Ranking every Kings player by trade likelihood

Los Angeles Lakers v Sacramento Kings
Los Angeles Lakers v Sacramento Kings / Lachlan Cunningham/GettyImages
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12. Domantas Sabonis

Domantas Sabonis is the heart of the Kings’ offense. Trading for him helped break the curse of a 16-season-long playoff drought. Without him, they are not the same team and he just signed a new extension. 

The big man is under contract until the end of the 2027-28 season. For the next few years, the Kings are not trading him. He has defensive limitations, but Sabonis leads the team in rebounds and assists and is their second-leading scorer. 

Eventually, he is more likely to be traded than both Fox and Murray, however. Cores rarely stay together forever, especially if they don’t continuously produce deep playoff runs. When the Kings reach the point when it is time to move on, Sabonis is more likely to go than the other two, as he is the oldest and not homegrown. 

For now, Sabonis is here to stay, however. 

11. Malik Monk

Malik Monk is the perfect fit for the Kings coming off the bench. He can handle the ball, is developing into a really good playmaker, can score and take over games when needed, and is okay with being the sixth man. Plus, he and Fox have great chemistry from their college days.

Unfortunately, Monk is in the last year of his contract and playing for a pay raise. This alone makes him unlikely to be traded, but there also seems to be mutual interest in a new deal to keep him in Sacramento. 

It is not impossible that Monk ends up being traded, but it is rather unlikely, especially since most big-time deals would require the Kings to ship out Davion Mitchell and/or Kevin Huerter, which would make Monk even more important.