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Are the Sacramento Kings finally a legit trade destination?
Are the Sacramento Kings finally a legit trade destination?
The Sacramento Kings have been one of the laughingstocks of the NBA throughout most of the 21st century.
The franchise had a 17-year playoff drought before finishing as a No. 3 seed in the West last year. It was a revolving door a head coaches and front office executives in that time frame. The Kings missed on multiple lottery picks, they were unable to retain talent and, worst of all, they could not bring in any new talent.
Sacramento was simply not appealing for free agents and it was hard to trade for talented players. However, according to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Kings might be entering a new phase as a franchise: They could now be a trade and free-agent destination across the NBA.
Charania is one of the biggest NBA reporters and he is usually pretty locked in with the sports world. His optimistic view on Sacramento is great news for Kings fans, who have just recently escaped basketball purgatory.
However, fellow hosts and former players Lou Williams and Chandler Parsons were not sold on the news. The two former players showed some hesitancy in declaring Sacramento an appealing place for All-Star caliber players. Everyone sang praises about the Sacramento fan base, but it seemed like Williams was not sold on the nightlife.
Now, I can only assume Atlanta strip clubs are on a whole different level than Sacramento strip clubs. However, surely Lemon Pepper Lou knows there is more to a city than a specific part of the nightlife.
The Kings are 8-5 and the No. 4 seed in the West (first in Pacific division). They have two players De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, who are playing at an MVP level. It will be interesting to see if the Kings will now have a spot for players like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Zach LaVine come the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
The Kings’ recent history of trades and free agents:
The Sacramento Kings were historically unlucky when it came to trades and free agency in the past 17 years. There was the blockbuster Tyrese Haliburton-Sabonis trade with the Indiana Pacers in 2022, but before that trade, Sacramento was only able to obtain backups and role players.
These trades consisted of players like Dewayne Dedmon, Alex Len, Jabari Parker, Cory Joseph, Delon Wright, Nemanja Bjelica and Maurice Harkless. None of these names put the NBA world on notice, but that is to be expected when the Kings had no real assets to trade.
The franchise was even worse in free agency over their playoff drought because they could not get anyone to want to play in Sacramento.
Now, the city is no Los Angeles, Miami or New York City, but that was not the main issue. The problem was that the Kings were horrible and people did not want to be a part of a failing franchise.
Sacramento’s now on a better track with general manager Monte McNair and head coach Mike Brown, having established a better culture. This shift into becoming a better franchise can be seen in how over the past two seasons, the Kings were able to re-sign Richaun Holmes and Trey Lyles as well as sign free agent Malik Monk.
These types of signings would be extremely hard to get done when the Kings were perpetually in the basement of the NBA. Ultimately, Sacramento is on the right track. The Kings are playing great basketball on the court but it has yet to be seen if the city will become a destination for other stars.
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