Potential Free agent/trade/sign tracker

As a Len fan, Kings have to do their due diligence on other backup options for these reasons:

1. For competition and/or you need 3 bigs typically anyway. McGee won't get resigned
2. Kings were fortunate Sabonis was not hurt last year. If he goes down, point above remains. Need another center or at least a 4/5 combo
3. Even if Kings want Len back in same role, he's not a restricted free agent. A team could offer Len a multi-year deal, or say a Top 5 team offers him a deal. Len could want more of a role rather than the 10 minutes behind Sabonis. Chance another team gives him a 15-20 minute backup role. He could leave so Kings have to prepare for this scenario and look at other options.
 
As a Len fan, Kings have to do their due diligence on other backup options for these reasons:

1. For competition and/or you need 3 bigs typically anyway. McGee won't get resigned
2. Kings were fortunate Sabonis was not hurt last year. If he goes down, point above remains. Need another center or at least a 4/5 combo
3. Even if Kings want Len back in same role, he's not a restricted free agent. A team could offer Len a multi-year deal, or say a Top 5 team offers him a deal. Len could want more of a role rather than the 10 minutes behind Sabonis. Chance another team gives him a 15-20 minute backup role. He could leave so Kings have to prepare for this scenario and look at other options.
If Sabonis gets injured nobody can replace him. That’s like saying we need a center to replace Jokic if he gets hurt.
 
If Sabonis gets injured nobody can replace him. That’s like saying we need a center to replace Jokic if he gets hurt.
C'mon you understand what I'm saying. If they roll with Len and some say 2nd round center behind Sabonis, suddenly team will fall apart without Sabonis WAY MORE than if they get a capable 3rd center. This isn't rocket science; it's basic logic of having depth in the NBA so you can stay afloat when starters get injured. Even more important when you are talking PG & C position.
 
Allegedly we inquired about Bridges at the deadline :(

source:
https://sports.yahoo.com/with-bulls...ine-the-next-piece-on-the-move-150136313.html

I like the idea of sending our second rounders to Phoenix for pick 22.
a lot of interesting stuff in that articles. The draft stuff was surprising, Sarr declining to work out for Atlanta and the Hawks expected to take the French kid or Clingan.

If Milwaukee “shakes up their roster” I wonder if we could get in on Lopez or Porter
 
Alright so I’m now sort of leaning towards trading for Grant Williams. Hear me out…

A lot of my posts have been centered around finding that 3rd star to put next to Fox and Sabonis (or to be patient) in an effort to elevate us to a contender. Our hope is that Murray becomes that player but there is no guarantee that he reaches that ceiling. And if we were to trade for another high usage scorer, we very well may “block” Murray from even having a chance of reaching that potential.

So let’s get to the proposed trade…

Kevin Huerter
Sasha Vezenkov
Chris Duarte
#45
2025 SAC 2nd

for

Grant Williams
Cody Martin
Aleksej Pokusevski


The Hornets would do this to get off longer term contracts, add a couple 2nd round picks, and potentially use Huerter and Vezenkov as reclamation projects (as I could see both of them starting on the Hornets) to flip for more assets later. Their roster would be…

PG - Ball / Mann / Micic
SG - Huerter / Smith / Curry
SF - Miller / Duarte / McGowens
PF - Vezenkov / Bertans / Thor
C - Williams / Richards

As for us, trading for Williams would give us a player that…
  • Wouldn’t block Murray’s offensive growth (if he can actually reach that ceiling) since he’s a low usage player (15.9% last year).
  • Has length (6’9.75” wingspan & 8’8.5” standing reach) and strength (240.2 lbs, 5.4% body fat, & 20 reps on bench press), and he’s also pretty quick for his size (10.83 sec lane agility and 3.27 sec shuttle run).
  • Is a good 3PT shooter who is particularly good from the corners. He had a bit of a dip last season but his previous 3 seasons in BOS, he had a .397 3P% on 4.8 3PA (per 36 min) and he had a .445 Corner 3P% on 2.1 3PA (per 36 min).
  • Is not careless with the ball (1.6 AST to TO Ratio the last couple seasons)
  • Is a decent rebounder (around 5-6 rebounds per 36 min the last few seasons which would be an upgrade over Barnes)
  • Is a good defender who plays with that edge and toughness we often lack (“he’s got that dawg in him”). And he could be that defensive guy/voice to help hold our team accountable
  • Is young enough to grow with our core as he’s only 25 years old

Having said all of this, I’m not confident that Williams is the PF we need to ultimately become the contending team we want to be, but I think he upgrades this roster in the meantime since losing Huerter likely doesn’t impact us (Fox, Ellis, Monk, and Mitchell can take all of the guard minutes) and now we have a strong forward rotation of Murray, Williams, Barnes, and Lyles. I like the idea of starting Williams over Barnes for his defense and toughness (and considering our spacing should be just fine with him out there too). It also allows Barnes to dip back into his “bag” as he would take on a higher usage, bench scoring role and be an awesome 1-2 bench punch with Monk.

But not only does this trade improve our roster for next year, but it buys us time to see what Murray will become while maintaining our assets, and the other great thing about adding Williams is the flexibility we’d still have when building out this roster. His contract is dirt cheap ($13-$14 mil a year which is only 8-9% of the cap each year). This contract paired with his impact gives McNair various options:
  1. If Murray becomes that 3rd star we need, but we observe that Williams size & length is still not enough at PF next to Sabonis, his contract is small enough where he can come off the bench and it not be an issue
  2. If Murray does not become that 3rd star we need, we could include Murray in a trade for that 3rd star and have Williams slot in as the other starting forward to play the 3&D role

I haven’t come right out and said it yet, but you’ll notice this trade doesn’t include #13. Depending on how Murray looks this season, having #13 and all of our future 1sts available to trade next offseason (assuming the 2025 pick will convey to ATL) will come in handy if we do need to make a move for a 3rd star.

Lastly, this trade shaves off around $6 mil of our payroll allowing us to avoid the 1st apron this year (which I’m sure is a goal of McNair’s).

We’re left with a roster of…

PG - Fox / Mitchell
SG - Ellis / Monk / Jones
SF - Murray / Barnes / Martin
PF - Williams / Lyles / Poku
C - Sabonis
Picks - #13
 
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Not sure where is saw it. But is it true we have to make the pick at 13 even if we are trading?
Yes, we can't trade that pick ahead of the draft but can make a pick (based on what the other team wants) and trade that player. This is because our first round pick (FRP) for next year is locked to the Hawks from the Huerter trade and we can't trade FRPs in consecutive drafts due to the Stepien Rule.
 
Well I hope I am not disappointed again like last year as at this point we have not improved our roster yet.
I know the draft is this coming week so maybe they can surprise me and make a move and if not free agency is right around the corner again.
 
Im not sure why the jazz would be willing to discuss moving off Kessler but if they are, would they consider moving off markannen?

SAC Send: Huerter, Sasha #13, 2027FRP, 2029 FRP

Jazz Send Markannen.

Gives them a big haul for picks and some flexibility given sasha is really an expiring deal if he doesn't work out.

We get a big taylor made to play with Sabonis (maybe the best match in the league). And save about $5.5M in the process in direct salary, plus the nearly $4M in salary owed to #13 allowing us to stay below the tax apron with $162M in salaries committed. We could get lower by not picking up the option on Duarte, dropping us to $155M allowing us the full Nontax payer MLE ($12M x 3yrs) taking us to $167M, AND the Biannual exception ($4.6M) taking us right up to the edge of the 1st tax apron

Jazz
Sexton/George/THT
Huerter/Clarkson /THT
Hendricks/Sensabaugh
Collins/Sasha
Kessler/Yurtseven
#13

Target any of the long lengthy free agents with the 2 exceptions.

Kings
Fox/Mitchell
Ellis/monk/Jones/(MLE/BAE)
Murray/Barnes/(MLE/BAE)
Markannen/Barnes/Lyles
Sabonis/Len/Lyles
 
Alright so I’m now sort of leaning towards trading for Grant Williams. Hear me out…

A lot of my posts have been centered around finding that 3rd star to put next to Fox and Sabonis (or to be patient) in an effort to elevate us to a contender. Our hope is that Murray becomes that player but there is no guarantee that he reaches that ceiling. And if we were to trade for another high usage scorer, we very well may “block” Murray from even having a chance of reaching that potential.

So let’s get to the proposed trade…

Kevin Huerter
Sasha Vezenkov
Chris Duarte
#45
2025 SAC 2nd

for

Grant Williams
Cody Martin
Aleksej Pokusevski


The Hornets would do this to get off longer term contracts, add a couple 2nd round picks, and potentially use Huerter and Vezenkov as reclamation projects (as I could see both of them starting on the Hornets) to flip for more assets later. Their roster would be…

PG - Ball / Mann / Micic
SG - Huerter / Smith / Curry
SF - Miller / Duarte / McGowens
PF - Vezenkov / Bertans / Thor
C - Williams / Richards

As for us, trading for Williams would give us a player that…
  • Wouldn’t block Murray’s offensive growth (if he can actually reach that ceiling) since he’s a low usage player (15.9% last year).
  • Has length (6’9.75” wingspan & 8’8.5” standing reach) and strength (240.2 lbs, 5.4% body fat, & 20 reps on bench press), and he’s also pretty quick for his size (10.83 sec lane agility and 3.27 sec shuttle run).
  • Is a good 3PT shooter who is particularly good from the corners. He had a bit of a dip last season but his previous 3 seasons in BOS, he had a .397 3P% on 4.8 3PA (per 36 min) and he had a .445 Corner 3P% on 2.1 3PA (per 36 min).
  • Is not careless with the ball (1.6 AST to TO Ratio the last couple seasons)
  • Is a decent rebounder (around 5-6 rebounds per 36 min the last few seasons which would be an upgrade over Barnes)
  • Is a good defender who plays with that edge and toughness we often lack (“he’s got that dawg in him”). And he could be that defensive guy/voice to help hold our team accountable
  • Is young enough to grow with our core as he’s only 25 years old

Having said all of this, I’m not confident that Williams is the PF we need to ultimately become the contending team we want to be, but I think he upgrades this roster in the meantime since losing Huerter likely doesn’t impact us (Fox, Ellis, Monk, and Mitchell can take all of the guard minutes) and now we have a strong forward rotation of Murray, Williams, Barnes, and Lyles. I like the idea of starting Williams over Barnes for his defense and toughness (and considering our spacing should be just fine with him out there too). It also allows Barnes to dip back into his “bag” as he would take on a higher usage, bench scoring role and be an awesome 1-2 bench punch with Monk.

But not only does this trade improve our roster for next year, but it buys us time to see what Murray will become while maintaining our assets, and the other great thing about adding Williams is the flexibility we’d still have when building out this roster. His contract is dirt cheap ($13-$14 mil a year which is only 8-9% of the cap each year). This contract paired with his impact gives McNair various options:
  1. If Murray becomes that 3rd star we need, but we observe that Williams size & length is still not enough at PF next to Sabonis, his contract is small enough where he can come off the bench and it not be an issue
  2. If Murray does not become that 3rd star we need, we could include Murray in a trade for that 3rd star and have Williams slot in as the other starting forward to play the 3&D role

I haven’t come right out and said it yet, but you’ll notice this trade doesn’t include #13. Depending on how Murray looks this season, having #13 and all of our future 1sts available to trade next offseason (assuming the 2025 pick will convey to ATL) will come in handy if we do need to make a move for a 3rd star.

Lastly, this trade shaves off around $6 mil of our payroll allowing us to avoid the 1st apron this year (which I’m sure is a goal of McNair’s).

We’re left with a roster of…

PG - Fox / Mitchell
SG - Ellis / Monk / Jones
SF - Murray / Barnes / Martin
PF - Williams / Lyles / Poku
C - Sabonis
Picks - #13
Could not agree more. Williams has been one of my guys for years and I've been screaming into the void (along with PJ) for the Kings to go get them. Love Cody Martin too, as a buy-low, who was so good 2 years ago but has 2 injury-filled years since. Like his brother, he's just a damn good wing that contributes to winning basketball.

And dude is a perfect 4th/5th option. I really don't get why people want to jam in more higher USG guys into our core. The USG ladder is set: Fox/Monk/Domas and we're developing Keegan to eventually get to that 22-25% USG range too.

I'm a huge believer in offensive hierarchy dictating offensive success. Everyone has to understand and fully buy into their role. I think a big reason why Huerter and HB regressed last year is because they just didn't have the same offensive role with the emergence of Keegan and Monk. And because they're more limited players in other aspects of the game, they didn't have their usual impact.

Cody Martin/Grant Williams/Keon Ellis are the sort of role players that we should be pursuing to surround Fox/Domas/Keegan/Monk with. Excellent defensive role players that can shoot, stay out of the way and impact the game without needing 12+ FGA.
 
Could not agree more. Williams has been one of my guys for years and I've been screaming into the void (along with PJ) for the Kings to go get them. Love Cody Martin too, as a buy-low, who was so good 2 years ago but has 2 injury-filled years since. Like his brother, he's just a damn good wing that contributes to winning basketball.

And dude is a perfect 4th/5th option. I really don't get why people want to jam in more higher USG guys into our core. The USG ladder is set: Fox/Monk/Domas and we're developing Keegan to eventually get to that 22-25% USG range too.

I'm a huge believer in offensive hierarchy dictating offensive success. Everyone has to understand and fully buy into their role. I think a big reason why Huerter and HB regressed last year is because they just didn't have the same offensive role with the emergence of Keegan and Monk. And because they're more limited players in other aspects of the game, they didn't have their usual impact.

Cody Martin/Grant Williams/Keon Ellis are the sort of role players that we should be pursuing to surround Fox/Domas/Keegan/Monk with. Excellent defensive role players that can shoot, stay out of the way and impact the game without needing 12+ FGA.
yes twslam07 did a nice job on this trade scenario. I sure don’t know how Charlotte feels about it but I like changing the narrative away from Grant, Kuzma, Ingram… as a trade partner.
With this proposed line up while keeping the 13th, I can see going big in the draft. Holmes is making more sense the more I see on him, or maybe even Edey. Very curious how his workout went with the Kings.
 
yes twslam07 did a nice job on this trade scenario. I sure don’t know how Charlotte feels about it but I like changing the narrative away from Grant, Kuzma, Ingram… as a trade partner.
With this proposed line up while keeping the 13th, I can see going big in the draft. Holmes is making more sense the more I see on him, or maybe even Edey. Very curious how his workout went with the Kings.
Holmes is too small to play center
 
Alright so I’m now sort of leaning towards trading for Grant Williams. Hear me out…

A lot of my posts have been centered around finding that 3rd star to put next to Fox and Sabonis (or to be patient) in an effort to elevate us to a contender. Our hope is that Murray becomes that player but there is no guarantee that he reaches that ceiling. And if we were to trade for another high usage scorer, we very well may “block” Murray from even having a chance of reaching that potential.

So let’s get to the proposed trade…

Kevin Huerter
Sasha Vezenkov
Chris Duarte
#45
2025 SAC 2nd

for

Grant Williams
Cody Martin
Aleksej Pokusevski


The Hornets would do this to get off longer term contracts, add a couple 2nd round picks, and potentially use Huerter and Vezenkov as reclamation projects (as I could see both of them starting on the Hornets) to flip for more assets later. Their roster would be…

PG - Ball / Mann / Micic
SG - Huerter / Smith / Curry
SF - Miller / Duarte / McGowens
PF - Vezenkov / Bertans / Thor
C - Williams / Richards

As for us, trading for Williams would give us a player that…
  • Wouldn’t block Murray’s offensive growth (if he can actually reach that ceiling) since he’s a low usage player (15.9% last year).
  • Has length (6’9.75” wingspan & 8’8.5” standing reach) and strength (240.2 lbs, 5.4% body fat, & 20 reps on bench press), and he’s also pretty quick for his size (10.83 sec lane agility and 3.27 sec shuttle run).
  • Is a good 3PT shooter who is particularly good from the corners. He had a bit of a dip last season but his previous 3 seasons in BOS, he had a .397 3P% on 4.8 3PA (per 36 min) and he had a .445 Corner 3P% on 2.1 3PA (per 36 min).
  • Is not careless with the ball (1.6 AST to TO Ratio the last couple seasons)
  • Is a decent rebounder (around 5-6 rebounds per 36 min the last few seasons which would be an upgrade over Barnes)
  • Is a good defender who plays with that edge and toughness we often lack (“he’s got that dawg in him”). And he could be that defensive guy/voice to help hold our team accountable
  • Is young enough to grow with our core as he’s only 25 years old

Having said all of this, I’m not confident that Williams is the PF we need to ultimately become the contending team we want to be, but I think he upgrades this roster in the meantime since losing Huerter likely doesn’t impact us (Fox, Ellis, Monk, and Mitchell can take all of the guard minutes) and now we have a strong forward rotation of Murray, Williams, Barnes, and Lyles. I like the idea of starting Williams over Barnes for his defense and toughness (and considering our spacing should be just fine with him out there too). It also allows Barnes to dip back into his “bag” as he would take on a higher usage, bench scoring role and be an awesome 1-2 bench punch with Monk.

But not only does this trade improve our roster for next year, but it buys us time to see what Murray will become while maintaining our assets, and the other great thing about adding Williams is the flexibility we’d still have when building out this roster. His contract is dirt cheap ($13-$14 mil a year which is only 8-9% of the cap each year). This contract paired with his impact gives McNair various options:
  1. If Murray becomes that 3rd star we need, but we observe that Williams size & length is still not enough at PF next to Sabonis, his contract is small enough where he can come off the bench and it not be an issue
  2. If Murray does not become that 3rd star we need, we could include Murray in a trade for that 3rd star and have Williams slot in as the other starting forward to play the 3&D role

I haven’t come right out and said it yet, but you’ll notice this trade doesn’t include #13. Depending on how Murray looks this season, having #13 and all of our future 1sts available to trade next offseason (assuming the 2025 pick will convey to ATL) will come in handy if we do need to make a move for a 3rd star.

Lastly, this trade shaves off around $6 mil of our payroll allowing us to avoid the 1st apron this year (which I’m sure is a goal of McNair’s).

We’re left with a roster of…

PG - Fox / Mitchell
SG - Ellis / Monk / Jones
SF - Murray / Barnes / Martin
PF - Williams / Lyles / Poku
C - Sabonis
Picks - #13
Grant Williams last season at the back up C spot for the Hornets was amazing in the last 20 or so games, he was basically a stretch 5 who only posted up on switches (PG/SGs) he's a very versatile player and more than just a PF if Len/back up C goes down with injury.
 
Grant Williams last season at the back up C spot for the Hornets was amazing in the last 20 or so games, he was basically a stretch 5 who only posted up on switches (PG/SGs) he's a very versatile player and more than just a PF if Len/back up C goes down with injury.
Now you're speaking my language. Small ball 5? yessir

Williams defensive versatility is one of his key calling cards. He's agile enough to be able to hedge out and defend the perimeter, but his low center of mass makes him damn hard to move off the block if he's at the 5. He's like a poor man's version of Draymond in that regard.
 
Holmes is too small to play center
I’d think that depends on the matchup. Holmes is the same size as Sabonis entering the league only Holmes has three inches on Domas when it comes to wingspan.
He’s a big that should be able to play along side Sabonis with his skills, including floor spacing, and in time provide spot minutes at center.
 
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I guess just go after Kuzma and build a bench full of defense and insert where needed when somebody is getting torched. Mitchell, Ellis, Duarte, Edwards, Len can all be defensive inserts. could this tarting lineup be anything on defense

fox
Monk
Murray
Kuzma
sabonis