When looking at the personnel of the Sacramento Kings, it looks almost complete. The starters are solid, the team has depth, and the talent on the roster is filled in almost every position.
Although the roster looks great on paper, the results don’t match at all with their talent. Right now the Kings are currently ranked 10th in the Western Conference standings, 2 games back from reaching the 8th seed.
Obviously, there are some holes that need to be filled on this roster still, which leads to the question of what position on the roster do the Kings need to enhance the most going forward?
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Right now the two-guard position for the Kings is seriously lagging. Ben McLemore, who made a significant leap of improvement last season, has made minimal growth this year, and Marco Belinelli has also struggled with the Kings as well.
If the Kings were to attain an established two guard, it would help the team immensely for this season. A two guard that not only can execute and be efficient on the offensive end, but also can defend as well.
Right now a possible solution to that would be Arron Afflalo from the New York Knicks. Afflalo, who has played in George Karl’s system before, has shown to be a solid player throughout his NBA career. He has shown to be efficient on both ends of the court, and maybe the most important fact has shown already to succeed under Karl’s system statistically (per Basketball Reference).
It would, however, be difficult for the Kings to acquire Afflalo without giving up too much, plus based on Spotrac, his contract could possibly exceed the limit of the Kings cap room if attained. Afflalo currently is scheduled to get paid 8 million dollars annually for the next two seasons.
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A possible deal that could happen that would keep the cap room below the limit for both teams would be sending Ben McLemore and Kosta Koufos to New York for Afflalo and maybe a 2nd round draft pick in return.
It would be hard though for Sacramento to give up Koufos because DeMarcus Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein (who is currently injured) would be the only legitimate big men on the roster if the Kings don’t get a big man back in return.
Overall, unless Ben McLemore, Marco Belinelli, or Seth Curry are able to up their game to another level, the two guard position will remain to be the weakest link for the Kings personnel. If the Kings were to make a trade for Arron Afflalo or any other two guards, it would possibly solve the solution for the two guard spot. On the other hand, it could also open up another hole in other positions on the depth chart as well.
It’s a tough decision for the Kings front office to make. Do they ride and die with the players they have now or do they actively search for solutions currently on other teams? Either way, that position has to improve going forward if the Kings want to get better.