Tier #1: Negative Assets
Kings Players In This Category: Jalen McDaniels
The worst of the six categories I've created is the negative assets group. These players are on contracts that are so bad that you have to attach assets to them just to get them off your books.
Fortunately, our Kings only have one of these players on our roster – a testament to the job our front office has done at constructing this roster. Anyway, the player in this category is Jalen McDaniels.
McDaniels is owed 4.7 million dollars next season (double what the veteran minimum is for a player of his experience) despite having one of the worst Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM) scores in the entire NBA (514th out of 518 players, per Dunks & Threes).
If the Kings want to trade McDaniels, they will likely need to attach a future second round pick to him in order for a team to swallow his salary. The good news here is that McDaniels only has one year left on his deal and will be an unrestricted free agent in the 2025 offseason.