Explaining The Kings Trade With Philadelphia

The Sacramento Kings are very intent on making a splash in free agency this offseason, and they proved it Wednesday night by dealing Carl Landry, Jason Thompson and Nik Stauskas, a top-ten protected future first round pick and the right to swap firsts in two other drafts to the Philadelphia 76ers for the rights to overseas players, per Adrian Wojnarowski (who else, right?) and Zach Lowe.

It would’ve been nice for the Kings to walk away from this deal with one of Philly’s three talented young centers or Dario Saric, but instead Vlade Divac settled for “overseas players”. Why? Because cash rules everything around the NBA.

The Kings supposedly have some names already in mind to spend the cap space on, including Rajon Rondo, Wes Matthews and Monta Ellis. We’ve covered all three of these guys at some point during the offseason, so if you’d like to read further on Rondo, Matthews or Ellis go right ahead. I’ll wait here for you to get back.

Despite the Wojbombs about those three players, I’m still not sold those are the guys Divac and Kings owner Vivek Ranadive are after. To be honest, every rumor swirling Sacramento this offseason has been pretty wrong, whether it be an imminent Lakers trade for Boogie Cousins or John Calipari being recruited to coach the Kings.

Well honestly, it’s more that I sincerely hope Divac didn’t just trade a protected first round pick, offer to swap firsts in two other drafts and give up three NBA level players to get some combination of Rajon Rondo, Monta Ellis or Wes Matthews. Those guys aren’t even close to enough to get the Kings into the playoffs, much into actual contention.

This room should be used for a max level contract to someone. Who, I really have no idea. LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan, Greg Monroe, Marc Gasol and Dwyane Wade are all available (at the time of this writing). Gasol and Wade are probably impossible to get, but the other guys still seem to be available.

At least chase some younger guys with the cash. Throw a max offer at Reggie Jackson or a different restricted free agent and dare their team to match. Pick up some unrestricted young players and see if they can develop. But don’t sign two guys on the wrong side of 30.

Wes Matthews is a pickup I could get behind too, by the way. I like Wes, and think he’s a clear upgrade over McLemore at shooting guard. He might not be worth everything the Kings gave up, though.

With that being said, going for Rondo and Ellis would quite honestly be both bizarre and stupid.

That backcourt combination is terrible at defense, effort and long-range shooting. How would the Kings expect to compete with the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder with a starting five of Rondo, Ellis, Gay, Cauley-Stein and Cousins? Answer: they couldn’t.

Not to mention Rondo’s reputation as a chemistry killer being entered into the ongoing George Karl situation. If the locker room wasn’t already destroyed by Karl campaigning against Boogie, Rondo would figure out a way to make sure the Kings have an unhappy and uneasy season.

So seriously Vlade Divac, don’t tell us you dealt a draft pick and three players just to nab Rondo and Ellis. They’re too old, too expensive, and quite frankly not good enough to make the 2015-16 Kings season anything but just another lottery trip.