[NBA] Trade Deadline Season 2026 Open Thread

[sactowndog]

All that happened before we traded for Sabonis. We could have just selected Sengun as a Domas-lite hopeful and traded Fox for anyone else and rolled with Sengun and Hali. Or not lost the coin flip that cost us Franz, although for the love of god I bet just because we all wanted Franz knowing Monte something tells me we pick someone else.

Whatever really happened with that deal it has nothing to do with Beam Team as we knew it.

Yes not the beam team but the point we could have built something really good.

 

[Padrino]

In my opinion Toronto wanted to exchange a horrendous contract for just a kinda bad contract.

The reporting suggests they were working on frameworks with and without Poeltl, so it doesn't seem that Poeltl was the hangup on their side. They wanted Domas, but they weren't willing to pay the ask.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

The reporting suggests they were working on frameworks with and without Poeltl, so it doesn't seem that Poeltl was the hangup on their side. They wanted Domas, but they weren't willing to pay the ask.

Everything I saw suggested that they were looking for a third team to get Poeltl traded to within the deal, and they'd have to give draft assets to both Kings and the third team and that was the hang up all around because it amounted to three outgoing picks.

 

[Padrino]

Everything I saw suggested that they were looking for a third team to get Poeltl traded to within the deal, and they'd have to give draft assets to both Kings and the third team and that was the hang up all around because it amounted to three outgoing picks.

I think it was Chris Haynes who was reporting the Raptors were offering Barrett plus seconds for Sabonis, but the Kings wanted a first. This was separate from their attempt to offload Poeltl, a framework the Kings apparently rejected with a flat no.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

The reporting suggests they were working on frameworks with and without Poeltl, so it doesn't seem that Poeltl was the hangup on their side. They wanted Domas, but they weren't willing to pay the ask.

Everything I saw suggested that they were looking for a third team to get Poeltl traded to within the deal, and they'd have to give draft assets to both Kings and the third team and that was the hang up all around because it amounted to three outgoing picks.

Yeah, everything I read also suggested that Poeltl wasn't the hang-up from Toronto's POV, but rather that Toronto's unwillingness to part with what was asked of/from them was what eventually derailed talks.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

It's a lot more likely that the current CBA just disincentivises teams from trading for flawed big money players. TOR clearly valued Sabonis enough to want to trade for him, but there's always risk trading for contracts of that size if the player attached is not a superstar. TOR wanted to mitigate that risk by limiting the draft capital offered in the trade. Reasonable, from their perspective, but it's also why the Kings said "no deal".

What a lot of Kings fans don't seem to grasp is that, outside of the top-10 talents in the league, there's not a lot of surefire "win a playoff series on their own" types. Wander over to other fanbases' message boards and subreddits, and witness the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the flaws in their own team's big money talents who aren't superstars. When healthy, Domantas Sabonis is a top-25 player in the NBA. That's enough talent to have a huge impact on winning, but it's not enough talent for him to win a playoff series on his own (especially if his costar is playing injured).

Here's a more interesting thought exercise for you. Put Alperen Sengun (I'd say the 20th-best player in the NBA today) on this iteration of the Kings. Are they any better than a bottom-4 team in the West? Probably not. Really awesome player. Love his game. But his impact stats suggest he wouldn't move the needle any more than a healthy Domas would if he had been playing all season. Not with this cast of characters. Unless you're a top-10 guy, it's tough to move the needle in the NBA. Even then, it might only be the top-5 who can really change the course of a season by themselves.

I'm not sure that there are many outside of Sacramento fans, who would currently rank him as a top 25 player when healthy. Makes it tough be in that elite group, if you're not considered a shooting threat or a good defender

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think it was Chris Haynes who was reporting the Raptors were offering Barrett plus seconds for Sabonis, but the Kings wanted a first. This was separate from their attempt to offload Poeltl, a framework the Kings apparently rejected with a flat no.

But later reporting was "they're looking for a third team for Poeltl" so it seems that it played into it one way or another. Toronto seemed to view it as one move even if the Kings had no interest in half of that transaction.

 

[Padrino]

I'm not sure that there are many outside of Sacramento fans, who would currently rank him as a top 25 player when healthy. Makes it tough be in that elite group, if you're not considered a shooting threat or a good defender

I don't know what to tell you, man. Not-exactly-obscure websites like the Ringer had Domas at #21 in the 23-24 season and at #24 in the 24-25 season. He's not been healthy this season (having played in 19 of 52 games) and the Kings have been the worst and messiest team in the NBA. But when healthy, his impact on winning suggests a top-25 guy. The fact remains that the 20-30 range is where star talent gets dicey in the NBA, with other flawed offensively-oriented bigs like KAT and Markannen, and flawed defensive luminaries like Scottie Barnes and Bam Adebayo. Given the nature of the modern game, I'd very much rather have Scottie Barnes than Domantas Sabonis, but once again, when we're talking about Domas, let's not pretend that we're talking about anything less than an extremely skilled offensive hub, screen setting fiend, bully baller extraordinaire, and board crashing menace. Would he fit well on every team? No. Same goes for KAT, and that's with KAT's ability to stretch the floor.

 

[NewArena]

Clippers get a haul for Zubac. Meanwhile people would be happy to accept RJ and a second for Sabonis? Absolutely non-sensical.

The NBA is certainly strange. I get that Zubac is a better defender but he's not exactly a rim protector and Sabonis is better in literally every other facet of the game. Doesn't make sense that he can't get a similar or better return.

Yea Indiana is about to find out real quick that Zubac ain't the defender folks think he is either. Clip fans call him a ball watcher - yikes! If they lose a top 5 pick for him, then it'll just be everyone's favorite word - malpractice.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I don't know what to tell you, man. Not-exactly-obscure websites like the Ringer had Domas at #21 in the 23-24 season and at #24 in the 24-25 season. He's not been healthy this season (having played in 19 of 52 games) and the Kings have been the worst and messiest team in the NBA. But when healthy, his impact on winning suggests a top-25 guy. The fact remains that the 20-30 range is where star talent gets dicey in the NBA, with other flawed offensively-oriented bigs like KAT and Markannen, and flawed defensive luminaries like Scottie Barnes and Bam Adebayo. Given the nature of the modern game, I'd very much rather have Scottie Barnes than Domantas Sabonis, but once again, when we're talking about Domas, let's not pretend that we're talking about anything less than an extremely skilled offensive hub, screen setting fiend, bully baller extraordinaire, and board crashing menace. Would he fit well on every team? No. Same goes for KAT, and that's with KAT's ability to stretch the floor.

Those ratings fluctuate as I recall correctly but at the early part of 23-24 I believe they had Domas 17 and Fox 18.

 

[Padrino]

Those ratings fluctuate as I recall correctly but at the early part of 23-24 I believe they had Domas 17 and Fox 18.

They do fluctuate, but I think that's where he finished at the end of both of those seasons. Also, the Ringer is hardly the be-all/end-all, but they're useful as an example because they're not exactly a Kings-friendly institution; they're usually the first in the national media to reach for the Kangz jokes and "Stauskas? Stauskas?" reminders. So if they're able to soberly rank Domas in the top-25, it probably means something. Kings fans need to get grip enough to recognize that Domas is an excellent basketball player, a winning basketball player, who's flaws do render him challenging to build around and to trade. But pretending like those flaws place him outside the conversation with KAT-level talents is just plain nonsense.

 

[hrdboild]

Holy crap!! Clippers management put in work they went from an old team with no future in two years to Garland, cap space, and possibly a lottery.

And Mathurin, who is a pretty good player when not being forced to sit out games for "rest" reasons.

 

[hrdboild]

at least until the sanctions for the tree planting scandal come in

All the more reason to secure two more picks that are not their own.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

They do fluctuate, but I think that's where he finished at the end of both of those seasons. Also, the Ringer is hardly the be-all/end-all, but they're useful as an example because they're not exactly a Kings-friendly institution; they're usually the first in the national media to reach for the Kangz jokes and "Stauskas? Stauskas?" reminders. So if they're able to soberly rank Domas in the top-25, it probably means something. Kings fans need to get grip enough to recognize that Domas is an excellent basketball player, a winning basketball player, who's flaws do render him challenging to build around and to trade. But pretending like those flaws place him outside the conversation with KAT-level talents is just plain nonsense.

I found it interesting that at least in 23-24 when the team was transitioning to star-Fox mode, the Ringer usually had Domas ranked ahead and may have even dropped Fox out of the top 25 at the end? I don't recall how it finished, not really too interested in revisiting or seeing where they are at now. I just do tend to agree they were high on Domas by quite a lot. Universal agreement in that season he was the third best center in the league. Wemby has changed that but AD has also fallen off a cliff.

 

[Padrino]

I found it interesting that at least in 23-24 when the team was transitioning to star-Fox mode, the Ringer usually had Domas ranked ahead and may have even dropped Fox out of the top 25 at the end? I don't recall how it finished, not really too interested in revisiting or seeing where they are at now. I just do tend to agree they were high on Domas by quite a lot. Universal agreement in that season he was the third best center in the league. Wemby has changed that but AD has also fallen off a cliff.

Well, one thing I do give the Ringer credit for is their fairly strong analytics-meets-eye-test approach. They can get too preoccupied with their "faves", and they don't always update their priors accordingly, but generally speaking, their rankings are rooted in solid statistical analysis. They understood what Domas was worth at his peak. He's unlikely to return to those peaks with the Kings, of course, unless Doug Christie and his staff decide to actually install a creative or engaging offensive system, one that stands to leverage Domas' particular skillset.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

I don't know what to tell you, man. Not-exactly-obscure websites like the Ringer had Domas at #21 in the 23-24 season and at #24 in the 24-25 season. He's not been healthy this season (having played in 19 of 52 games) and the Kings have been the worst and messiest team in the NBA. But when healthy, his impact on winning suggests a top-25 guy. The fact remains that the 20-30 range is where star talent gets dicey in the NBA, with other flawed offensively-oriented bigs like KAT and Markannen, and flawed defensive luminaries like Scottie Barnes and Bam Adebayo. Given the nature of the modern game, I'd very much rather have Scottie Barnes than Domantas Sabonis, but once again, when we're talking about Domas, let's not pretend that we're talking about anything less than an extremely skilled offensive hub, screen setting fiend, bully baller extraordinaire, and board crashing menace. Would he fit well on every team? No. Same goes for KAT, and that's with KAT's ability to stretch the floor.

What teams would he fit well on? Probably part of the issue for why his trade value is apparently lower than other players who are not as high on better player lists.

Maybe his contract amount is significantly higher than his value for the team's that he might fit well with?