Kings trade deadline: 3 teams that could buy low on Richaun Holmes
Coming into the 2022-23 NBA season, there were a lot of fair questions to be asked regarding Richaun Holmes and what his role would and could look like for the Sacramento Kings. Nearly halfway through the season, we have a lot more answers.
Unfortunately, those answers aren’t very positive from anyone’s perspective in the situation. Holmes himself would love to play a bigger role and get more opportunity, while the Kings would prefer to not be paying someone over $11 million this season to mostly ride the bench.
It’s obvious to everyone involved that a change of scenery could be a win-win in this situation. Holmes has proven himself at the very least to be a capable center in the league and as the NBA stands right now, it could be argued he’s better than a number of full-time starters.
Due to the Kings style of play and roster construction, though, Holmes is averaging just 9.2 minutes per game this year across 25 appearances. If anyone doesn’t remember what he can do with the right playing time and style of play, during the 2020-21 season he averaged 14.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in 29.2 minutes per contest.
Holmes has two remaining years on his contract after this season concludes. While those salaries are a bit high for the Kings because they simply do not have a way to use him effectively, a number of teams could see his price tag as pretty good value for the remaining two seasons.
The Kings will be willing to listen to any trade offers they can make to improve their current group and if a package is centered around a player they aren’t getting anything from, it will be that much easier to pull the trigger.
From the opposing side of the deal, this would be a high-quality buy-low opportunity. Reasonable salary, is only a few years under contract and is a proven player that is simply not seeing the court with his current team. If your team is lacking at the center position, they might want to look into the idea of trading for Richaun Holmes.
Plenty of teams actually make sense in terms of having a certain level of interest in the Kings backup big man. A few teams stand out well above the rest, though.