The Sacramento Kings are at rock bottom. After falling to the tanking 17-59 Washington Wizards, the Kings have lost 11 of their last 14 games. The only reason the Kings are holding on to the tenth seed in the Western Conference is the Phoenix Suns are missing Kevin Durant and are arguably just as downtrodden as they are.
With each passing day, it seems more and more likely that the Kings will look to hit the reset button this summer. This means that Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, and DeMar DeRozan could all be made available in trade talks. So, to prepare for this possibility, we decided to rank these four players as trade assets.
4. Zach LaVine
When LaVine is feeling it, he is one of the most dangerous scorers/shooters on the planet. Just a month ago, in a win against the Charlotte Hornets, LaVine scored 42 points on 19 field goal attempts. However, his limitations as a defender and playmaker, troubling injury history, and, most importantly, his monstrous contract (still two years left on his five-year, 215 million dollar deal, per Spotrac) diminish LaVine's value to potential suitors.
3. DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan's metronomic production has continued in his 16th NBA season. For the 12th straight year, DeRozan is on track to play at least 60 games while averaging at least 20 PPG. Even as he closes in on 36, DeRozan can still be counted on to get buckets.
The problem is that DeRozan's limitations (shooting and defense) make him very hard to slot into high-level rosters, and he is no longer a good enough primary option to justify building a team around him. We'll leave him ahead of LaVine, though, because his contract is much easier to swallow (two years left on his three-year, 74 million dollar deal).
2. Malik Monk
Monk has struggled over the last two months, but he is still the second-best trade asset of the Kings' four best players. Monk isn't the isolation scorer that DeRozan is, but he is a better passer (87th percentile Passer Rating, per Thinking Basketball) and 3-point shooter (career 35% 3-point shooter). His position also isn't as important on defense.
Monk's contract is also much safer than the one LaVine is on. He signed a "big" extension last offseason, but even that was only a four-year, 78 million dollar deal.
1. Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis' flaws are well-documented. He isn't a good rim protector (7th percentile block rate among centers, per Cleaning the Glass), and he hasn't proven himself as an outside shooter in the playoffs yet.
Still, he is the Kings' best player, and his contract (three years left on a four-year, 186-million dollar deal) is much more reasonable than LaVine's gargantuan figure. Plus, we've never seen Sabonis on a team that has been able to provide him with an adequate amount of shooting and secondary rim protection.