Despite a tremendous NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder still going on, the NBA rumor mill is in full swing. NBA insider Shams Charania has recently said that this could be one of the craziest NBA offseasons in recent memory, with names like Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and others potentially on the move. The Kings themselves recently saw themselves in reports that they were considering filling their void at Point Guard with big names like Trae Young and Darius Garland being bandied about.
Today, a new report came from Marc Stein and Jake Fischer regarding Sacramento’s interest in a few more names including Boston’s Jrue Holiday, Memphis’ Marcus Smart and free agent Malcolm Brogdon. Marcus Smart has missed most of the last two seasons with various injuries, playing just 54 games combined since being traded from the Celtics to Memphis and then later Washington. Smart will be 31 entering next season and entering the final year of his contract. As a short term solution, Smart might not be the worst idea for an addition if he’s healthy as the former Defensive Player of the Year would add some much needed toughness to that end of the floor while likely not costing the Kings much in terms of assets. Of course, the Kings could also just go the even cheaper route and go after veteran free agents like Brogdon or Tyus Jones (another name they’ve been linked to) that won’t cost them any assets at all. The biggest name of the bunch is obviously Holiday. The Celtics have been widely rumored to be considering trading Holiday this offseason due to their exorbitant luxury tax bill, but trading for a 35-year-old point guard with 3 years and $104.4 million left on his deal might not make the most sense for a Kings team that isn’t close to contending at this point. Holiday is a very good player, but the Kings would likely need additional compensation in the form of picks to take that deal on.
That leads us to our next, potentially more intriguing rumor for the Kings.
From Fischer:
“Another intriguing rumble emanating from the California capital: Sacramento has searched for trade avenues to acquire a first-round pick, sources say, and has expressed confidence to various agents that it could be selecting as high as the early 20s”
The Kings currently don’t have a first-round draft pick as their pick is being sent to Atlanta to satisfy the conditions of the Kevin Huerter trade from a few years ago. Looking at the teams in the 20s that do have first-round picks however brings out some intriguing names: Miami currently has the 20th pick, Utah has the 21st pick, Atlanta has the 22nd pick, Oklahoma City has the 24 pick, the Nets have both the 26th and 27th pick and Boston has the 28th pick.
Miami is interesting because they’ve been connected to DeMar DeRozan in rumors this summer.
Utah is interesting in that their new GM has said they are not tanking and might be looking to make improvements sooner rather than later.
Atlanta has potentially been connected to us via Trae Young, although it’s hard to see how a first-round pick would come back to us in any kind of trade for Young.
The Thunder have the 15th pick as well and might not want to draft two more rookies right now.
The Nets are in a position where they could use one of their picks and trade the other for potentially down the road
Boston could use that 28th pick as a small sweetener for someone taking on Holiday or Porzingis’ contract.
There are other ways to acquire firsts, especially late firsts, that the Kings could explore as well. Just last season the Knicks (where Scott Perry was working) traded the 26th pick to Oklahoma City for five future second-rounders. Other teams use firsts to dump bad contracts, like the Kings did a couple of years ago when they sent Richaun Holmes to Dallas along with the 24th pick in the draft. The Kings actually don’t have a ton of future seconds thanks to various trades (they don’t own any from 2028-2031) so that first option doesn’t seem likely, but taking on a bad contract or money from another team might work, or even packaging their own 2nd (the 42nd overall pick) with some cash might get them into the first round. Maybe it’s time to send Cash Considerations the other way for once.
Of course, the Kings could get a pick through some other means, especially if something big is brewing. New GMs like Perry usually want to make their mark quick, and if Sam Amick is to be believed, Perry is thinking big. NBA Draft Day is coming up in just two weeks on June 25. This Kings team could look a whole lot different by then.