On Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings were finally put out of their misery, falling to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Now, the team's focus is shifted toward the offseason and figuring out what their next move should be. To me, despite all the disappointment this year was filled with, the Kings still have a borderline top 25 player in Domantas Sabonis.
However, the Kings have never really maximized Sabonis' strengths and weaknesses the way that the Houston Rockets have with Alperen Sengun or the Denver Nuggets have with Nikola Jokic. And I think Sabonis deserves a chance to see how far he can push a team when he does have a better-fitting supporting cast.
Obviously, to do that, changes need to be made, and three players in particular need to be moved on from to try and build this team for Sabonis.
DeMar DeRozan
DeMar DeRozan is among the most well-respected and consistent players in the NBA. For the 12th straight year, he averaged at least 20 PPG. Plus, he's on a solid contract.
The problem is that DeRozan is who he is at this point. He's a floor raiser. When you have him, your team will always be in the play-in mix, but it would require a very specific roster to be more than that. This year showed us that a Sabonis/DeRozan combo isn't the specific roster we are talking about. And since Sabonis is the younger/better player, the Kings need to prioritize him and get off DeRozan.
Jonas Valanciunas
Jonas Valanciunas is another floor raiser. In fact, he is so good at raising the floor of his teams that he has never missed a Play-In Tournament. As a general rule, though, floor raisers don't fare too well in the postseason.
Along with those issues, Valanciunas shares the same flaws as Sabonis. Like Sabonis, he isn't a good rim protector at the center spot, and he doesn't take enough threes (6th percentile in threes per 75) to be deemed a threat on the perimeter by opposing teams.
You usually want a backup center who gives you a different look than your starting center (like when the Nuggets use Aaron Gordon as their backup center for Jokic in the playoffs). The Kings need to find a backup big that gives them more scheme versatility than Valanciunas.
Zach LaVine
I don't think Zach LaVine is an empty-calorie scorer, but this run with the Kings clearly showed that there is a disconnect between LaVine's numbers and high-level impact on winning. I think Michael Pina said it best in a recent article for The Ringer:
"His career is a testament to the fine line that separates 'talent' from 'good.' He’s a very skilled player who tends to present himself less as the driving force behind wins and more as a self-neutralizing passenger who’s merely along for the ride."
LaVine is a very good offensive player, but he is far too expensive (making him one of the worst contracts in the NBA this year) to realistically acquire all the other pieces the Kings need to build a winner around Sabonis. So, the Kings need to find a way to get him off their payroll.