Richaun to miss rest of the ('21-'22) season

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
There's no way Houston wasn't taking a top 3 PF anyway.
Yeah, of the top three teams, I felt like they were the least likely to take Ivey. Ivey and Green are essentially redundant players who both are probably best suited to playing off-ball. Unless they were irrationally high on running the offense through Sengun, they were always going to be better served by drafting Paolo.
 

Considering we last saw Danny Green end his season by shredding his knee this would probably just be a trade for the pick but the Sixers do need another center
Interesting deal, but I think I'd pull the trigger. It's maybe more than they'd want to spend on a back-up C, but Joel is coming off 33.8 MPG and a 68 game season; the most in his career. In addition to 38.5 MPG and 10 games during the playoffs.

I think they'd love to keep Embiid around 30 MPG during the regular season and maybe even give him more rest days with a capable starting C in Holmes. He's a great fit anyway with Harden as a rim-run threat. If you think about it in terms of keeping their most important asset healthy and on a good minutes schedule; def a good deal for both sides. A late lotto pick does nothing for them
 
I only now read that he won full custody of his kid. That should be amazing for him.

Also, what are your expectations for Richaun this season? Is he staying in Sacramento, or do you expect him to get traded? His contract value is incredibly attractive and many teams should be interested in getting a starter level C (Charlotte, Chicago maybe, Dallas, Indiana maybe, Lakers if they strike out on Turner, Brooklyn, Toronto).
 
I only now read that he won full custody of his kid. That should be amazing for him.

Also, what are your expectations for Richaun this season? Is he staying in Sacramento, or do you expect him to get traded? His contract value is incredibly attractive and many teams should be interested in getting a starter level C (Charlotte, Chicago maybe, Dallas, Indiana maybe, Lakers if they strike out on Turner, Brooklyn, Toronto).
The Lakers & Nets have nothing of value to offer in a trade for Richaun.

If the Pacers don't trade Turner, I don't think they'd offer much for Holmes as a backup center.

Richaun would be a good fit in Charlotte to fill the Montrez Harrell role since Harrell is both a FA and has a hearing tomorrow on his felony marijuana charge, but I think the Hornets are likely to roll with a rotation of Mason Plumlee and their rookie Mark Williams.

Chicago has Vucevic and Drummond

Dallas and Toronto would be good fits but I'm not sure what they'd offer for Holmes.

At this point, I think Holmes needs to rebuild some of his value, and I think he can slide into that energy big man role seamlessly even if he's only getting 12-15 minutes a night. Of course if the right deal came along for him and/or Barnes (who will likely leave as a FA next summer if not traded) then you take it, but right now there's no need to deal either just to deal them.
 
Ah forgot about Drummond in Chicago, but I'm hearing Vuce is available in traded, as they're looking for a better fit at C.
Myles is gone in Indy, although they might be looking to roll with Jackson.

However, I agree that it could make a lot of sense for him to stay put. Also personally - the Kings supported him last year when he neded time off, and it might be best for his kid, his family and himself, to find some continuity and a steady home for now.
 
It’s a friendly contract for a starter. But not for a back up center. I think we’ll use him in a back up role until the right trade opportunity comes along.
It's not crazy money for a backup, and I think if he can get back to his level of play two seasons ago (or even the beginning of last season) it raises his trade value, even in limited minutes.

Honestly, my larger concern is seeing Barnes walk for nothing at the end of the season just because the team wants to hold on to him to make a run at the playoffs/play-in tournament. Holmes will be an asset and a solid bench contributor who can be traded next offseason if need be.
 
Holmes might still be the team's 4th or 5th best player, but would be pushing it to get 15 minutes a night. Ideally some young guys make a jump so he really is a 8th/9th 15 minutes a night player, or they trade him for some assets to balance it out.
 
It's not crazy money for a backup, and I think if he can get back to his level of play two seasons ago (or even the beginning of last season) it raises his trade value, even in limited minutes.

Honestly, my larger concern is seeing Barnes walk for nothing at the end of the season just because the team wants to hold on to him to make a run at the playoffs/play-in tournament. Holmes will be an asset and a solid bench contributor who can be traded next offseason if need be.
It kind of is depending on how you value Holmes. For a role playing C in the modern game that's a starters deal even only if around MLE type money and without checking my guess is Holmes is one of the if not the highest paid backup C in the NBA. Most teams appear to be shooting for that 2-5 million range for backup C's right now if they can't really play much PF. The positive is IF he buys in, he's been quite productive in that backup C slot with those remaining 15 mpg or so in the past. If the Kings could really use that cap space to improve it could be a problem down the line because that 10-12 million spread to another position could be a game changer and playing someone 15 mpg while on that contract could certainly affect his value since likely most teams will only want him as a starter on that type of deal.
 
It kind of is depending on how you value Holmes. For a role playing C in the modern game that's a starters deal even only if around MLE type money and without checking my guess is Holmes is one of the if not the highest paid backup C in the NBA. Most teams appear to be shooting for that 2-5 million range for backup C's right now if they can't really play much PF. The positive is IF he buys in, he's been quite productive in that backup C slot with those remaining 15 mpg or so in the past. If the Kings could really use that cap space to improve it could be a problem down the line because that 10-12 million spread to another position could be a game changer and playing someone 15 mpg while on that contract could certainly affect his value since likely most teams will only want him as a starter on that type of deal.
Yeah, he's definitely a luxury, but Sabonis has missed 10-20 games pretty much his whole career and Holmes is a clear upgrade over Len. Not to mention, the guy I hoped the Kings would sign to replace Holmes (assuming he was traded this summer) was Isaiah Hartenstein and he signed with the Knicks for $8 million/year so not much cost savings. And as much as I like Hartenstein as an analytics darling and a guy who still has significant potential to improve, Holmes is a significantly better player right now.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, he's definitely a luxury, but Sabonis has missed 10-20 games pretty much his whole career and Holmes is a clear upgrade over Len. Not to mention, the guy I hoped the Kings would sign to replace Holmes (assuming he was traded this summer) was Isaiah Hartenstein and he signed with the Knicks for $8 million/year so not much cost savings. And as much as I like Hartenstein as an analytics darling and a guy who still has significant potential to improve, Holmes is a significantly better player right now.
Yeah I agree, Holmes IF he buys in could be a HUGE plus and surely better than all the other options. Len is still way better IMO than being used as and perfectly fine as that 2nd C. The Kings have great depth at the worst value position in the NBA right now lol. Holmes could be like a C version of BoJax with his finishing off pick and roll. The value difference between he and someone like Hartenstein is obviously the 3 point shooting. I think @The_Jamal was the one all in on Hartenstein and value wise he was right on. It's such a strange era right now. Skilled bigs have never had both so little value monetarily yet so much at the same time depending on the price. The crazy thing about Holmes is something some of us have brought up in the past, early on he showed some 3 point shooting. If they tap into that latent stuff, he could be one of those Gerald Wallace types where when he eventually leaves it's like WTF, they could've gotten way more out of him. If he buys out K9/JT part 2 on the way.
 
Yeah, he's definitely a luxury, but Sabonis has missed 10-20 games pretty much his whole career and Holmes is a clear upgrade over Len. Not to mention, the guy I hoped the Kings would sign to replace Holmes (assuming he was traded this summer) was Isaiah Hartenstein and he signed with the Knicks for $8 million/year so not much cost savings. And as much as I like Hartenstein as an analytics darling and a guy who still has significant potential to improve, Holmes is a significantly better player right now.

Oo, this is a pretty interesting comp. I hate Hartenstein isn't going to get a chance to be 25+ MPG in NYK, but they're just elite at different things; depends what you value. Hartenstein has the elite rim protection, elite rebounding and elite big man passing while being an excellent roll man himself. Also showed a little life on his shot at the end of the season. Holmes is probably the best perimeter big man defender in the league and is probably like top 3 as a roll man in the PnR. Both dudes analytics darlings. Hartenstein still has age/potential on his side and a potential breakout, so he's just way more valuable to me from a long-term perspective. But I'd agree that Holmes is likely a little head right now in terms of talent.

That said, I think Holmes is about as cheap as you can get for a quality rotation player that isn't on a rookie scale contract. Ideally, his resource would be spent to bolster another slot that isn't backing up our best player, but there's certainly value of 48 awesome C minutes, maybe a few played together in a 2 big LU and injury protection if Sabonis gets hurt. And Holmes has already shown he can be dominant in a 15-18 MPG role when he was a back-up in PHX/PHI and forced his way into a starter role here with us.