The Sacramento Kings are stuck in the middle.
With all their bad contracts, Sacramento has limited flexibility to do what they want. All throughout the offseason, Kings fans have been building trade ideas in which our veterans find new homes. The team seems to, and should, be entering a rebuild, after all. However, even while it seems a new era is dawning in Sacramento, the veterans may be trickier to get rid of than previously thought.
Typically, the names brought up in these discussions are Deandre Hunter, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk, and Zach LaVine.
LaVine stands out among the rest. He’s the team’s highest-paid player this year and infamous for his terrible contract, yet he is on an expiring deal. With all due respect, fans have been speculating about Zach LaVine’s departure from the team since the second he landed at Sacramento Airport.
What are some of the avenues that the Kings should consider taking with LaVine?
Option 1 – Utilizing LaVine’s Contract for a Trade
Zach LaVine’s contract has a few key factors that make it an intriguing opportunity for opposing general managers and the Kings. These things contribute to what makes the first option for Sacramento possible: using LaVine’s contract as a salary piece.
The most important aspect of LaVine’s contract is that it expires after the 2026-2027 season. Acquiring an expiring deal is an exciting prospect for opposing general managers, and with LaVine, $48 million would be coming off the books.
Here’s an example: Scott Perry sees one or more promising players he likes on multi-year deals. Another general manager might be ready to move on from those very same players. The Kings then offer to send LaVine, probably with a couple of picks, to that team. This should only be done if Scott Perry has a player in mind that he would like to pair with Darius Acuff for the foreseeable future.
Players to Target
The Pelicans are a team Perry could link up with if the Kings view offloading LaVine through these lenses. The Pelicans should be more focused on a rebuild. Unsurprisingly, they could take a turn in that direction this upcoming season. They have two players the Kings could target if the front office were willing to package LaVine and picks: Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III. Two players with exciting ceilings, but never really worked out for New Orleans.
There are also other potential teams they could negotiate with, like the Thunder, who may be determined to obtain future cap flexibility. Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren would be probable targets in this case. Or if a team like the Magic is never able to get their feet off the ground, the Kings could throw a hefty package at them for Paolo Banchero or Franz Wagner.
Obviously, the circumstances would have to be immaculate for some of these trades to be possible, but they are worth Sacramento checking out.
Again, this option is less about LaVine himself and more about the papers he signed. This should only happen if the front office is certain about a certain player. A lot of these players mentioned will have competitive markets if made available. Sacramento would have to commit a great amount of draft capital.
Option 2 – Trade LaVine to a Contender
Zach LaVine is a weird case study for NBA nerds. One of the best athletes the game has ever seen, a silky smooth jumper, among other things. He has almost the ideal offensive skill set, yet many people question whether he can even contribute to winning. Thus far in his career, he has only reached the playoffs once, resulting in a first-round exit.
Despite his shortcomings, his production on paper and his skill set are far too good for GMs to ignore. There are undoubtedly some systems where LaVine could thrive. His star reputation is also enough for a desperate team to take a shot on him. LaVine is likely going to maximize his role this year as well and prove his worth. That’s simply the contract year phenomenon. LaVine rebuilding his value would be vital for Sacramento to use him in the trade market. In a recent interview with ClutchPoints, that seems to be his exact intention for this season: to rebuild his value.
Even with his current contract, there could be a team willing to send a couple of unfavorable multi-year contracts, expiring deals, young players, and/or picks for him. For Sacramento, their aim in this flavor of a trade would be readiness to take on a multi-year contract or two, coupled with a young player that they would be eager to take a chance on, or draft capital in any capacity.
Teams with Potential Interest in LaVine
There are a couple of game plan fits or desperate spots for Zach LaVine. The Detroit Pistons and the Golden State Warriors, respectively, can identify with one of these positions. LaVine is still talked about constantly in the trade rumor mill.
For Detroit, they’ve not only been looking for a guard like LaVine, but eyeing LaVine himself. The offensive machine and shooter LaVine is would be perfect for Cade Cunningham and Detroit. For LaVine, it would be a good fit considering Detroit’s defensive-mindedness, which would be a nice surrounding cast for LaVine’s lack of defense. This trade would be hard for the Pistons to construct without giving up a valuable asset, due to their lack of large contracts to offload.
As for Golden State, they just locked down Steph Curry on what potentially could be the last contract of his career. They need to do whatever it takes to win. The Warriors have been tied to Zach LaVine before. The fit would not be as pretty as it would be for Detroit, but the Warriors have to do something. They have plenty of contracts and other assets to make the deal work for Sacramento.
This option carries some risk for the Kings, considering they would likely take on ugly multi-year deals. Smaller than LaVine’s per-year check, but still not pleasant. However, a trade like this would be pretty standard for a guy in his last year of a deal who is playing very well, so his team capitalizes on that.
Option 3 – Letting LaVine Play Out The Year
Letting Zach LaVine finish out his contract and letting it fall off the books seems to be the most likely possibility at this moment. It really is a perfect resolution in many ways for both the Kings and LaVine. The Kings will have almost an extra 50 million in cap space next offseason, and LaVine will earn his bag this year. According to James Ham, there is also no promise that LaVine will have a large role throughout this season. This would allow projects like Ben Simmons and young players like Nique Clifford to receive more minutes.
However, there is a problem with this path. For LaVine, yeah, sure, he might want to play for a contender, but that isn’t the issue. As much as he wants to play for a contender, it seems he wants his money far more. That’s good for Zach, but the real issue lies with Sacramento. Even though they haven’t promised LaVine a role, do they really want to place a guy making that much money on the bench? The Kings would love to play Clifford and other young guys a ton, but LaVine will clog up the lineup. However, if both sides want to remain complicit, this will likely be the scenario that plays out.
Option 4 – Cutting Zach LaVine from the Team
A brutal option this one is, but its benefits may likely outweigh the costs and sacrifices. This is probably many Kings fans’ favorite option, yet one both LaVine and the Kings have not shown much interest in. We have talked about LaVine wanting to finish out his contract already, but the Kings may not want to buy out LaVine either. On the same episode of Locked On Kings where James Ham stated that LaVine has no promised role, he also said the Kings do not plan on buying out his contract.
A contract buyout is a compromise between a player and a team. The team will stretch a contract and pay someone who is not on the roster in order to make room for other players. The player will forgo some money to be dropped from the roster he is currently on and usually sign with another team with interest, and LaVine would certainly have interest around the league. Again, as much as Sacramento would like to cut ties with the oldest player on their roster, they don’t want to waste money. LaVine isn’t willing to make sacrifices either.
Zach LaVine’s tenure in Sacramento has been a complicated one. Zach arrived in a difficult spot, with him being in the return for a beloved star in De’Aaron Fox. The gloominess of that day has lingered since then, as LaVine never meshed with the Kings. This will certainly be his final season as a Sacramento King, likely coming to an end through the means of one of the avenues discussed in this article.
A big reason for these discussions is Darius Acuff Jr. He will take the reins and hopefully lead us to where we desire to be, so we must make room for him to grow.
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