Sacramento Kings: Best trade in team history with every NBA franchise
Best trades in Sacramento Kings history: De’Aaron Fox becomes the face of a generation
These two teams engaged in a swap of future draft picks in 2015, the first of which was not set to convey until 2017. These became Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox at No. 3 and No. 5 overall respectively. The deal also contained a 2019 first-round draft pick, which ultimately became Romeo Langford. This trade ultimately set the course for the next generation of Kings basketball, allowing Fox to become “the man” and take this team as far as he is capable.
Now, had the 76ers played their cards right, they would be in a much better situation right now. This trade would have actually been a massive win for them, as they used their ability to swap picks to move up to No. 3 in the first place. Instead, Philadelphia packaged the picks that became Tatum and Langford together and sent them to Boston in return for the No. 1 overall pick… where they chose Markelle Fultz. This was obviously a disastrous misstep for the franchise, one that may have cost them their window of contention while Boston and Sacramento continue to build around the stars they passed on.
- Sacramento received: 13.2 future win shares
- Philadelphia received: 4.0 future win shares
Regardless of how high Phoenix may have been on Marquese Chriss at the time, this always felt like way too much talent to be giving up for a guy with so many obvious holes in his game. There will always be hyper-athletic players that are lacking in real NBA skills in every draft, and the Suns really took the bait here.
The biggest misstep for Sacramento here was their failure to retain the projects that actually worked out. Bogdan Bogdanovic over time became a very good NBA player and as we all witnessed, was crucial in Atlanta’s recent Eastern Conference Finals push. Xavier Tillman also has the makings of a very good role player, but he was dealt on draft day for Robert Woodard and a 2022 second-round pick.
- Sacramento received: 11.8 future win shares
- Phoenix received: 2.5 future win shares