5 Players the Sacramento Kings gave up on too soon

2. Isaiah Thomas

This one may not hurt as much as others considering the state of Kings basketball at the time, but watching Isaiah Thomas blossom into the MVP candidate he became with the Celtics had to leave Kings fans feeling some type of way.

Thomas was very solid during his time in Sacramento, averaging 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists while shooting 44.7% from the field and 36.0% from deep on 4.2 attempts. While his defense was poor and efficiency could have been better, there were certainly flashes of greatness from Thomas.

Despite this, the Kings opted to trade Thomas to the Suns in the summer of 2014 for Alex Oriakhi and a trade exception. Oriakhi would never play a game in the NBA, so it’s clear the Kings did this to clear cap space.

While Thomas wouldn’t accomplish much in Phoenix due to their poor management at the time, the second he was traded to the Celtics, he became a two-time All-Star and even had an MVP-level season in 2016 when he averaged nearly 29 points per game.

Injuries would plague Thomas for the rest of his career, causing him to fall out of the NBA sooner than he should have, but the few prime seasons Thomas had would have been incredibly fun to watch play alongside Cousins and co. in Sacramento.