I doubt he would cost that much. That would be like a prime Durant/PG13 level player type haul. If we all recognize that Paolo has plateaued into an overpaid, high usage, low efficiency player, then the rest of the league has as well. Doesn't mean he's not worth anything because he's still young and has time to improve but I don't think a middle class man's RJ Barrett is going to bring in that many picks and a player like Keegan.
Race to the Bottom thread
- Thread starter iowamcnabb
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I doubt he would cost that much. That would be like a prime Durant/PG13 level player type haul. If we all recognize that Paolo has plateaued into an overpaid, high usage, low efficiency player, then the rest of the league has as well. Doesn't mean he's not worth anything because he's still young and has time to improve but I don't think a middle class man's RJ Barrett is going to bring in that many picks and a player like Keegan.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
I’ve e seen Paolo produce in the playoffs where Domas shrinks and won’t get you points even on volume which he won’t do anyways because he won’t put craps up. Also Paolo is 23 not even in his prime we’ve seen Domas prime Paolo could and should get better.
I’m expecting Sabonis to be felt and with the CB ills connection I’m picturing Sabonis for bulls ‘26 first (top 12 most likely as well as bulls ‘28 and ‘30 firsts. So in this scenario we trade the two bulls picks, Keegan, and two firsts from us for Paolo. So technically we’d be giving up only two FRP and still have FRP to work with
Maybe not, but they're certainly going to try and sell him like it.
If the price is right, I'd absolutely be down on a Paolo swing. I just want to be sure we aren't paying that Prime Duant/PG13 tag for a guy that's not even close to them currently. To me, that'd be a disaster.
But ultimately, I want us to avoid making any sort of major swing like this for a few years. Kuminga stuff is fine because it's going to be very cheap. Be bad for a few years, hopefully get lucky and we bink a Peterson/Cam/AJ/Wilson type of prospect this year and over the next few years and then go make a swing like this after a new young core is established.
Paolo last year in the playoffs:
5 games
51.7% TS
36.4% USG (holy)
22.8% AST
12.5% TRB
.039 WS/48
So yeah 29-8-4 looks awesome, but he wasn't effective and took ALL the possessions over to get those numbers. That's a problem
Oh they'll definitely try and sell him like that, as they should. Unless someone pulls a Nico, I just don't see it happening.
I'm good with being patient here. Paolo does enough things that he's still an above average player despite his warts and the last thing we need is for someone to lift us out of the top of the lottery and leave us picking 7th-12th for the next few years. The Kings need to be patient, build through the draft and while the young guys are taking steps forward, you make that big splash to plant yourselves firmly in the playoffs.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
We’d still have the top pick this year would you not wanna see Paolo grow with AJ, Peterson, or flemming. Picking 7-12 after an offseason getting your number one and two guy isn’t a problem
Yeah the "Supercharged Rudy Gay" thing is good enough to keep a team at 35+wins year in and year out. Just not the right time to make a move like this; grab the high 2026 pick, likely be bad in 27/28 and hopefully bt 29 there's a seriously high upside young core here that's starting to come together by year 4 of this rebuild.
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If Paolo's numbers were trending upward, then maybe that would make sense. Since they're not, that means he can potentially be the next empty stat type player that is getting paid a lot of money to put up pretty numbers while not being good enough to lead a team to deep playoff runs. Notice those are really the only big names available in the trade market? There's a reason for that.
We need more than just one top pick, Paolo and a bunch of sort of average to well below average players. Trying to pair Paolo with a top 5 pick and make a run is what I mean by stepping on the gas too early. This team needs a lot more than that. Once we shed these vets, who do we have? We need a second top 5 pick the year after and we need one of the two to be an all star with the other one being a high level player to even begin thinking about a playoff run. If those guys look promising early on, then pull the trigger on a Paolo type trade because you're banking on those FRPs to not have nearly as much value as they currently have for us.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
Also if the FO is so gung-ho on Kuminga I don’t see how they wouldn’t be as interested in Paolo when the time comes
No, I really don't, because I want a chance to draft more AJ/Cam/Peterson/Wilson's over the next few years on rookie scales. Use our cap space to take on salary for draft capital and build up a warchest. Give guys like Carter/Maxime/Clifford an opportunity to really grow over the next few years and see if they're starter caliber or more.
Because Kuminga at most, costs you Monk or DDR and maybe a 2nd. He's a good risk/reward bet, despite not being overly productive in his career. But, there's still value in betting on his age and intangibles.
Paolo is in another stratosphere in terms of price tag both in money and cost to acquire him. You can't be wrong on Paolo if you bring him in. If Kuminga flops, eh, no harm no foul.
Padrino
All-Star
THIS. The Kings, and Kings fans by extension, really need to stop thirsting after shortcuts. This franchise just needs to properly engage the rebuild process. We're looking at two years minimum of angling for top draft picks in order to set this franchise up for sustainable success in the future. They've gotta come away from the 2026 and/or 2027 drafts with high-level talents that project to be All-Star/All-NBA types. Then they can look at opportunistically pulling the trigger on risky trades for unfulfilled potential like Banchero.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
Paolo is most likely gonna be better than any top five pick coming look at the last five years. How many of these guys are better than Paolo? Wemby, Amen, Cade, and Ant with barnes and Mobley being on the same tier or slightly better. So we’d have to bank on winning the lottery to get a second star instead of taking a flyer on a 23 year old whose done it once in the playoffs already.
2024: Risascher, Serr, Sheppard, Castle, and Holland
2023: Wemby, Miller, Henderson, and Thompson twins
2022: Paolo, Chet, Jabari, Keegan, and Ivey
2021: Cade, Green, Mobley, Barnes, and Suggs
2020: Ant, Wisemen, Ball, Williams, and Okuro
That's not what we're looking to do though (hopefully). A true rebuild is bottoming out, keeping your cap sheet clean, being opportunistic to take on money for picks and focusing heavily on your rookie scale players to develop and build a strong core to move forward with.
No more shortcuts. If we get lucky and get to draft an AJ or Peterson, the guys who should be the primary options around him are Carter/Keon/Max/Clifford/Keegan/Domas and Cardwell. Don't bring in another Russ to play 30 MPG and soak up a ton of USG. Figure out what the hell we actually have in these guys. Depending on who we get off of vet wise, if you bring in other vets, make sure they're actually bench rotation guys and not dudes who expect to start.
This year's draft is higher touted than those years were despite the fact that some players like Wemby were more highly touted than anyone in this draft. This draft is very top heavy and you don't want anything taking you out of the top 5 other than bad lottery luck.
Paolo has sported a 2.3 and 2.2 VORP during his best years. His win shares per 48 are also low. There's no teams out there that are led by a guy like that. That's Lavine, Derozan territory. True leaders like prime Kawhi are sporting a VORP 5-7 and on up with double the amount of win shares. You're essentially looking to trade the Kings ability to rebuild in the future and you're banking on a guy who has plateaued for the last couple years to essentially double his effectiveness. That's a big risk. I wouldn't do it but Vivek certainly would.
NewArena
All-Star
You’re probably right but we’ll see. I don’t think Sabonis is going anywhere just yet so maybe they can rebuild with him too
NewArena
All-Star
And Sabonis had one playoff series with us playing on one good hand so I’m not sure why people keep referencing the post season as if he’s had multiple years of not showing up for us when it matters.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
He's too old, unfortunately. Doesn't mean he's going to be gone by the trade deadline, but he is only temporary, not longer term.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
Ask pacers fans about his performance in the playoffs and let me know how it goes
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Ok, I'll bite on the Paolo thing. First, he's >>> than Kuminga. Not even close in terms of his impact on the game. Paolo's upside is as a superstar, imo. What makes him very special is his ball handling ability for a lengthy, powerful and athletic guy. Second, I love Murray, but I would give him up in a heart beat to get Paolo. Paolo is the point of the spear in an offense, whereas Murray is a complementary piece. Lastly, I think it's a very, very remote possibility the Kings would be able to get Paolo.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
if the goal is to stock up on top 5 picks for multiple years, can't have Sabonis around putting the Kings in the 10-14 range