The Lasting Impact & Grade Of This Trade For The Kings
Torment and misery are the two words to describe the Sacramento Kings as a franchise right now and after trading for All-Star Domantas Sabonis, these two works remain a part of this franchise.
Domantas Sabonis is a great player in his own right and is a proven All-Star talent, but he is not the kind of All-Star you can lean on to win games, especially in a playoff setting. This move Sacramento made does not answer any of the questions the Kings already had this season and instead, adds more questions to one of the most puzzling franchises in NBA history.
In Indiana, Sabonis carried a heavy load and was always one of the first players noticed in the stat sheets given his ability to record triple-doubles from the power-forward position. However, the Indiana Pacers never won more than 48 games in a season with Domantas Sabonis being their featured leader and in three playoff appearances with Sabonis, the Pacers failed to win a series.
Maybe the Kings are more than happy with just making the playoffs, getting trounced in the first round, and ending their 15-year playoff drought, but this could very well go down as the biggest mistake in Sacramento Kings history.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Kings, Pacers Finalize Trade Involving Domantas Sabonis, Tyrese Haliburton
Winning 48 games or more sounds great from the Kings’ perspective, but they have less talent than the Pacers have had over the years and Tyrese Haliburton was one of the most productive players in the entire league. Oh, and by the way, he is only 21-years-old and already showing All-Star-like potential.
De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes remain a part of the Kings roster, as of right now, yet they still have flaws on their bench, they still have flaws defensively and most importantly, they do not really have any reliable scorers.
Sacramento pinpointed Domantas Sabonis as “their guy” near the start of the season and he was the player that they felt most comfortable trading away their future for. Building around De’Aaron Fox is something the Kings believe will win them games and handing him one of the best rebounding big men and one of the better pick-and-roll big men in the league will surely help Fox advance his personal game.
As a team though, the Kings still have many flaws and it is hard to envision them breaking their 15-year playoff drought this season after making this trade
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Kings, Pacers Finalize Trade Involving Domantas Sabonis, Tyrese Haliburton
As mentioned earlier, the Kings are currently two games back from the 10-seed right now and with the New Orleans Pelicans just adding CJ McCollum, it is hard to imagine that they will fall out of the play-in tournament range. The Timberwolves, Clippers, and Lakers are the three other teams seeded 7-9, respectively, right now, making things highly questionable for the Sacramento Kings this season.
Domantas Sabonis is a great player, but the fit in Sacramento is very questionable both now and moving forward.
GRADE: C
