https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-trade-rumors-jaylen-brown-154011053.html?src=rss
Fischer: Hield has definitely been open for trade possibilities for a while now… Regarding Simmons, to this point, I haven’t heard Fox has been made available, and I don’t know how much interest he would have amongst Philly officials now that
Tyrese Maxey has flourished. I don’t know if they view Fox as an upgrade to Maxey. I don’t know if they’d view Fox as a piece that elevates their championship window alongside Embiid.
Fischer: I think Jerami’s situation reminds me of
Aaron Gordon’s last year in Orlando. I don’t know what direct landing spot there could be for him right now. I think you can kind of connect the dots of intel where there have definitely been talks between Sacramento and Detroit about
Marvin Bagley. Is there a way to send
Jerami Grant to Sacramento? I don’t know. Denver obviously really liked Grant back when they had him.
Me: Maxey > Fox. Yea, I can see that. Grant is nice, but if true, Monte would effectively be doubling down on the black hole PG. Bet on winners, Monte.
I was very much in the camp that was hoping McNair would manage to buy low on Ben Simmons in the offseason. I saw no need to dangle De'Aaron Fox in a trade for a player whose value was cratering by the day, especially after Fox was coming off a breakout season. My opinion at the time was that the Sixers had miscalculated and held onto Simmons for too long, and now I find myself wondering if the Kings have done the same thing with Fox...
I was encouraged by Davion Mitchell's preseason despite thinking it was a mistake to draft yet another PG who was not an
obvious BPA with star-level potential. But at this point, I have returned to believing it's
really problematic that the Kings' three best under-24 talents are all PG's. It's shrinking all of their value as potential trade pieces, and there is nothing else on the roster that will yield significant value in return. Now that the Kings are staring down the barrel of another losing season, there are basically three routes forward:
1) Stick to "the plan" and try to trade Hield/Bagley for whatever marginal piece(s) you can get, which won't be enough to improve the team meaningfully.
2) Get proactive and trade Fox for whatever maximum-value piece(s) you can get, and hope it balances the roster enough to buoy the Kings' playoff chances.
3) Go nuclear and trade everybody except Haliburton and Mitchell for any first round picks you can get, lose as many games as possible, and begin
yet another rebuild.
I suppose there is a fourth route.
Do nothing. But that hardly seems like a viable option given the way things are going. Then again, experience tells me that it's also the likeliest outcome, which is rather depressing.
I think what frustrates me the most about this franchise are the self-inflicted wounds. Retaining Walton was a mistake. He was always going to be fired if the Kings got off to a slow start, so why not get ahead of inevitability and let McNair conduct a proper search for a head coach he believes in? Drafting Davion Mitchell was also a mistake, not because he won't be a good player but because it created a roster imbalance that would force the Kings to eventually choose two of Fox/Hali/Mitchell.
Surprisingly, I now find myself wishing that McNair had decided to dangle Fox for Simmons. Morey may not have ultimately decided to bite, but according to reports, he certainly seemed amenable to the idea. Simmons/Hali/Mitchell/Barnes/Holmes would not have been a world-beating core, but it would have been much-better balanced with much greater defensive potential.
Now it's highly unlikely that Fox alone could get you Simmons, and it's unclear what kind of Fox-centered package could get you Simmons. So what now? There are certainly other worthy trade targets, but it will require the Kings to be far more aggressive on the trade market than McNair has suggested he intends to be. If he sits on his hands with eyes set on the "prize" of the play-in, then he's just going to become another ex-Kings GM who invested in a few too many half-measures.