Sacramento Kings: A Blockbuster Trade Idea For Sacramento Kings

Hey Sacramento Kings fans…can we stop with the Buddy Hield for Tobias Harris trade ideas? And which one of you accepted this offer in your fantasy GM league?

The NBA off season is typically one of the best rumor seasons in all of sports, and the current league hiatus has fans cooking up crazy trade scenarios to try to improve their team. Bleacher Report has taken it to another level, and created a Fantasy GM League based on the current rosters in the NBA. B/R employees will be taking over as “general manager” for all 30 teams, and @HughesNBA is the representative for the Sacramento Kings.

We’re not exactly sure who Hughes is, given that his Twitter account is currently suspended. But he executed a trade in the Fantasy league that we’re not so sure about yet.

We have been on the “Trade Buddy Hield” train since early March, so we are certainly open to any potential offers from other teams. The one proposed by Bleacher Report is a blockbuster:

There is also a 2022 protected first round pick that is headed back to Sacramento.

Do we love this trade for the Kings? Absolutely not. There are so many moving pieces and scenarios that we would be hesitant to pull the trigger without being seriously convinced.

A trade of Hield for Harris is one thing in of itself. One of the biggest motives for the Kings to part ways with Hield would be the contract extension that will kick in this year, and replacing him with a guy like Harris who has a bloated contract wouldn’t be the savviest of financial moves by Sacramento. In 2023-’24, Hield is owed $18 million. Harris is owed $39.2 million.

And are the Kings that much better with Harris instead of Hield? $21 million better?

Now, one place that the Kings would save a good amount of money in this trade would be the dealing of Harrison Barnes and Cory Joseph. Depending on what kind of money Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Aaron Fox, and Marvin Bagley come in to in the coming months, Barnes and Joseph are two of the teams top-4 paid players. Getting rid of both of their contracts would give them some cap flexibility, though most of it would be eaten up by Harris.

Josh Richardson and Zhaire Smith seem more like throw-ins for this trade than anything else. They likely wouldn’t be more than role players for Sacramento, far less impactful than the players they would be replacing.

Say what you want about Barnes and his contract, but he is the undisputed veteran leader of the team and the coaching staff often finds him when the team needs a big basket. As for Joseph, you might think that he is overpaid as well. But who do you want defending the all-world point guards in the Western Conference? De’Aaron Fox and Yogi Ferrell?

For the 76ers to get us listening to this trade, it would have taken a lot more than Richardson and Smith as throw ins. One of the most intriguing players on the Philadelphia roster is Matisse Thybulle, who is a defensive stopper that the Kings haven’t had in nearly 20 years. If he were in this trade somewhere, we’d be more inclined to consider it.

So for @HughesNBA, whoever you are, please be mindful of our finances and stay focused on our future. We aren’t winning any championships in 2021.

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