With rumors swirling about De'Aaron Fox potentially being a realistic trade target in the near future, everyone is giving their take on how the Sacramento Kings should handle this situation. So, we figured we would throw our two cents in the mix.
It may be time to trade De'Aaron Fox
Listen, everyone in Sacramento loves Fox. Not only was he drafted by the Kings. He also stayed with them through their downtrodden years and helped guide them to the conclusion of their embarrassing playoff drought. And now, he's having a fantastic 2024-25 season, one that should land him his second career All-Star appearance.
No one wants to trade a guy like that, especially in a year where you started out feeling like you had a real chance to play sleeper in the Western Conference. But when you start the year the way they have (13-16 and 12th in the Western Conference), changes need to be made.
The sad truth is that this Kings' team is a deeply flawed roster. Their three best players (Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan) don't synergize well. The three stars have overlapping skill sets. They are all on-ball-centric players who don't space the floor well and (outside of Fox) are below-average defenders.
Malik Monk is a better shooter/off-ball player, but other than that, it's the same story. He's a player who plays better with the ball in his hands and he doesn't move the needle on defense.
Lineup data paints the same picture. According to Cleaning the Glass, when those four players share the floor with Keegan Murray (416 non-garbage time possessions), the Kings have a point differential of +4.2 per 100 possessions (52nd percentile). For reference, championship-caliber teams are usually at a +9 per 100 when it comes to lineups featuring all/most of their best players.
Remember, the NBA is a game where teams are limited in resources by a salary cap. So, the more you overindulge in one area of the game (as the Kings have done with on-ball creation), the less you can splurge in other areas.
This Kings team is missing role players who can shoot, defend the perimeter, and protect the paint. That's why the teams are so much better with Murray and Keon Ellis. They are the only guys who (in theory) can give them what they are desperately missing.
If you sub out Monk for Ellis in the lineup we mentioned above (101 possessions), the Kings have a much more promising point differential of +24.9 per 100 (88th percentile).
One may see this and think that the team could trade DeRozan for a role player that gives them more balance and trot out a team built around Fox, Sabonis, and a cast of 3-and-D guys.
The issue with that is that we've kind of already seen what that looks like from last year. Now, could DeRozan and other assets net them a wing/forward that is better than Harrison Barnes?
Maybe. But even if that player is better, I doubt it will be to the degree necessary to get this team to outer/inner circle contender status.
At the end of the day, it seems this team is flawed to its core. So, the Kings should seriously consider hitting the reset button and trading their beloved franchise icon before they lose him in free agency for nothing or sign him to a bloated extension.