Terrible Kings trades proposed by the internet super thread 2024/2025 edition
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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Zion just got suspended for continually showing up to team meetings and the team plane late and has played less games in his career than Keegan Murray despite coming into the league three years earlier than him because, regardless of whether Zion wants to actually play or not, his legs sure as hell don’t.
Webb, for all the injury issues he had later in his career, didn’t have nearly as many injury concerns as Zion and was better when the Kings traded for him than Zion is now
Webb, for all the injury issues he had later in his career, didn’t have nearly as many injury concerns as Zion and was better when the Kings traded for him than Zion is now
Why is the Mavs game so significant? Because you went to that game? I went to the Memphis game and that was pretty basketball. The Celtics game was pretty basketball too (at least on TV).
My belief is that it's rare for a team to be fully healthy so I'm not too worried about the minutes. Carter is a rookie after all, so I'd imagine the minutes for him will fluctuate and include DNPs from game to game. I don't mind having extra guards because injuries happen. The Kings were cooked last year after Monk went down. If they can swing Huerter and picks into something to help with the frontcourt, I'm down. However, trading someone like Fox just for roster balance seems more like panic than astute. I remain interested to see what happens once fox is back though.
My belief is that it's rare for a team to be fully healthy so I'm not too worried about the minutes. Carter is a rookie after all, so I'd imagine the minutes for him will fluctuate and include DNPs from game to game. I don't mind having extra guards because injuries happen. The Kings were cooked last year after Monk went down. If they can swing Huerter and picks into something to help with the frontcourt, I'm down. However, trading someone like Fox just for roster balance seems more like panic than astute. I remain interested to see what happens once fox is back though.
Which, if that's all Zion had, would drastically change the eval on him. If he played 70 games a year but had "motivation" questions, you could convince yourself you could Fix him. But dude is just a walking injury at this point and thay to me is the far bigger concern. Hes awesome when he plays...but he doesn't play very often. That's the issue
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because everyone in New Orleans gets hurt. Constantly
I suspect part of the problem may be the New Orleans strength and conditioning / Sports Medicine team. But without checking Zion out and getting an opinion from them it’s just a suspicion.
everyone forgets Mitch was just as good as Fox and maybe better. It took Mitch to get a wing “with question marks”. If you want an even average wing you are trading Fox. Even then you aren’t getting Thompson from Houston and the Houston Locked In guys say you aren’t getting Smith either.
I suspect part of the problem may be the New Orleans strength and conditioning / Sports Medicine team. But without checking Zion out and getting an opinion from them it’s just a suspicion.
everyone forgets Mitch was just as good as Fox and maybe better. It took Mitch to get a wing “with question marks”. If you want an even average wing you are trading Fox. Even then you aren’t getting Thompson from Houston and the Houston Locked In guys say you aren’t getting Smith either.
Mitch was 33. Fox is 27. That's the difference between an in-prime player and a leaving-prime player, which counts for a lot.
I don't think it's particularly relevant to your line of argument, but I would classify Webber as a "big" and not as a "wing".
I think it's fair to say that if we aren't getting either Thompson or Smith, then Houston isn't getting Fox. If we trade Fox we will have multiple suitors and there will be effectively a bidding war.
Remember back when Monte traded Hali for Sabonis? And then the league said "Whoa, that was a surprise! I had no idea he was being shopped! They could have gotten WAY more than just Sabonis for Hali!" And - note well - we got back Sabonis, an All-Star big man and a desperately-needed fit for our team in the trade that the league thought we got jobbed on.
Monte will have learned from that, and if Fox gets traded, it's not going to be a stealth trade given the talk that's already swirling. If we trade Fox, there will be a bidding war, and we will get a very nice package.
I don't think it's particularly relevant to your line of argument, but I would classify Webber as a "big" and not as a "wing".
I think it's fair to say that if we aren't getting either Thompson or Smith, then Houston isn't getting Fox. If we trade Fox we will have multiple suitors and there will be effectively a bidding war.
Remember back when Monte traded Hali for Sabonis? And then the league said "Whoa, that was a surprise! I had no idea he was being shopped! They could have gotten WAY more than just Sabonis for Hali!" And - note well - we got back Sabonis, an All-Star big man and a desperately-needed fit for our team in the trade that the league thought we got jobbed on.
Monte will have learned from that, and if Fox gets traded, it's not going to be a stealth trade given the talk that's already swirling. If we trade Fox, there will be a bidding war, and we will get a very nice package.
I’ll offer one of my own “terrible” Fox trade proposals. 
The trade is pretty complicated because Trey Murphy has a poison pill contract this year, but the deal could be...
De'Aaron Fox
Kevin Huerter
Colby Jones
Alex Len
Doug McDermott
Jordan McLaughlin
for
CJ McCollum
Herb Jones
Trey Murphy
Jermiah Robinson-Earl
Javonte Green
Antonio Reeves
…that leaves the Kings with a roster of…
PG - Monk / McCollum
SG - Ellis / Carter / Green / Reaves
SF - Murray / DeRozan / Crowder
PF - Murphy / Lyles / Jones
C - Sabonis / Robinson-Earl
Herb Jones obviously just had a pretty significant injury so that’s not ideal for this season, but we replace Fox with two excellent two way wings/forwards to help balance the roster going forward.
Pelicans move forward with a big 3 of Fox, Zion, Ingram (resigned), and their 2025 1st (currently tied for #2 overall).
To be honest, I think this trade makes more sense in the offseason as a lot of the “clutter” could be removed from the framework of the deal (since Murphy would be on his new deal and no longer be a poison pill contract). It could probably be simplified down to just Fox for Herb Jones & Trey Murphy in the offseason. Also, NOP probably wouldn’t want Fox to end the year since there’s a chance that he’d win some more ball games for them which would lessen the odds of their 2025 1st winning the lottery.
If we do end up making a Fox for Jones/Murphy deal in the offseason, we’d have the following players under contract during the 2025 off-season…
PG - Monk / Ellis
SG - Jones / Carter / Jones
SF - Murray / Huerter
PF - Murphy / DeRozan
C - Sabonis
The trade is pretty complicated because Trey Murphy has a poison pill contract this year, but the deal could be...
De'Aaron Fox
Kevin Huerter
Colby Jones
Alex Len
Doug McDermott
Jordan McLaughlin
for
CJ McCollum
Herb Jones
Trey Murphy
Jermiah Robinson-Earl
Javonte Green
Antonio Reeves
…that leaves the Kings with a roster of…
PG - Monk / McCollum
SG - Ellis / Carter / Green / Reaves
SF - Murray / DeRozan / Crowder
PF - Murphy / Lyles / Jones
C - Sabonis / Robinson-Earl
Herb Jones obviously just had a pretty significant injury so that’s not ideal for this season, but we replace Fox with two excellent two way wings/forwards to help balance the roster going forward.
Pelicans move forward with a big 3 of Fox, Zion, Ingram (resigned), and their 2025 1st (currently tied for #2 overall).
To be honest, I think this trade makes more sense in the offseason as a lot of the “clutter” could be removed from the framework of the deal (since Murphy would be on his new deal and no longer be a poison pill contract). It could probably be simplified down to just Fox for Herb Jones & Trey Murphy in the offseason. Also, NOP probably wouldn’t want Fox to end the year since there’s a chance that he’d win some more ball games for them which would lessen the odds of their 2025 1st winning the lottery.
If we do end up making a Fox for Jones/Murphy deal in the offseason, we’d have the following players under contract during the 2025 off-season…
PG - Monk / Ellis
SG - Jones / Carter / Jones
SF - Murray / Huerter
PF - Murphy / DeRozan
C - Sabonis
I wouldn't do it. Pat Williams is a buy low talent with a buy high contract. 18mil a year through 2029 and he's been a net negative the last two years. I'd be asking for picks from them to get out from under that contract but I don't think that's the move the Kings need to make when they aren't basement dwellers.
Agreed on Jalen Smith. He was another one of those up and coming guys we mentioned a couple years back and was had for cheap.
Agreed on Jalen Smith. He was another one of those up and coming guys we mentioned a couple years back and was had for cheap.
Good point. I guess in terms of gambling on 23 year old Pat Williams rebounding vs spending a FRP on someone like Grant or Kuzma, or dropping 2+ FRP on Cam Johnson... Pat Williams starts to look pretty good. And 18 mil isn't bad for a starting caliber rotation player, especially year over year over the next 5 years. It's basically the Monk contract.
And in a perfect world, Pat Williams is that perfect wing bridge off the bench that we're looking for. That maybe takes over a starting role once DDR leaves/retires. Also, Jalen Smith is on a ridiculously good value contract for 2 more seasons at just 9mil/year.
And in a perfect world, Pat Williams is that perfect wing bridge off the bench that we're looking for. That maybe takes over a starting role once DDR leaves/retires. Also, Jalen Smith is on a ridiculously good value contract for 2 more seasons at just 9mil/year.
Here's the interesting thing about Zion Williamson's contract - it's unguaranteed unless he both hits his weight targets and plays in enough games. Here's what Spotrac has listed:
So it's not actually all that risky other than what you'd give up to obtain him. I think he's a terrible fit with Sabonis and I definitely wouldn't trade Sabonis to get him, so I think he's a non-starter for the Kings.
Minnesota has the shooting and defense to make it work and if I'm them I'd be good with trading Randle and maybe a couple 2nds to gamble on Zion. But they still would have guard play issues and I doubt they'd be willing to take that risk.
San Antonio is a really intriguing option. Wemby covers for Zion on defense and helps space the floor for him on offense. And they could offer two attractive young prospects to the Pelicans in Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan. If anything New Orleans might have to add sweeteners to that. A healthy Zion and Wemby would be a weird but potentially game bending duo. Worst case Zion can't stay healthy and you move on with caproom to build around Wembanyama who will still be just 21 to start next season.
So it's not actually all that risky other than what you'd give up to obtain him. I think he's a terrible fit with Sabonis and I definitely wouldn't trade Sabonis to get him, so I think he's a non-starter for the Kings.
Minnesota has the shooting and defense to make it work and if I'm them I'd be good with trading Randle and maybe a couple 2nds to gamble on Zion. But they still would have guard play issues and I doubt they'd be willing to take that risk.
San Antonio is a really intriguing option. Wemby covers for Zion on defense and helps space the floor for him on offense. And they could offer two attractive young prospects to the Pelicans in Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan. If anything New Orleans might have to add sweeteners to that. A healthy Zion and Wemby would be a weird but potentially game bending duo. Worst case Zion can't stay healthy and you move on with caproom to build around Wembanyama who will still be just 21 to start next season.