Kings Trade Dedmon to Atlanta

The Sacramento Kings made a minor move before the trade deadline. Who are the new guys and what do they bring to the franchise?

With the trade deadline looming, the Sacramento Kings agreed to a trade with the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday evening. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Kings were shipping Dewayne Dedmon to the place where he spent the last two seasons in exchange for Jabari Parker and Alex Len.

So what do Parker and Len bring to the Kings? Can they make any kind of difference in a season that is slipping away?

Jabari Parker

Parker was drafted in 2014 by the Milwaukee Bucks with the second overall pick. He played in Milwaukee for four seasons, before signing with his hometown Chicago Bulls where he played for a short period before getting traded to the Wizards. Before the start of this season, he agreed to a two year, $13 million deal with the Hawks.

He has battled quite a few ailments during his early NBA career. His biggest injury came during his first season in Milwaukee when he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee, playing in a total of just 25 games. He managed to play in 76 games the next year, but during the 16-17 season, he suffered a second ACL injury in the same knee. The next season he came back to play in 31 games after being brought up from the G-League. Currently, he is battling a shoulder injury and could return soon.

Due to injury, Parker’s stats had declined initially, but have steadily climbed since the ACL was torn. The good news for Kings fans is he still has room to grow as he is only 24 years old. Over his first three seasons, Parker saw an increase in production despite the injuries. He went from scoring 12.3 points per game in his rookie season to 20.1 points in just 152 games time. Due to the injuries, his numbers regressed and he averaged 12.6 points and 5 rebounds per game in his last full season with the Bucks in 31 games. Since then, he has improved to 15 points and 6 rebounds per game with the Hawks in 26 minutes.

Parker needs to improve his shooting as he is making just 27 percent of this shots from three. Another thing he should continue to focus on is the effort especially on defense as he has had past history of making comments about defense:

"“They don’t pay players to play defense”"

Offensively speaking, Parker’s strengths are his athleticism and versatility.

Alex Len

Len is another intriguing player. The 26-year-old Ukranian was initially drafted by the Suns with 5th overall pick, and he spent five seasons in Phoenix and averaged 7.2 points per game and 6.5 rebounds. During the 2018 offseason, he signed with the Hawks. His numbers dramatically improved with the Hawks in one season, having averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds on 36 percent 3-point shooting in 20 minutes last season.

This year, however, Len numbers have dipped. He is only averaging 8.7 points per game, 5.8 rebounds and 25% shooting in 18 minutes. Currently, Len is out with a hip injury for 7-10 days as of January 31st.

What does this mean moving forward?

The Kings want a chance to sign Bogdan Bogdanovic. This move allows them to remain flexible going into contract negotiations this summer. Sacramento also got younger after this trade. They will be able to get a sense of how much, if at all, Parker and Len can help the team with the remaining games on the schedule

There will be plenty of story lines to keep an eye on down the stretch of the season, including the development of both Parker and Len.