today (thanks to this podcast).
I don’t see a path forward.
They’ve cemented in a mediocre (if that, as you said) team. They won’t fall to a good draft pick. They won’t win the championship. They won’t have flexibility to improve.
They should have sold for whatever they could get. They should have laid a foundation for the future.
If they get the 10th seed, will anyone other than Vivek be proud of getting booted in the first round?
Vivek has got to go.
This team will not make the playoff next season.
I’m back to hoping my favorite players get traded to decent teams. If Rashaun goes, good for him.
I’m happy Bjelly made it to Miami.

It’s a shame.

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