Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Scotto: The Kings have been active in trade talks, and the biggest name that’s come up recently is Pascal Siakam. It seemed for a hot second there that maybe they were going to get him, then talks pulled back. From my standpoint, I had heard that the Sacramento talks for Siakam centered primarily around Harrison Barnes, Kevin Huerter, Davion Mitchell and a first-round pick or so of potential draft pick compensation of a first-round variety for Siakam in those talks.
Ham: There’s certainly interest with the Sacramento Kings. I think we saw it all play out on Friday while the Raptors were here in Sacramento. Not only was Siakam here, but their entire front office was in Sacramento. You kind of had this moment where if something was going to get done, it might get done on one specific day with all of the parties in a room and being able to work through some of these issues that they might have.
The Kings have been in on Siakam for probably the last two years. Same with OG Anunoby. There have been plenty of discussions between these two teams just because they kind of match up, especially what the Kings need and what the Raptors might be looking for. I think when OG was shipped to the Knicks, it sort of sent out a message that this is what the Raptors are looking for. They’re looking for 23, 24-year-old players, and the Kings have Keegan Murray, but the Kings aren’t trading Murray. Everything I’ve heard from inside the walls is they have no interest in trading Murray. The Kings believe him to be a star in the making.
It makes it a little difficult because now is Toronto willing to take on a couple of veterans? Huerter is a guy who’s only 25 years old. He’s under contract for two more years after this year at a reasonable rate. Barnes still has plenty of basketball left in him. At 31 years old, he’s under contract for two years. And then Mitchell is sort of that player looking for a fresh start as a former No. 9 overall pick in 2021. I’m not sure that package is enough to get it done.
I think the Kings would still be in it, but some of the issues that we’re hearing right now at this point might be that Siakam didn’t want to come to Sacramento or he made it known that he would not sign an extension. I don’t have it on my end, but here one of my buddies here at ESPN 1320 in Sacramento, Damien Barling, according to his sources, Siakam made it clear to the Kings that he would likely not re-sign if they did trade for him. That just kind of crushes this entire deal because of the salary structure, and the fact that the Kings wouldn’t have a whole lot of cap space to replace Barnes and Heurter if they did move on from those guys and then lost Siakam in free agency.
The Kings aren’t looking for a rental. They’re looking for the piece that they believe will put them over the top, or at least put them in the championship contention range. Siakam could be that player, but if he’s not willing to buy in and be part of what they’re building here, then I don’t see the Kings coming back to the table.
Scotto: Even on paper the fit would be interesting because you’d have Domantas Sabonis at the five, you’d have Pascal at the four, Murray would have to shift to the three, and then you’d have Malik Monk probably at the two, and De’Aaron Fox at the one on paper. It’s got a lot of pop, no question.
Siakam is going to want a max contract, and if you’re the incumbent team that trades for him, you can offer the most amount of money. I wonder eventually if there would be a push comes to shove moment because, in theory, if Toronto doesn’t want to give him a full max, then would you signal to another team that you don’t want to go there when maybe they would (offer a max)?
There are teams out there that are desperate to improve. Certainly the Detroit Pistons, for example, are a team that’s been linked to him. They’re desperate to improve. For Sacramento, that would be a winning situation for him if he was able to go there. Other teams have certainly called as well.
Huerter has taken a step back this year for whatever reason. For Mitchell, I think it’d be best for both sides at this point for a fresh start because when Keon Ellis took his spot in the rotation, it raised some antennas around the league. I think it’s at a point where other teams see some value in him as a defensive guard. The longer it drags out that a guy who is undrafted and on a two-way contract is playing over a lottery, the optics outside of the organization are not going to look good for his value. I certainly would expect him to be a guy that’s on the move. When I did my top trade targets piece for HoopsHype at the start of the year, he was my top trade candidate there.
As for draft picks, I’m curious what Sacramento would ultimately do for Siakam because I think that would be the needle-moving component if you’re not going to give up Murray, which I’ve heard as well, and any other team I talked to around the league that talks to Sacramento.
