After a busy offseason, most people believed that the Sacramento Kings were done making moves ahead of the 2024-25 regular season. But alas, it appears that they had one more move left in the chamber.
On Monday, it was reported that the Kings executed their second trade (the first was a sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan) with the San Antonio Spurs this offseason, sending Jalen McDaniels and a second-round pick for what seems to be cash consideration.
The Sacramento Kings are trading F Jalen McDaniels and a second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/VzGWWFz6kJ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 14, 2024
The end of an era before it even began
This is McDaniels second time being involved in a trade this offseason. In late June, McDaniels was traded to the Kings from the Toronto Raptors in return for Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov, and two second round picks. This was going to be McDaniels' first season with the Kings. So, this recent trade means that McDaniels never even had a chance to play meaningful minutes in Sacramento.
This is particularly fascinating when you think about the Kings' current roster construction. As it stands, the Kings have an offensively-slanted roster that is lacking in size and defense. As someone who is 6'10 and shares a genetic background with defensive ace Jaden McDaniels, Jalen McDaniels should theoretically be able to provide these contributions.
But after a rough 2023-24 campaign, one where McDaniels posted an Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM) that was in the 1st percentile leaguewide (per Dunks & Threes), the Kings may not have much faith in his ability to be a productive player for them.
Moving Forward
For the Spurs, the goal with this deal here was to absorb some cap space (4.7 million, per Spotrac) in return for some more draft capital (the second round pick), as it looks like they will be waiving McDaniels immediately.
As for our Kings, they wanted to get off some money in order to increase their financial flexibility in the event that they decided to make another major move during the 2024-25 regular season. After all, the Kings have some lofty ambitions for this year, and there is a chance that they'll need the spending power this trade created to fully realize that potential.
It should be especially telling to the rest of the league that the Kings would rather save the money than take a flier at a position where they really need help. Maybe this is a sign undrafted rookie Isaiah Crawford is further along than we think.
While no perfect candidate currently exists on the trade market, some future targets for the Kings could include Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kyle Kuzma, and Dillon Brooks.