After coming up short of the NBA postseason once again, the Sacramento Kings’ playoff drought now sits at 15 consecutive seasons and things are looking bleak for this streak to snap next year. De’Aaron Fox had a great year for the Kings and is going to be the focal point for them moving forward, as is rookie Tyrese Haliburton, but this roster could be heading for some major changes in the offseason.
The Kings are set to enter the offseason with about $8.4M in cap space, but they do have some roster problems to sort out before they go hunting more talent. Richaun Holmes is going to be arguably the most talked about center on the free agent market this offseason and with Marvin Bagley III entering the final year of his contract next season, Sacramento could be running into some financial problems.
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Guys like Terence Davis, Hassan Whiteside and Maurice Harkless are also set to become free agents this summer, which could lead to some problems in terms of the Kings being able to add more talent to their roster in order to potentially put together a winning season for once.
De’Aaron Fox cannot carry this team on his own and the Kings need to do everything they can to keep Richaun Holmes, but this could mean that they have to part ways with a guy like Buddy Hield in order to stay within their set financial range. Hield is owed $60.8M through the 2023-24 season, but he is expendable to this team since he is a three-point specialist.
Losing him would definitely affect their offense, but freeing up his cap hold and salary could allow the Kings to add more diverse talent to their roster moving forward. If they made Hield available in trade talks, one team that comes to mind immediately that could be interested in him are the Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas needs a real three-point shooting threat and with Tim Hardaway Jr. set to become a free agent, trading for Buddy Hield logistically could make sense for them on the wing. Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz also seems to think so, as he came up with the following offseason trade proposal between the Mavericks and the Kings.
