The Sacramento Kings are not in a great place. After starting the season a respectable 8-6, the Kings have lost 11 of their last 16 games, putting them at 13-17 and 12th in the unforgiving Western Conference.
This free fall, coupled with rumors regarding franchise stalwart De'Aaron Fox, has led many to ponder over whether or not the team could be looking to enter a rebuilding phase. However, recent reports are suggesting that the Kings could be looking to go in the other direction.
Kyle Kuzma trade rumors
One team many people be keeping a close eye on heading into the trade deadline is the Washington Wizards. At 4-22, the Wizards are clearly in a rebuilding situation. So, they will be looking to move their veteran free agents for draft capital. And one of the players on their roster that people will be inquiring the most about is their second-leading scorer, Kyle Kuzma (15.8 PPG).
On Sunday, NBA Insider Marc Stein, in his weekly news dump, had this to say about the Kings and Kuzma:
"Sacramento has also been mentioned as a team that could revisit past interest in Kuzma amid the Kings' 5-10 slump, but it remains to be seen if the versatile 6-foot-9 forward indeed emerges as a true Kings target this winter. The Kings' interest in Kuzma has been up-and-down in recent transaction cycles," Stein wrote on his substack.
As we've discussed on numerous occasions here at A Royal Pain, a big reason the Kings are struggling is they don't have enough role players who offer size, shooting, and defense to surround Fox, Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Malik Monk.
In theory, Kuzma, as a 6'9 forward, offers those things. However, in practice, that hasn't really been the case. This season, Kuzma is shooting 27.8% from three. He's also in the 38th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus, the fourth percentile in steal rate, and the 17th percentile in block rate (per Dunks & Threes).
With that said, one could argue that Kuzma is simply struggling in those areas because he's being asked to do too much on the undermanned Wizards. The last time he was in more of a role player role (2020-21), Kuzma shot 36.1% from three while posting a DEF EPM in the 63rd percentile and block rate in the 59th percentile.
Regardless, given how intense the Kings' struggles are, and how imperfect of a complimentary piece Kuzma currently seems to be, it seems unlikely that acquiring him will be able to save the team's season. A better fit would be Cameron Johnson because, at the very least, you are getting a consistent shooter (42.2% 3-point shooter this season).