Grade the trade pitch: the Sacramento Kings say goodbye to their prized free agent signing

On a recent episode of the Thinking Basketball, one of the hosts, Ben Taylor, floated a trade idea involving our Sacramento Kings and their biggest addition from the 2024 offseason, DeMar DeRozan (who they acquired in a sign-and-trade with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs).

Taylor suggested that the Kings explore a DeRozan trade with the Orlando Magic. Unfortunately, though, he did not pitch a specific trade idea. So, given that we are a website dedicated to the Kings, we figured we would finish what he started.

So, here is a hypothetical DeRozan to the Magic trade and grades for both the parties involved.

The DeMar DeRozan Trade

Keep in mind that because of the contracts of Goga Bitadze and Gary Harris, the deal can't take place until December 15. Other than that, the money should balance out between the two teams. Now that we have the parameters of the deal, here are the grades.

Orlando Magic

Grade: B

For the Magic, they get DeRozan in exchange for the services of Bitadze, Harris, and Anthony Black, and to sweeten the pot, they get a future second round pick with light protections (for more information on valuing star players, check out this article here).

The Magic are a great defensive team (5th in defensive rating) that is in desperate need of a player who can create for themselves and others (29th in offensive rating). DeRozan has been a walking bucket for over a decade, and over the last few years, he's added to his playmaking bag (81st percentile in assist rate last year). He's also on a good contract (3-year, 73.9 million) and is aging like fine wine.

In exchange, all they have to do is shed some redundancies on their roster. Bitadze is a highly underrated big man, but he's been buried behind Wendell Carter Jr., Moritz Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac (when they go small ball) on the center depth chart. So, the pathway to playing time for him on the Magic is long and arduous.

Harris is a good veteran and sound two-way role player, but they already have Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who is basically a supercharged version of him. Losing a promising young talent like Black hurts, but his development was getting stunted by the presence of Jalen Suggs (who is a higher priority for the franchise) anyway.

The reason this only gets a B is because DeRozan is a good offensive engine, but not a great one. He can't shoot the three-ball (career 29.7% 3-point shooter), and he doesn't get to the rim too often anymore (25th percentile in rim attempts per 75 possessions this year, per Dunks & Threes). As a result, there is a ceiling to the offenses he captain.

Sacramento Kings

Grade: C+

By shedding their new toy (and potentially some future draft capital), the Kings will receive a cast of role players to flank their core of De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray, and Malik Monk.

In a vacuum, I am a proponent of the team shoring up their surplus of on-ball creation in exchange for more two-way talent to balance out their roster. However, I am not sure that these are not the individuals I had in mind.

Bitadze is one of the best (if not the best) backup bigs/spot starters that money can buy. He would be a great fill-in for Sabonis for 12-15 minutes per game.

The problem is Harris and Black. They are good players that could help winning teams get better. Just not this winning team. Harris and Black are more of guard/small wing three-and-D players. The Kings already have this void filled by the likes of Keon Ellis (who they already are struggling to find minutes for) and Devin Carter (when he comes back).

What the Kings really need is more of a power forward type of three-and-D player (because of their lack of size). They wouldn't be getting that in this deal, and they'd be losing a fan favorite who has been balling out on his new team (25.6 PPG on 62.3% true shooting). That's why we think they are getting the short end of the stick.*

(*Sidebar: I'm not sure how it would work money-wise, but if the Kings could find a way to add Tristan da Silva or Jett Howard in there to give them that functional size, this becomes much more beneficial for them.)