At 23-22 and the heart of the race for playoff/play-in seeding in the Western Conference, the Sacramento Kings are one of the many teams that will be looking to upgrade their team during the deadline. So, with the deadline less than two weeks away (Thursday, February 6), we decided to discuss who the team should and should not make untradeable.
Players who should be untouchable for the Sacramento Kings
For me, the Kings only really have three players that should be considered untradeable for them this trade deadline cycle. Those individuals are Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray, and Devin Carter.
Sabonis' presence on this list is pretty easy to explain. Not only is he one of the team's best players (if not their best player), but there has never been a concern about him potentially wanting out of Sacramento. If you're the Kings, you keep Sabonis around as long as you plan on being competitive (especially with the recent improvements he's made to his game).
As for Murray and Carter, they are the Kings' two best young players. Carter obviously hasn't flashed as much promise as Murray, but he also hasn't had enough of an opportunity to showcase what he can do (he's only appeared in ten games so far this year). Given how much he impressed in the pre-draft process, Carter deserves to be untouched this cycle so that he can prove how good he is.
What about everyone else?
It makes perfect sense why you wouldn't make players who are not in your day-to-day rotation unavailable in a trade. So, we will only focus on explanations for the players who do play for them consistently.
Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles are easy ones. The two bench players have been mentioned in pretty much every hypothetical trade involving the Kings. While both players can contribute to playoff teams, they also represent the Kings' best matching salaries. So, there is no reason to not entertain the idea of trading them.
As much as we love Keon Ellis here at A Royal Pain, he shouldn't be untouchable. Given how impactful he is and how cheap his contract is (a 2.1 million dollar cap hit this year), Ellis could be seen as the equivalent of a first round pick in the trade market. Besides, Ellis' playstyle is reasonably similar to Carter's, which makes it harder to find more minutes for the rookie combo guard.
Lastly, there is the Big Three ballhandlers: De'Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan, and Malik Monk. As we have said before, the Kings have too much on-ball creation and not enough size and spacing. To solve this problem, the Kings need to trade one of the three players we mentioned above for someone (or multiple players) who will give them more size and spacing.
Normally, I would just say that the Kings should choose between DeRozan and Monk. However, given the rumors about Fox potentially being unhappy with the team and Monk's emergence as a starter, it makes sense to not rule out the prospect of moving him for the right offer, even if it isn't the preferred option.