Potential Free agent/trade/sign tracker

Exactly, and beyond that your SF is named DeMar DeRozan. Maybe you eventually look to alter your SG position if the magic dust wears off and you need a defender but making a huge gamble of altering your starting lineup and pushing your best playoff bet in DDR out of position for more offense should be off the table until further notice. Not to mention the crossover of Cam and Keegan. If Keegan is struggling at times to find shots, it might now create a situation where Keegan is fighting another player for DHO's yet again, you know, kind of like he did with Huerter at one point because neither one of these guys can feed themselves consistently? If the Kings add, it needs to be in players that put an imprint on the game via defense, rebounding, hustle, etc. Not having long drawn out screen sets that tend to fade come playoff time anyway.
Any examples who you're thinking?

What I like with Cam is he has an extensive history with PHX of just being a lights-out spacer. And he's added a few things on BKN that make him more appealing overall as an offensive player. We just have not been a consistent shooting team this year, so that's become a real need I wasn't expecting us to have at the beginning of the season.
 
Any examples who you're thinking?

What I like with Cam is he has an extensive history with PHX of just being a lights-out spacer. And he's added a few things on BKN that make him more appealing overall as an offensive player. We just have not been a consistent shooting team this year, so that's become a real need I wasn't expecting us to have at the beginning of the season.
That's the trouble, they don't come around very often. Just to add some size for depth could be just fine IMO. Maybe someone like Brown, maybe waiting for Crawford/Jones to develop. That's typically how the big boys do it. They don't overvalue players like that on the free market, they build them because they're need based players who can add value without needing pure scoring productivity to matter. And just like Bruce Brown you never want to overpay those types because once you get paid, you BETTER start padding some stats. Even Big Ben couldn't escape contract expectations and he was elite in rebounding.

The Kings are off to a potential banging start for players that will matter down the line while adding positive things now with Keon, Carter, and maybe Jones and Crawford. The teams with guard focused defensive tandems are the comp you want right now. Hence why I'm guessing Monte valued Carter so highly and attempted to trade for Caruso right before. He had to have seen it coming. At this point Monte's roster is pretty full and I think exploring more guard lineups is the only way now. And as I said, there is some success there. If it doesn't work Monte will know far more than he does now.

The current version of the Kings and those Suns are totally different teams at PG/C. Maybe under Brown the first two years you could consider Cam a major upgrade to Barnes? The dynamic between Bridges and Cam was very similar to that of Keegan and Huerter/Barnes. Also, I still don't think trying to necessarily mirror teams at the top 3-4 years ago is a good idea let alone when you've seen your own decline in some of the same ways. We'll have to see but the year that Nuggets won as the lowest rated defensive team to ever win might have been the tipping point. And that's with them still having potentially the best player in the entire league in Jokic. The teams at the top now play nothing like the Warriors and Nuggets. As shooting and 3's in particular is now on Silvers radar, times might be changing and hopefully some of the moves for the future and now from Monte are an indication he understands that. The playoffs will tell if the Kings make it. It may prove out that a spot shooter type is exactly what they need, but we know about assuming.
 

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
Yeh it is confusing. The graphic seems to indicate that both Cleveland and Utah has the right to swap in ‘28? I’m not getting it
I also find Spotrac's draft pick visualizer confusing and prefer to just go with the listing at realgm:

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed

That page says that Cleveland owes 2025, 2027, and 2029 FRPs to Utah unprotected, with swaps with Utah on 2026 and 2028. The 2028 swap is simple swap rights for Utah.

The 2026 swap is a lot more complicated because Utah has been mucking things around. Due to a protected '25/'26 pick to OKC, Utah might have a pick in '26. If they do, it probably will be in the 1-8 range (because they probably don't convey in '25). Regardless, if Utah has *a* pick in '26, they have the right to swap with Minnesota, and once exercising or not exercising that right, they have the right to swap the result with Cleveland. If Utah has no pick in '26, then no swaps happen at all and both Minny and Cleveland keep their '26 FRP.

So Cleveland does have a pick in '26, and it's almost certainly going to be their own based on how they and Utah are performing right now. A lot can happen in a year, but...

At any rate, both the '26 and '28 Cleveland picks are Stepien'd, the best they can do is put a swap on the result of the prior swap. That secondary swap is usually worth about zero.
 
Another backup option that we could consider would be something like…

Kevin Huerter

for

Kelly Olynyk
Chris Boucher



Boucher is a super long PF (9’2.5” standing reach and 7’4” wingspan) who moves pretty well, can hit the 3, rebound at a good rate, and protect the rim. Olynyk gives us some more backup C depth, and I could see us going with a backup C by committee to make sure we’re not playing Sabonis too many minutes each game…
  • If it’s better to play a more offensive backup C for a particular matchup, we can play Olynyk.
  • If it’s better to play a more defensive backup C for a particular matchup, we can play Len.
  • If we need a little of both for a particular matchup, we can play Lyles.
  • If the opposing teams backup C isn’t particularly strong, we can play Boucher.
 
Forbes says (Link): Cam Johnson and John Collins have been the top targets for the Kings heading into the trade deadline. Front office has been pursuing both aggressively, Johnson being the favorite while Collins is the backup plan.

Package built around Huerter / Lyles and some draft capital.
I think Collins is the real target and they're just saying that Johnson is the favorite
 
Collins honestly makes more sense from a fit perspective, especially if we are losing Lyles. There's some incredibly fun LU combos we can do with him at the 5
if we can get him for the ‘31 first (Carlosbob’s suggestion) this is probably my current favorite acquisition. Still gives us our ‘26, ‘28 and 4 seconds to use for future trades (if we stay out of the top 12 we would then have our two seconds from Atlanta back, the ‘29 and ‘32 once next year comes around.

I do reserve the right to change my mind by the time I hit send on this post.
 
Collins honestly makes more sense from a fit perspective, especially if we are losing Lyles. There's some incredibly fun LU combos we can do with him at the 5
He's the guy I've thought makes a lot of sense.....and could allow Murray to play more against 3's, which I believe is an advantage for him.

Collins has really impressed me with this shooting when I've watched him in recent times. Could really use a long athlete "true 4" that shoots a high %...and might get Christie to reconsider his starting lineup at some point in the near future
 
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He's the guy I've thought makes a lot of sense.....and could allow Murray to play more against 3's, which I believe is an advantage for him
Just my opinion but Keegan is stronger than John and has the same wingspan. That’s the one downside to bringing him in and losing Lyles. We are actually getting smaller. In the games I watched this year, I thought Collins was better on the perimeter than in the post. The plus side to Collins is he can guard 3-4.5 where Lyles is a 4/5, a bit more versatility. I’m also thinking he could be good as a roll man for Monk if we can stagger the lineups to take advantage of that.
 
Just my opinion but Keegan is stronger than John and has the same wingspan. That’s the one downside to bringing him in and losing Lyles. We are actually getting smaller. In the games I watched this year, I thought Collins was better on the perimeter than in the post. The plus side to Collins is he can guard 3-4.5 where Lyles is a 4/5, a bit more versatility. I’m also thinking he could be good as a roll man for Monk if we can stagger the lineups to take advantage of that.
Collins has played quite a bit at small 5 and challenges shots around the rim. An extra something we don't have, outside of I. Jones on the two-way.

He's a stretch big on offense, but competes on the inside defensively and is not a matchup problem against PF's. For 3pt shooting, he'd currently be right there with Keon as most reliable.

To me, Murray really shines when he guards 2's and 3's, while still doing well against some 4's.
 
Just my opinion but Keegan is stronger than John and has the same wingspan. That’s the one downside to bringing him in and losing Lyles. We are actually getting smaller. In the games I watched this year, I thought Collins was better on the perimeter than in the post. The plus side to Collins is he can guard 3-4.5 where Lyles is a 4/5, a bit more versatility. I’m also thinking he could be good as a roll man for Monk if we can stagger the lineups to take advantage of that.
Yeah, I don't really get why everyone is so hesitant to NOT play him against bigger wings. He was literally drafted 4 overall because of what he showed in that slot. And he's only bigger and stronger since that college season.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Obviously Keegan is playing the 4 spot fine many nights but there's still matchups that give the team trouble that we have no counter for.

I question the wisdom of blowing serviceable players and draft capital without addressing that need, that's not an indictment on Keegan. It's just saying we would benefit with more flexibility rather than trying to double (or triple I think in most proposals) down on strengths.

Also I think having the other team having to put their 3 on him offensively creates mismatches that teams with bully 4s don't have.
 
Yeah, I don't really get why everyone is so hesitant to NOT play him against bigger wings. He was literally drafted 4 overall because of what he showed in that slot. And he's only bigger and stronger since that college season.
A mistake to assume that a player's best position in the NBA, is necessarily based on where they played the most in college.

Monk for another example, had played mostly at the off guard position, but were finding out that he's probably better as a lead guard
 
I am a believer that a long history of lengthy injuries most years that causes missing from the high teens and more games is a real concern for trading for any player.

Yes injuries happen and can take a few years to recover properly but I will take a slightly less quality player who’s going to play a majority of the season.

This may not be a popular remark but Cousins missing way to many games with a combined reason as getting into altercations causing missed games or early exits to extensive missed games for injuries.
I believe we would of made a few playoffs if he would of been available in a few of his later years with the Kings.
But then I still have a tainted memory of the Kings signing Ralph Sampson.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
I agree about injuries but did Cousins miss that many games? I know he had the meningitis or whatever was used as an excuse to fire Coach Malone, but I thought he was relatively healthy which made his achilles blow out such a shock.
 

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
I agree about injuries but did Cousins miss that many games? I know he had the meningitis or whatever was used as an excuse to fire Coach Malone, but I thought he was relatively healthy which made his achilles blow out such a shock.
Cousins played 88% of his possible games in Sacramento, I'll leave it up to the reader to determine whether 12% is a lot of missed games or not. Comes out to about 10 games a season.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'm not even sure I like this idea, but two guys that seem to need a change of scenery:

Kevin Huerter to Chicago for Patrick Williams.

Rumblings are that Chicago wants to get out from under the contract they just gave Williams. This would likely be contingent on the Bulls making other moves but also whether the Kings think there is still any potential left in PW.
 
Just my opinion but Keegan is stronger than John and has the same wingspan. That’s the one downside to bringing him in and losing Lyles. We are actually getting smaller. In the games I watched this year, I thought Collins was better on the perimeter than in the post. The plus side to Collins is he can guard 3-4.5 where Lyles is a 4/5, a bit more versatility. I’m also thinking he could be good as a roll man for Monk if we can stagger the lineups to take advantage of that.
Lyles is stronger then Collins for sure.But Collins has a quicker step and obviously more bounce.Lyles is better defensive rebounder, Collins is better offensive rebounder (Keegan massively improving at that kind of makes it less important), defensively they are both very meh, Collins does have some moments as weak side help defender.At Utah Collins is showing some nifty passing ability.Domas most of the time stays in front of his man , but can't challenge much due to lack of reach and ref's eagerness to call a foul on him for any kind of contact so maybe Collins would work as a weak side defender but overall I don't think he would move a needle to much on a defensive side