Ranking all 14 Sacramento Kings players by trade value
By Mat Issa
Tier #4: One First Round/Multiple Second Round Picks
Kings Players In This Category: Keon Ellis, Devin Carter, Kevin Huerter, and Malik Monk
Speaking of elite bench players/solid starters, those are the types of players that make up this next tier. When you look at past trades, guys like Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, and Cameron Johnson have been treated like players worth an average first round pick. For the Kings, this is their largest tier, containing four players: Keon Ellis, Devin Carter, Kevin Huerter, and Malik Monk.
Ellis is the most tradeable of the group because he's emerged as one of the better role players in the association – providing a blend of shooting (41.7% from three), closeout attacking (88th percentile drives true shooting), perimeter defense (92nd percentile steal rate), and guard rim protection (76th percentile block rate) that bears resemblance to Derrick White. And he's on the cheapest contract of these four players, only making 4.4 million dollars over the next two years.
Carter has a similar sort of skillset, albeit with more upside. Plus, he was literally just taken in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft. So, given that he hasn't played any NBA games yet (and thereby hasn't changed his value at all), he is worth a first round pick on the open market. The reason he ranks behind Ellis is that he hasn't proven himself at the NBA level yet, and he's making over twice as much on an annual basis.
Despite a down year, Huerter is still a solid starting caliber player. Although, he's on his second contract in the NBA, so he's a lot more expensive than Ellis and Carter (average annual value of 16.3 million), making him a hair less valuable in a trade (Huerter isn't that much better than Ellis to warrant being paid eight times as much as him per year).
Monk is ranked lower than Huerter because his contract is even more expensive and has more years left on it. Also, my formula for calculating player production value views him as one of the worst contracts on the team – a byproduct of his player archetype not providing the impact necessary to match the dollar amount those players are often paid (think about Tyler Herro or Jordan Poole). Still, Monk would warrant a first round pick (or four/five seconds) in return for his services if he were ever traded.