Sasha Watch 2022-2023

My gut says it’s a Lyles or Sasha situation. I’ll trust Monte’s gut on this one
The advantage is all Monte right now. If he cashes out on the young guys and picks, then bringing both Lyles back and Sasha over is possible. As is? Nah, Sasha, Lyles, and Murray is not a wise use of cap unless this team goes into the playoffs and looks every bit a legit contender. Also letting go of Barnes in that case would nullify almost all of that since he's still the only consistent iso able threat of that group.
 
The advantage is all Monte right now. If he cashes out on the young guys and picks, then bringing both Lyles back and Sasha over is possible. As is? Nah, Sasha, Lyles, and Murray is not a wise use of cap unless this team goes into the playoffs and looks every bit a legit contender. Also letting go of Barnes in that case would nullify almost all of that since he's still the only consistent iso able threat of that group.
I still can’t really come up with stars to trade for even if we did decide to move the chips in. Beal is too expensive, oft injured and poor defensively. Lavine is oft injured too and hasn’t really impacted winning. Siakam is the only one that really makes sense but his asking price will be stupid. I think I’d rather develop Keegan and take a couple swings in the draft.
 
I still can’t really come up with stars to trade for even if we did decide to move the chips in. Beal is too expensive, oft injured and poor defensively. Lavine is oft injured too and hasn’t really impacted winning. Siakam is the only one that really makes sense but his asking price will be stupid. I think I’d rather develop Keegan and take a couple swings in the draft.
I think if Monte can nab any of Beal, LaVine, or Siakam for a fair price, that's the way to go if the Kings are a 1st or 2nd round exit. What is a fair price? I'd say the playoffs decide. If they are a clear 20 ppg scorer away you go for it. Beal, LaVine, or otherwise. Keegan could easily develop into that next guy up, but right now, even if you removed Keegan, this team is still winning. He's basically role player effective at the moment. If Monte thinks he's that next guy, then Brown better start finding that out sooner than later.
 
I think if Monte can nab any of Beal, LaVine, or Siakam for a fair price, that's the way to go if the Kings are a 1st or 2nd round exit. What is a fair price? I'd say the playoffs decide. If they are a clear 20 ppg scorer away you go for it. Beal, LaVine, or otherwise. Keegan could easily develop into that next guy up, but right now, even if you removed Keegan, this team is still winning. He's basically role player effective at the moment. If Monte thinks he's that next guy, then Brown better start finding that out sooner than later.
None of these guys are worth Keegan right now, much less Keegan+picks+somehow matching salary to trade for them. Which probably means Barnes S&T or Huerter needing to be in the deal. That would be an absolute disaster of a trade and just a total punt-fest of all the good Monte has built in the past year.
 
The advantage is all Monte right now. If he cashes out on the young guys and picks, then bringing both Lyles back and Sasha over is possible. As is? Nah, Sasha, Lyles, and Murray is not a wise use of cap unless this team goes into the playoffs and looks every bit a legit contender. Also letting go of Barnes in that case would nullify almost all of that since he's still the only consistent iso able threat of that group.
I personally would like to see most of the team back (core guys) next year. Pretty sure that Len is gone, and Monte will likely shop Richaun. However, I think it will be easier to move Richaun around the trade deadline as an expiring.

The team would have had a full year under Mike. Keegan will likely show improvement, and we will have our picks, plus guys like Keon and Queta for the future. I know Metu is not particularly popular here, but I like the guy overall. He moves well without the ball, and scores at a decent clip. He doesn't play a lot of minutes, or makes a lot of money. I think you can do much worse than Metu for that.

This thread of course is about Sasha, and where he fits next year if he comes. If Barnes comes back, then between him, an improved Keegan, Lyles, Metu, some time for Kess, (and potentially our pick), there won't be lot of minutes to go around. Good problem to have though.

I am sitting on a Friday evening and typing all this redundant stuff about next year when this season is going great :). Need to get a life :)
 
I think if Monte can nab any of Beal, LaVine, or Siakam for a fair price, that's the way to go if the Kings are a 1st or 2nd round exit. What is a fair price? I'd say the playoffs decide. If they are a clear 20 ppg scorer away you go for it. Beal, LaVine, or otherwise. Keegan could easily develop into that next guy up, but right now, even if you removed Keegan, this team is still winning. He's basically role player effective at the moment. If Monte thinks he's that next guy, then Brown better start finding that out sooner than later.
Why would the Kings be a clear 20 ppg scorer away from moving beyond the first or second round? They have a historically stellar offense right now. If they fail to advance in the playoffs, it's highly unlikely that their offense will be the culprit.

The defensive side of the ball is another story, of course, so if you can get a true two-way wing like Siakam, you certainly go for it if the price is right, but I don't think guys like Beal and Lavine are moving the needle for the Kings.
 
Why would the Kings be a clear 20 ppg scorer away from moving beyond the first or second round? They have a historically stellar offense right now. If they fail to advance in the playoffs, it's highly unlikely that their offense will be the culprit.

The defensive side of the ball is another story, of course, so if you can get a true two-way wing like Siakam, you certainly go for it if the price is right, but I don't think guys like Beal and Lavine are moving the needle for the Kings.
I'm not sure how the money would work exactly with our cap situation this summer, but I think a BARE MINIMUM trade for Siakam would be like:

Keegan
Huerter and/or Barnes S&T (potentially have to let Barnes walk to make the money work?)
2 FRP

That's just horrible asset management for a guy who is headed for UFA and you'd be paying his age 30-34 seasons on his next contract.

And you hit LaVine and Beal on the head. Going after them would mean trading Huerter and likely letting Monk walk the following off-season. I don't see either guy being close to the production those 2 currently give us. Huerter remains on an excellent contract and I'm guessing we'll be able to resign Monk for a similar deal. I'd rather put $30 mil into those two long-term as they line up with Fox/Sabonis age core over Beal being owed:

Age 30: 46,741,590
Age 31: $50,203,930
Age 32: $53,555,270
Age 33: $57,128,610 (Player Option)

Or Lavine:

Age 28: $40,064,220
Age 29: $43,031,940
Age 30: $45,999,660
Age 31: $48,967,380 (Player option)

Those are just straight up bad contracts and I guarantee the Bulls and Wiz greatly regret both of them already. I wouldn't take those deals on for free, much less having to gut the team to match the money.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
I still can’t really come up with stars to trade for even if we did decide to move the chips in. Beal is too expensive, oft injured and poor defensively. Lavine is oft injured too and hasn’t really impacted winning. Siakam is the only one that really makes sense but his asking price will be stupid. I think I’d rather develop Keegan and take a couple swings in the draft.
I was all for going after Beal or Siakam but the Kings unit has really grown together and breaking that up right now would be a disaster I think. I'd instead would go nab another 3 and D forward from either the Pelicans or Nets who both have a plethora of them and can't keep them all.
 
I was all for going after Beal or Siakam but the Kings unit has really grown together and breaking that up right now would be a disaster I think. I'd instead would go nab another 3 and D forward from either the Pelicans or Nets who both have a plethora of them and can't keep them all.
ive scoured nba rosters for matches and I can barely find any. The target has to be considerably better than Barnes or Keegan if one believes he is trade bait ( I wouldn’t put it past stone cold Monte but I lean no on him doing it). This off-season seems very unlikely we swing a trade because we don’t have matching salary. Would have to be at the deadline next year.

Would the Kings trade a first for DFS? Maybe if it gets them off Holmes contract. That helps the Kings in the short term I guess
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
ive scoured nba rosters for matches and I can barely find any. The target has to be considerably better than Barnes or Keegan if one believes he is trade bait ( I wouldn’t put it past stone cold Monte but I lean no on him doing it). This off-season seems very unlikely we swing a trade because we don’t have matching salary. Would have to be at the deadline next year.

Would the Kings trade a first for DFS? Maybe if it gets them off Holmes contract. That helps the Kings in the short term I guess
Cam Thomas, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy could all be gotten for the right price
 
Cam Thomas, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy could all be gotten for the right price
herb can’t shoot so I doubt Monte would be interested. Trey would be great, just can’t imagine the pels letting him go and cam is 6’3 and is feast or famine. If you meant cam Johnson, he is interesting too just not sure if he is a big enough upgrade to give him a monster deal in restricted free agency
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
herb can’t shoot so I doubt Monte would be interested. Trey would be great, just can’t imagine the pels letting him go and cam is 6’3 and is feast or famine. If you meant cam Johnson, he is interesting too just not sure if he is a big enough upgrade to give him a monster deal in restricted free agency
Herb could always take over Davis' spot since the Kings don't really need much more offense to begin with and I don't know if he will be here after this season anyway and going after Cam Johnson is a non starter, I'd rather re-sign Barnes in that instance. There will be some options available, knowing Monte he will find that underused, undervalued player and Brown and staff will help that player succeed here.
 
That was called the Vlade tax, haha. Also, Bogdan was a first round pick and on the NBA radar for a long while not to mention younger. Vezenkov is looking good and if he thinks he's that valuable then maybe the best move is to find a team that also thinks that and flip him in a package deal to make it even more appetizing. I would try and comp a Vezenkov deal with what Bjelica got as a player coming over at around 28 years of age which I think was below MLE at the time for sure.
Yeah, with his age and pedigree, he seems closer to Belly than Bogi, ie lower end rotation player rather than starter/elite 6th man. Age vs competition is pretty important, so while I would love to see Sasha hit the ground running, I'm keeping my expectations lower.
 
Why would the Kings be a clear 20 ppg scorer away from moving beyond the first or second round? They have a historically stellar offense right now. If they fail to advance in the playoffs, it's highly unlikely that their offense will be the culprit.

The defensive side of the ball is another story, of course, so if you can get a true two-way wing like Siakam, you certainly go for it if the price is right, but I don't think guys like Beal and Lavine are moving the needle for the Kings.
We'll see but talent usually wins out. Domas as the PG makes a big difference. Fit will be key at that point.
 
Last edited:
None of these guys are worth Keegan right now, much less Keegan+picks+somehow matching salary to trade for them. Which probably means Barnes S&T or Huerter needing to be in the deal. That would be an absolute disaster of a trade and just a total punt-fest of all the good Monte has built in the past year.
The negative for any team looking for a Murray level prospect is taking on Holmes. If they want Keegan AND value? Nah. The Kings will likely have some level of cap space to make a deal. Right now, Holmes (negative trade asset) and Murray work.
 
The negative for any team looking for a Murray level prospect is taking on Holmes. If they want Keegan AND value? Nah. The Kings will likely have some level of cap space to make a deal. Right now, Holmes (negative trade asset) and Murray work.
The issue is that doesn't get you there money wise for these contracts. Holmes and Murray is like roughly 19 mil. So you'd either need to include Huerter, include Barnes on a S&T, or let Barnes walk in FA and absorb that contract with our cap.

Just all very bleh scenarios imo. Especially considering the fact, it seems pretty unlikely you get any of those teams to budge without us giving a pick back too.

I guess temp check

Huerter
Murray
Holmes

for

Beal

or

Lavine

Anyone saying yes to that? I think there's 0 chance that gets Siakam.
 
The issue is that doesn't get you there money wise for these contracts. Holmes and Murray is like roughly 19 mil. So you'd either need to include Huerter, include Barnes on a S&T, or let Barnes walk in FA and absorb that contract with our cap.

Just all very bleh scenarios imo. Especially considering the fact, it seems pretty unlikely you get any of those teams to budge without us giving a pick back too.

I guess temp check

Huerter
Murray
Holmes

for

Beal

or

Lavine

Anyone saying yes to that? I think there's 0 chance that gets Siakam.
Well, I don't know but in the trade checker they work. The Kings will have some room to play with in the summer. Like I prefaced, these are deals based on how the Kings look in the playoffs. Personally I was never a fan of any of these 3 but if this team is close to the top of the league come real game time you have to consider all options if you're Monte. Also, at the moment I would put Siakam above the other two in terms of value.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
BAE hard caps you at the apron so maybe Monte just didn't want to kill flexibility for future moves?

It would be great if he can take BAE $$ from the MLE.
 
None of these guys are worth Keegan right now, much less Keegan+picks+somehow matching salary to trade for them. Which probably means Barnes S&T or Huerter needing to be in the deal. That would be an absolute disaster of a trade and just a total punt-fest of all the good Monte has built in the past year.
I know I sound like a nut job (I prefer smokehouse flavor thank you for asking) but aside from Fox and Sabonis, Keegan is the most untradable. Dude is going to set the rookie record for threes and is improving in every area of his game on a nightly basis. You just don't trade guys like that - not at this stage. I believe the Wiz annoucers when they say he is "Klay Thompson 2.0". But with better defense.

I'm looking to add to the core - and not give up ANY pieces if we don't have to. FA should be first place to look - as we are all of the sudden a top 3 FA destination (chemistry, great place to live, winning culture, team at the beginning of a run, etc).

The secondary benefit of success is that is just puts you such a strong position. Nothing succeeds like success a great man once said.
 
Last edited:
I know I sound like a nut job (I prefer smokehouse flavor thank you for asking) but aside from Fox and Sabonis, Keegen is the most untradable. Dude is going to set the rookie record for threes and is improving in every area of his game on a nightly basis. You just don't trade guys like that - not at this stage.
I agree.

I believe the Wiz annoucers when they say he is "Klay Thompson 2.0". But with better defense.
Not saying they're gonna be wrong, but the "better defense" things seems like some hyperbole. Not that Keegan isn't and can't be a very good defender, but that, before injuries, Klay was a damned good defensive player. He's made all-NBA defensive 2nd team before.

If Keegan can play better defense than that, watch out!