Do the Kings really need Ja Morant?

ShastaKingsFan said:
The question is can this organization figure out if a better player is available
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Or what to do with it if they actually got it?

I'm OK with Christie getting another shot, but if they go out and get him a 3rd established, and even pricier PG just because that's the excuse he has for having no offensive system, this could easily wash away that '27 boost potential and put this "rebuild" so far back it wouldn't even matter. Get a new GM, new coach, new players, just scrap the whole thing at that point because it's going to happen anyway.

Any competent GM is going to keep the Kings in a position of low risk and low cost at this point. They should not derail that plan for a player like Morant with where the Kings are at. It's just throwing more garbage at the wall to see what sticks. And even if it did, they haven't done anything to build towards future contention more than likely. Schroder was the play. It ended up costing them Ellis and added money to the books next year to do it. The team played better when Christie didn't have his "PG". It's an excuse, nothing more and the evidence so far has proven that fact.
 
I hope that we draft 1-4 and don't draft a PG but I suspect we will be. The org seemed to be focused on one of the top picks two months ago and lately you hear lots of chatter about who they like out of the next 4.

I'm not remotely interested in Ja but if we do pick a F and can do a Zach swap and get a future pick in return for the extra year on that contract I'd also probably be ok with it, depending who else we can keep around.
 
Given that 2027 is a lightly regarded draft right now we absolutely should be asking for their best pick next year and I don't think they will protest too much as there isn't going to be a market for Ja.
 
If the swap was Lavine for Ja I’d probably do it despite the risk. That’s 10 mil less in salary which coupled with Deebo likely gone could put us in a better financial situation. They were pointing out on Sactown that many troubled players have come to the Kings and sorted thinks out. Given he had a long history of no trouble prior to the last few years he might be a worthwhile bet.
 
Turgenev said:
I would probably swap 1 year of Lavine for 2 years of Ja provided we don't draft a point guard. Given we are taking an extra year of an unwanted player I think it's reasonable to expect some additional compensation like a late or future first.
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Ja Morant is talented but he represents an unnecessary and potentially costly digression in the same way that Zach LaVine did. At the time we acquired LaVine, he also had only two years on his contract. We've made it through one of those years so I don't think swapping him out for two years from a similar (offense only) player is any kind of an improvement. The team would become about him when the focus should be on building a young core that is committed to playing team-defense and letting them improve at their own rate rather than meet the accelerated timeline of a current star with a contract decision on the horizon.

Put another way, we've already gotten off the De'Aaron Fox train and Scott Perry has told us to be patient and let things build slowly. Going after Ja Morant now just puts us right back where we were a year ago, trying to win now with a team that needs too many pieces to go toe to toe with the best of the Western Conference.
 
iowamcnabb said:
If the swap was Lavine for Ja I’d probably do it despite the risk. That’s 10 mil less in salary which coupled with Deebo likely gone could put us in a better financial situation. They were pointing out on Sactown that many troubled players have come to the Kings and sorted thinks out. Given he had a long history of no trouble prior to the last few years he might be a worthwhile bet.
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He saves them money now, but that space potential in '27, which still might be needed for an actual rebuild is then gone. The Kings wouldn't even do LaVine for him without a first I'd bet.
 
serbiangoat said:
Kings have little to no talent everything should be open the Kings right now might have the worst young core of all the middling and lower end teams aside from Golden State.
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Thank goodness the young guys showed something though. If they stood by watching Westbrook and DeMar chase numbers the entire time this season would have been an unmitigated disaster. In reality potentially the most dismal in history when it comes to outlook. As it sits it was only about 85% wasted haha.
 
He's a smallish pg with poor 3 point shooting aptitude, a history of injury and his best days likely behind him. Just talking about him smells of desperation.
 
hrdboild said:
Ja Morant is talented but he represents an unnecessary and potentially costly digression in the same way that Zach LaVine did. At the time we acquired LaVine, he also had only two years on his contract. We've made it through one of those years so I don't think swapping him out for two years from a similar (offense only) player is any kind of an improvement. The team would become about him when the focus should be on building a young core that is committed to playing team-defense and letting them improve at their own rate rather than meet the accelerated timeline of a current star with a contract decision on the horizon.

Put another way, we've already gotten off the De'Aaron Fox train and Scott Perry has told us to be patient and let things build slowly. Going after Ja Morant now just puts us right back where we were a year ago, trying to win now with a team that needs too many pieces to go toe to toe with the best of the Western Conference.
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I would love to see what the NBA does with their new "anti-tanking" rules. If they significantly flatten lottery odds, or otherwise make it less worrisome to finish with the 10th worst record (or even in the play-in) then I'd probably be more open to taking a flier on a guy like Ja. Hit the draft lottery this year, add Ja, healthy Domas/Keegan/Hunter to the current youth and this is a much more fun team to root for next year (regardless of whether the collection of talent may never lead you to anything other than middling).
 
I think it really depends on the draft. If we finish in the top 5, I'm open to doing LaVine + 2nd for Ja. IF we finish 6-9, then its likely we end up with one of Flemings, Mikel, Acuff, Buries which means Ja should be an easy no.

It saves us some tax room this year, gets us a younger player who lines up with our core and has a high ceiling. While Memphis shaves that 2nd year off Ja.

In a world where we jump to #4, then draft Wilson. Trade for Ja. I'd still look at moving Sabonis.

Ja - Nique - Keegan - Wilson - Maxime
Carter - Monk - Hunter - Cardwell + Whatever comes from Sabonis deal

I wouldn't hate watching this roster get up and down the court next year.
 
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