With De'Aaron Fox and Kevin Huerter now gone, everyone is talking about how the headliner of the Sacramento Kings' return package, Zach LaVine, will fit on his new team.
However, an underrated part about all of this is the void left by Fox's departure and who on the team will have to step up in his place.
Malik Monk needs to step up for De'Aaron Fox
As we discussed in a recent post breaking down the team's lineup after this deal, LaVine will be the team's starting shooting guard, while Monk slides into the point guard mantle once held by Fox.
Monk is a great floor general and ball handler. He should have no problem fulfilling the duties of the nominal one spot. However, with Fox now on the San Antonio Spurs, what the Kings will really need Monk to do is be their primary creator.
It is very rare that a center is a team's primary offensive engine. Even with how skilled Domantas Sabonis is, he's more of a passing hub and play-finisher. As for DeMar DeRozan, given his advanced age and limitations as a scorer/passer (doesn't shoot a lot of threes and isn't an elite facilitator), he's better suited as a secondary creator.
The same can be said for LaVine. Given his dynamic scoring skillset (and weaknesses as a playmaker), you want LaVine playing more of an off-ball/on-ball hybrid role.
So, based on that process of elimination, the only logical conclusion is to have Monk take over as the team's primary creator. And if the flashes we've seen are evidence of anything, Monk is ready to take on this role.
As we discussed in a prior post, Monk has been a great passer for years. In a recent episode of the "Game Theory Podcast," analysts Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon even went as far as to say that he is at least on par with Fox in that area.
Then, unlike DeRozan, Monk can adequately score at all three levels. On the season, Monk is hitting 65.1% of his shots at the rim (62nd percentile), 46.9% from the midrange (76th percentile), and 33.1% from three (31st percentile, per Dunks & Threes). Monk's raw 3-point percentage is low, but that's because he takes a ton of pull-up threes (87th percentile, per Thinking Basketball), which are much harder than catch-and-shoot threes. Besides, Monk's overall 3-point volume (78th percentile) is high enough that teams will guard him from out there.
Fox's exit creates a gaping hole that Monk needs to fill. However, it seems like Sacramento's favorite son is more than for the new challenge.