With trade season underway, the Sacramento Kings are expected to make big moves. Or at least try to, anyway. One team that may have interest in All-Star center Domantas Sabonis is the Phoenix Suns. He could help them find the next level while creating an opening for the Kings to evolve.
After a failed roster experiment, the Suns are also trying to sort a few things out. They attempted to build a superteam with Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker. It didn't go anywhere. Durant moved to the Rockets, and it's going incredibly well. Beal is on the Clippers and out for the season.
Devin Booker is still with Phoenix, which has always been the right fit for him. As part of the seven-team trade, the Rockets sent Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns. That has worked out well for Phoenix as Brooks has played a big part in infusing the team with new energy.
What they lack is a second to Booker. He is their main star without question, and the guy Phoenix will continue to build around in the coming years. At the moment, his second is Dillon Brooks, who is playing incredible basketball at the moment. That is unsustainable, which is where Sabonis comes in.
Domantas Sabonis moves to Phoenix to enjoy the dry heat
At center, the Suns currently have Nick Richards, Mark Williams, and rookie Khaman Maluach. Williams and Richards are both solid, while Maluach is still deep in the development cycle. At this point, he doesn't seem to be where the Suns need him to be.
Sabonis fixes two problems for the Suns. If they run the offense through him as their primary center, Domantas will score big points and collect any rebound that gets close to him. Plus, he becomes the perfect second star to Devin Booker, with the two of them feeding off each other.
The major drawback to Sabonis is that he is weak on defense. Mark Williams and Dillon Brooks, two intense and accomplished defenders, would balance that out nicely. Running a double big line with Williams and Sabonis together could be devastating to their opponents.
Again, this is wild speculation at best, but it could work out well for the Kings. They would be able to move Sabonis and potentially pick up some interesting players. It would likely have to be a multi-team trade to deal with the salary cap issues on the Suns' side of the equation, though.