Agreed. I've flagged previously that it seems like a really lazy narrative for national writers to say, "the Kings will likely lose Malik Monk so they should draft Rob Dillingham". That makes zero sense.
If you lose Monk you pivot and change the construction of your roster. You don't change your draft strategy to try and land an ersatz Monk. That's how bad teams operate.
On the other hand, I think if Monte is confident about re-signing Monk, then you can look at moving Davion - maybe to the Suns for pick #22.
Either way, the goal is never to patch specific holes unless you're close to a championship contender as it is. The goal is always to make systemic improvements.
My position this off-season is you have 4 key components heading into next year
Fox
Keon
Keegan
Domas
Maybe it's early to include Keon in this list, but what he showed to close the season, on both sides of the ball really, is something you just head into next season banking on continuing. I don't see why his defense would somehow get worse next year and he was the main catalyst this season for our defensive growth as a team.
And I think Keegan's spot is probably the 3 instead of the 4. You want him defending out on the perimeter and guarding the better wings on the other team. That's become one of his better strengths and he's just really flipped the "small ball 4" narrative he had coming out of school to just being better out on the perimeter.
Davion isn't untradeable, but I think if he's not dealt, then he's pretty securely locked in a back-up guard slot. He was just exactly what we wanted him to be for that final 25 games of the season and would love to see if he could continue to develop and grow onto that close to the year. So not core, but would secure a rotation slot if not dealt.
Huerter and HB are the primary trade pieces this off-season. I think with Keegan and Monk's emergence, they just don't bring enough else on the floor to justify their minutes. Now what might be interesting is if we DON'T resign Monk, then their offense all of a sudden becomes very important again. I've said for the past year that I think HB is still a damn valuable player, but he's just not a starter anymore. He's a 22-25 MPG guy off the bench that is able to be a focal point of the 2nd unit offense and torch other benches. It's time for him to transition to the Iggy role at this point in his career.
Huerter's role got slashed more than anyone's this season. He struggled, but he went from the 3rd option on the team, to the clear 5th starter and just got iced out because Monk was better than him this year. But if Monk doesn't come back, I think he can be that 6th man 2/3 flex that still really works well playing off Domas. But he's also our best trade chip this off-season, unfortunately, a year late after his career season last year.
Lyles was fine. He is what he is: a quality 7th/8th man that's going to spike for some games and be inconsistent others. Good player, but not someone to consider core.
Sasha is someone I would have loved to see another year, but looks like this relationship is done. Expect him to be dealt or us to buy him out.
Len same deal as Lyles: Quality 10th man type, great back-up big that can give you 10-12 good minutes a night. Would not be surprised to see him back again next year.
So that puts:
Huerter
HB
Davion
Lyles
Sasha
#13
as your main trade chips to upgrade the 4 slot and possibly find a replacement for Monk if he leaves. It's not a dire situation, yet, but there's a lot of work to be done to clean this up.