4 Most likely Sacramento Kings to be traded away this summer

Chris Duarte

2023-24 Stats: 3.9 PPG/1.8 RPG/0.7 APG on 51.2% True Shooting

Speaking of inconsistent roles, I raise you Chris Duarte. After being acquired from the Indiana Pacers, Duarte did a little bit of everything. He started some games (11 games), came off the bench for some (48), and even logged a handful of DNP-CDs (23).

All this is a setup to say that Duarte never found his footing with the Kings this season. In theory, he was supposed to be a bigger body and better spacer than Mitchell (goes back to the functional size thing we've talked so much about). But, in practice, after a strong rookie season (36.9% from three), Duarte hasn't surpassed the 35% mark from downtown in either of his last two seasons.

Duarte is older (27), wasn't drafted by the Kings (so the front office doesn't have any personal investment in him), and doesn't have a specific specialty that makes him useful for certain situations (Mitchell has his on-ball defense). These variables (and the fact that Duarte has a very similar contract to Mitchell) make it more likely that the Kings would use him as a salary filler in a blockbuster deal over Mitchell.

We discussed this in our article on a potential Kuzma trade, but Duarte would fit perfectly in a hypothetical Harrison Barnes/Kuzma deal. Here is what it would look like: