This has been a rather dismal season for the Sacramento Kings and their All-Star center, Domantas Sabonis. A major injury has kept him on the shelf, and the Kings have been unable to trade him. Now that he has undergone season-ending surgery, it will be even harder to move him in the offseason.
Saying the Kings are in desperate need of a rebuild is like saying there are a lot of fish in the Pacific Ocean. It's obvious, and everyone knows it's true. Unfortunately, Sacramento's top stars are their biggest problems due to their massive contracts that no other teams want to take on.
Sabonis has two years left on his contract worth just over $45 million for 2026-2027 and nearly $49 million for 2027-2028. Zach LaVine, on the other hand, only has one year left, which is also worth nearly $49 million. But that is a player option, and LaVine may still choose to leave.
The nearly $100 million and two-years left on Sabonis's contract make it nearly impossible to trade him. Now that he has had season-ending surgery for the torn meniscus in his left knee that kept him out most of the season, any chance of trading him in the near future is all but gone.
The Raptors potential Sabonis deal with the Kings is over
As the 2026 Trade Deadline got closer, the only team that seemed to have a serious interest in Sabonis was the Raptors. That trade never materialized, and it has become more apparent since then that the Kings were more interested in moving Sabonis than Toronto was in taking him.
At that time, the Raptors were offering R.J. Barrett, either Ochai Agbaji or Immanuel Quickley, and likely a draft pick. On top of that, the Raptors needed to find a third team to take Jakob Poeltl and his silly contract to make all of this work. The Kings were certainly not willing to deal with it.
Toronto has been rumored to have interest in Sabonis for the better part of a year now, but giving up R.J. Barrett for him is too steep a price. That's only become more true with Sabonis injured, and now out for the rest of the season due to surgery to hopefully fix the problem.
No one is going to pay almost $100 million for an injured center who can't play defense when he is healthy. Even if the Raptors remain interested, it's hard to see them making a trade until they see Sabonis back on the court and healthy. Then again, they did trade for an injured Brandon Ingram.