Fire Sale or Patience? How the Sacramento Kings Should Approach Trade Talks | Locked On Kings

Fire Sale or Patience? How the Sacramento Kings Should Approach Trade Talks | Locked On Kings

Kings fans, I know you’re hungry, starving even for the Sacramento Kings to make a trade. But how should Scott Perry approach a potential trade? Should he be patient and hold for the maximum value he can get for his guys, or should he just take whatever he can get and make a change as soon as possible? Damen Barling from ESPN 1320 joins me to discuss that right here on Locked on Kings. You are Locked on Kings, your daily Sacramento Kings podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time. Time for another episode of Locked on Kings. Hello and welcome into Locked on Kings, your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all season long. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. My name is Matt George. I have the privilege of being your host here. I’m a Sacramento sports anchor and reporter for ABC10 News. And common sense would say when trading players away that you want to get the absolute best value you can in return. But we’re also living in a reality where the Sacramento Kings are five and 16. We are just now starting the month of December. This season has been an absolute catastrophic disaster and we still have two months to go before the trade deadline itself. Why waste those two months by keeping the same veterans and the same roster together when it’s clearly not going anywhere? And there are players on this roster that are directly getting in the way of some of the younger players, players that have an opportunity to actually be a part of your future getting more playing time. I know there are a lot of Kings fans that are like, “Yep, if you could tell me Demard Rosen’s gone or Zack Lavine’s gone or Deonta Sabonis is gone or any combination of those three is gone, I will take whatever I can get for those guys and I will drive them to the airport myself. I understand that approach, but Scott Perry is also thinking long-term and doesn’t want to just make a knee-jerk reaction and trade guys away for the sake of making trades. Although arguably making a trade period is what this organization needs right now. So, how should the Kings approach it? Damen Barling from ESPN 1320’s DO and Casey, he joins me right now. We’re going to dive deep into that conversation. We’ll talk about Zack Lavine and his future here in Sacramento if the Kings aren’t able to trade him away. And of course, we’ll talk about the uh sticky interesting situation for Keon Ellis and his future that just seems like it’s less and less likely that he’ll be a long-term Sacramento king. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. Well, we made it to December barely. Kings are five and 16. They used to say it’s it’s not till like after Christmas when the season really starts, but season just feels over for the Sacramento Kings at this point. and Damen Barling, the dowo in DLO and KC from ESPN 1320, joining me here on the Locked on Kings podcast. Damen, I don’t know. I I mean, I I don’t know where the Kings could possibly look to to go from here to find any optimism other than like starting to play the young guys more. And I’ve talked a lot about recently just is start to wean some of these veteran minutes off as as much as you possibly can and and give them to the young guys, spread them amongst the young guys. But that’s a lot easier said than done and it’s hard to take minutes away from a guy named Demar De Rozan or a guy named Zack Lavine or Russell Westbrook or Deamont Sabonis when he returns in in a handful of weeks. So that opens the door to the conversation of trades. I think this fan base is starving for some sort of of trade to happen regardless of it is to a point where I think even people are at the point it’s like I don’t care about getting maximum value. Just get one of these guys out of here or some of these guys out of here and take what you can get. So, I wanted to hyperfocus on that that point with you because holding for value might mean not moving any of these guys until early February. February 5th is the trade deadline. Might wait till a contender goes, “Oh, wait. We need Demar De Rozan or we need Malik Monk. So, we’ll give you a first round picker or a solid rotational player for those guys.” But can we stomach can the Kings stomach another two months of of of what they’re going through? Where do you fall kind of on that that as of right now December 1st teeter totter of I’m okay with just we’ll put our heads down and get through this and Scott Perry can hold for the value versus you know you know what if you can get anything for what any of these guys right now call it in send them out there and let the rotations adjust properly. Yeah, I think you’ve got to find a way to keep your fan base interested and engaged with your team. And this particular version of the Sacramento Kings is incredibly unlikable and extremely disliked. Uh this fan base will show up, they’ll cheer, they’ll do all of that, but you’ll also have incidents uh like what we saw last uh Wednesday, I think it was at the at the Phoenix game or uh at the Golden One Center against Phoenix. I think you’ll you’ll you’ll you’ll see that and it just speaks to the level of frustration that this fan base has right now with this current crop of players. I’m not of the mindset that you have to have like a hockey substitution with all of these guys going out at once. Like I don’t even think, and I know I’m a bit biased, but I don’t even think you have to take Russell Westbrook out of the lineup. I think he’s done a fine job. He had an awful game against Memphis, but still like o overall like I don’t question whether Russell Westbrook’s, you know, effort is there. I think if you asked Kings fans their preference, they’d probably much rather move on from Dennis Shruder. I think if you look in hindsight, Kings fans would much rather have Russell Westbrook as their starting point guard on that contract and Dennis Rder not even here. Um, I think though, Matt, you have to start making changes. And the more games that pass that you don’t, and maybe this is an understanding between Doug Christie and and Scott Perry and the members of this front office, but the more games where Doug puts out that same starting lineup, the more I start to scratch my head. He made the one change with Russell Westbrook and Dennis Shruder. And Dennis being out is a big deal. Like Dennis had been really, really good for that second unit. So him not playing recently, especially over this three-game stretch in which they’ve lost, that’s not it’s not a small thing. I know we focus on Damonte Simonas in in in his absence, but Dennis has been really good coming off of the bench. So without having him out there, it’s been really problematic. But I think the one that I’ll probably harp on and I think that Kings fans, a lot of Kings fans will harp on is Zack Lavine. Zack Lavine’s effort is questionable from play to play. and maybe in his mind his effort isn’t questionable. And that’s perfectly fine. I’m not big into questioning guys efforts. I think that’s a really fine line to walk. And sometimes we sometimes we use the word effort when a player is just playing bad. But Zach sometimes feels like he’s disengaged when he’s on the basketball floor. Like I I can visually see that just as a fan. And that’s tough. And that is really really tough for this fan base. And I think if you’re Doug, you can start there. You can start moving Zack Lavine to the bench and trying something else in that position. Uh even with Damonte Sabonis out like this season stunningly. I can’t believe this season is already over. Like five and what was it? Five and 16. Like we’re 21 games in this year. Five and 16. They’re on pace to win like 19 or 20 games or something like that. I even in even in the worstc case scenario I did not envision anything like this like this is stunningly bad in my mind and I think if you you have to start in my opinion you have to start doing something and you start with Zack Lavine the one that I think that you can hold on to and and when I say start with something you’ve got to move Zack Lavine to the bench and start figuring out some other things whether it’s Nick whether it’s Keon or whatever it winds up like you you you start there. Demar I think you can continue to have here with no issues for a while and Demar is the one who I think will probably return you the most uh come February. I think there’s probably teams who are looking right now like we might need to make this decision. The Sacramento Kings aren’t the only franchise whose season is slipping away. Their stakes are a fraction of as high as the Los Angeles Clippers are. like the Clippers with with with the Kings. We can look at a bad organization and bad draft history. We do all of that and be pessimistic. The the Clippers can’t even be pessimistic. They have no way of improvement. They don’t have draft picks. They don’t have uh cap. They have nothing. So, them getting better immediately is vitally important uh to what they can do moving forward. With that said, like I I just think you have to wait it out. I just think you have to wait it out, but you have to be willing to make changes. And so far, it looks like Doug hasn’t been willing to make too many changes. Though, I do want to I’ll credit him for the Russell Westbrook tennis and shooter swap. Uh, but it’s it’s going to be a long road ahead, man. I think no matter what, whether you sell off parts for cheap as quickly as possible or you hold out, you know, for the next couple of months, like it’s just going to be a tough season to get through. I I think the the point that you’re laying out, which is what I wanted to dive into, is is there’s no blanket statement answer for it’s case by case, right? In in in the case of Zack Lavine specifically, and you might even throw Demand Sabonis in into this as well because of how bad their contracts are or significant their contracts are. That might be a scenario where if anybody offers you anything to potentially get you off of that contract that doesn’t also financially put you in a tough spot for the next handful of years, maybe you have to take back a bad contract for the next year for Deonteus Sabonis or or or Zack Lavine. But in those cases, maybe that’s one where the Kings go, okay, now I’m I’m I’m willing to just pull the trigger on any See, those aren’t bad trades to me, though. Those those to me to me the scenario you just laid out those are maximum value trades to me because you’re getting you have to get something out of it and the idea that you’re going to trade Deamont Sabonis or Zack Lavine or or even Demar De Rozan and get some young player who’s really going to catapult your franchise like you’re going to like you’re you’re going to pull off the Oklahoma City trade and get Shay Gildress Alexander for one of those. Like that’s not that’s not realistic. So, the scenario that you just laid out, in my opinion, that’s a that’s a highv value trade right there. You’re getting something back that that ultimately results in in in in cap space. It ultimately results in in money falling off of the books and then you have the ability to absorb a a contract from a star who wants out or you’re you have the ability ability to absorb um you know, some sort of deal uh for a good for a good player for whatever reason. Maybe it’s a team giving up on what they are uh doing. Maybe maybe it’s just a situation like we always I always use the this doesn’t happen very often, but the Dame Lillard situation. Dame put himself in a predicament where he had no leverage at all. Like he signed a maximum contract. He had like all of like his contract hadn’t even kicked in yet. By the time that he requested a trade, that eliminates all your leverage. So, if a team either has the ability to, which Milwaukee did, combine contracts and send them out, you’re in great shape, but you also have a situation where it’s like, well, we have the ability to absorb that 30 million, $40 million contract, so we can send you this and you send us that in return. Now, again, that situation doesn’t happen very often, but should one come about, the Sacramento Kings would be in a prime spot for it. Locked on Kings is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. 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Those are the guys that outside of like a Keegan Murray who I do not believe is available but I do believe King teams are always going to be calling about uh and and I don’t think anybody should be untouchable by the way on this roster. Scott Perry gets an offer for Keegan Murray that that he can’t refuse. He should take it and I love Keegan. Uh, but I just don’t think that offer is is coming. But outside of like Keegan, I think Malik and Dear are the two guys that that Scott should be the most uh should hold on to the most or should push the most for for maximum value. Demar, because I do believe that there are teams out there that absolutely can use what he brings. that it’s not just the teams that you laid out like the Los Angeles Clippers whose seasons are slipping away and they need to do something desperately just to try and revitalize their season. There’s also teams towards the top that are looking at the Oklahoma City Thunder and going what do we do? Like we can’t what we can’t stop this team or we need something else. I don’t know if Demar Rosen is the answer necessarily, but maybe a capable Hall of Fame caliber scoring punch veteran presence off of your bench to to bring some extra scoring can help shorten that gap between OKC and and and another contender. And I kind of look at Malik Monk the the same way. I also look at Malik the same way I kind of look at Russell Westbrook in terms of like they bring the energy. Uh there’s no doubt that Malik was the catalyst to the the second unit playing as well as they did last night to give the Kings a chance to win that game against the Memphis Grizzlies. So in the case of like Malik and D Rozan specifically DLO, I’m more comfortable waiting until February to get those deals done. That being said, even with Malik, I I hope those deals do get done. Like I hope by February 6th, we’re we’re talking about you got some sort of value in return for those guys. I wouldn’t hate it if Malik is still in the Sacramento Kings by any means, but I’m willing to be a little more patient with those guys than I am with I guess a Zack Lavine or even a Dennis Shruder at this point. I don’t even want Malik traded. Yeah. Like I don’t that’s one when you when you talk about you know I have a lot of frustrations as as you’re aware and uh you know hopefully some crossover listeners between Locked on Kings and Do and Casey are aware. There are some things that just absolutely frustrate me about Damonte Savonas. I do believe he’s a valuable player, but his contract is really what becomes problematic, right? It made a lot more sense when De’aran Fox was here and you felt like you had your two pillars that you were building around. The second De’ar was gone was the second Damontus Sabonis’ contract didn’t make any sense. And I get the the the hardships in trying to move that deal, the difficulties in trying to move that deal. you know, Zack Lavine’s contract will probably be a little bit more attractive next season when you have a team who is willing to they feel like they’re a score away. Like the Los Angeles Clippers might love the idea of Zack Lavine more this offseason or more at this time next year when they know all right if it doesn’t work it’s fine. It doesn’t really matter. The 48 million is gone. We’re clean after that. We’re good. Uh it limits what Sacramento should do because you should not take anything back that expired past next year. like you you because that money is there either way. That money is there if Zack Lavine is on the contract and rolls off or if someone you trade for is there and rolls off. But you can’t acquire more money in exchange for that trade. The Malik one is one I just don’t understand. Malik makes what is it? 18 million eight like like really like what I know that this team stinks but the value of his $18 million contract for what he’s done so far this year. He is the biggest fan favorite and it’s not like it’s him and Russell Westbrook. They are the biggest fan favorites. That’s not a knock on Keegan Murray. Keegan Murray just doesn’t have a very bombastic personality. I think everybody knows you know Keegan is is you know one of the future hopefully pillars of of this franchise. But like Malik and and and and Russ are the they’re they’re the heartbeat of this team. They they’re they’re the guys that get fans, you know, really excited. Russell Westbrook, you know, Malik Monk threes, you know, Kenny coined this a couple of years ago. Malik Monk threes hit different. They sound different inside the Golden One Center. The sound from a Sacramento Kings three and the sound from a leak monk threes are different. And I just I I know you were all over this story this past off season. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now. Uh, I know we kind of, you know, hear things about what’s going on behind the scenes and how this person feels about this and this and this and this and that. Like that’s all fine, but when it comes to constructing a basketball team, I believe Malik Monk can be a valuable part of it. I don’t think he’s a pillar. I don’t think he’s a a foundation piece, but he’s a guy that you want on the team, and I can’t figure out why they don’t. Uh, but yeah, like I don’t know given what happened this off seasonason, I’m not sure that the value you’re talking about is ever going to be there. Like I I I don’t I don’t know. This off season around Malik Monk was so weird. Weird from the sense that the Sacramento Kings wanted to move him. At least it appears they wanted to move him and weird that it appeared there were no takers. Um, I don’t know. That’s one I’m hoping doesn’t get done because when you talk about the way guys have played this year. Yeah. You know, if you want to transition to something else, that’s the Lavine and the Demar Dennis. That’s perfectly fine with me. Give me Malik, give me Russ, and then and give me Nick and give me those guys out there with Keegan and then do whatever else you want to after that. But I I don’t I don’t think I I’m with you in Demar. Demar Dear is the one I think you can very comfortably safely uh you know there there are some things that Deamar has done this year where I’ve questioned his effort a little bit but in the end I I I do think Dear is a professional and if him and Scott have a talk about hey we’re we’re going to try to do what’s best for you. We just saw the Minnesota Vikings release Adam Thielen put out a statement like you know he he he wants more playing time out of respect for him. We’re going to do this. the Kings and Demar could do the same thing. You can’t release them, but you could you could do the same exact thing where it’s like, yeah, like like but you do it privately. Demar, we’re we’re going to do everything we can to get you to a contender uh or to get you to someone who who really wants to utilize you in a different way and if all else fails, we’ll get you to Los Angeles and and you get down there with the Clippers because they’re desperate to get something going. Like, we’ll we’ll work that out. You can have that conversation with Lamar in my opinion and remain in a good spot. But, uh, Malik, just hold on to Malik. I feel like Malik was one of a a few players who had their reputations or their values negatively impacted by the market and the apron system because I I always viewed Malik over the summer as it’s not that Malik’s not a valuable player around the league. It’s that teams don’t have money to spend. They’re scared to add more money. And the biggest problem with Malik in terms of value was the fact that he was under contract for three more years regardless of what the money was on those cont on that contract. He makes 20.1 million next season, then $21.5 million player option the following year, which I think he’ll he’ll probably exercise. That’s a pretty standard contract. Yeah, that doesn’t feel crazy to me for an established rotation player in the league, which is one of the reasons why I feel like maybe now that we’re out of the off season and you’re one year closer to that contract being up and we can see what Malik Monk brings to a team like that, the the same scenario where I talked about wanting to have that punch off of the bench in a Demar de Rozan, you can make that exact same argument, maybe an even stronger one for Malik Monk and the energy that he brings offensively for a second unit that I think a number of contenders would uh love to have to to push through a a potential playoff series. So, I mean, do you do you agree with me in the again outside of of Keegan Murray, do you believe agree with me that Demar Rozan and Malik Monk are the two guys where if Scott Perry is analyzing his roster and going, who can I get the most value for realistically, they’re the combin whatever order you want, they’re the combination of number one and number two. Uh, with Dear, yes, absolutely. With Malik, I struggle because they had a whole off season and no one jumped at it. Now, offseason trades are very different than inseason trades, right? Like there are teams who there are plenty of teams right now who are in a bad predicament. There are plenty plenty of of of teams right now that lost a score, lost a player and and they need to react in a way that uh they might not have anticipated, you know, back in July or August or whatever. Uh, so there could be some validity to that, but it also is one that makes me wonder if someone and this this might be a specific scenario where someone gets ultra desperate and goes and tries to acquire Zack Lavine. Uh, that like the only team that truly comes to mind is um I know I think there were rumors about Milwaukee last week. The Clippers are another one um with what’s going you know it you know they lost Bradley Beal. They were hoping for a little scoring punch from him. You never know on a day-to-day basis what’s going on with Kawhi Leonard. So you have James Harden in the year of 2025 trying to hold that team up by himself. And clearly you could see it’s not working two months ago, two and a half months ago. The Clippers look like, you know, they they didn’t look as deep as like Denver did. Certainly not as deep as Oklahoma City did. But from a top tobottom roster, it looked like, hey, like they they they could be dangerous. like they could be extremely problematic and that depth has fallen apart. Uh that team just hasn’t clicked and they have no recourse to get better. Like they have meaning meaning they have no uh incentive to tank. They have no incentive to lose games. Like they have to find a way to correct ship now during the season. and they’re a team who I wonder if they got a little desperate, would they try to make a an acquisition for a big time scorer, a guy who who you know I I if if I’m a the only thing that stops is if I’m a opposing general manager, I don’t know what gets Zack Lavine motivated. I I I I genuinely don’t like he is a I long for the days of being frustrated by questioning De’aran Fox’s effort because Dear it was always like like I it’s like man I never question De’aran Fox’s effort. It was more like oh I don’t think he’s cares this game like he’s he’s just going to kind of he’s not going to take this game. He’s going to let the game come to him and if sure if that means going to Malik or that means going to Domas or it means going to K he’s just going to do that and then maybe he’ll turn it on maybe he won’t like who knows I’m I don’t think I question whether De’Arren cared. My thing with De’aran was always I question whether he knew he could be like great like absolutely great. Zack Lavine I truly trust question whether he gives a crap. So that’s the only thing that doesn’t put him near the top of the list for me. So, it’s it’s it’s definitely no question to me. Dear at number one, and I don’t even know if there’s a number two. Like, I I I just can’t get over the the lack of a market for Malik this off season, so it’s hard for me to put him at number two. This episode of the Lockdown Kings podcast is also brought to you by Prize Picks. 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That being said, do you buy any of this these whispers or this potential of Zack and his team looking around and going maybe elsewhere I could get more years for the high30s million dollars and more longevity. or we’ll add just another element to it with what’s been going on here in Sacramento. Is there a side of Zack that just goes, “F this. I don’t want another year here. I’m I’m declining my option and I’m I’m choosing where I go next.” Like, is there any validity to maybe even if the Kings don’t trade or can’t find a trade for Zack Lavine, he just he just might pack his bags and leave anyway? Um, so are are are both things possible? Yes, absolutely. I I think both things are very very possible. I do think there are teams that might be interested in Zack Lavine at a lower dollar figure per year uh you know over the course of a two or three year stretch. Yeah, absolutely. I believe that’s true. I wondered if uh thinking about this uh as that that Memphis game was coming to a conclusion and it and it was clear that that final, you know, pop from Sacramento was never going to happen. if you start because I’ve I’ve I’ve been asking for Doug to make a starting lineup change for specifically focused on Zack Lavine for a little while now. And I wondered if this is a you know I’m I’m I’m not really a big fan of of of this happening like sometimes like I who was it was it Houston I think did it to Carmelo where they made a trade Carmelo was playing really well and then they just told him to go home like hey just go home we’ll figure something out for you and they didn’t. It was like they were like some old vendetta they were getting even with with with Zack. I feel like maybe if you put him to the bench, you take away his playing time, maybe that second scenario you presented where he goes, I don’t this I I I don’t 48 million. I don’t need another year of this. Like I know I can get a contract out there. The good part about that is Rich is going to do his due diligence. Like he’s going to know pretty early whether Zack Lavine is going to have uh a market out there. And I think both of those scenarios are very very possible. And if I’m Sacramento, I welcome them. But if you’re Scott Perry, you’re also again picking that fight with with a Rich Paul client. And do you want to potentially take off Rich Paul by sending his client to the bench and basically forcing him to leave in that sense? But that’s the difference to me between the likes of a a Scott Perry and perhaps Ammani McNair in that Rich I think can approach Scott and hey man we’re trying to trade him. We’re trying to get him out of here. We’re five and 16 there. We’re going nowhere. There’s nothing we can do. There’s no point in having him out there. I give you my word. We’re trying to trade him. We’re not trying to oust him. We’re not punishing him. We’re not doing We’re trying to trade him, but it doesn’t make sense to have him out there playing 38 40 minutes a night when we’ve got Nick Clifford out here who were desperate to to to get some minutes. Now, if you can help us navigate this trade, by all means, find a suitor and we’ll do everything we can to get this done. But this is just the direction that we have to go right now. And I feel like Scott Perry can relay that to Rich Paul. I feel like Scott Perry can do that, relay that message in a way that that that keeps his relationship with Clutch Sports strong. I’m not confident that the other front office could have could have done that, but I am confident that this current front office could do it. And it’s just uh it it Rich, sorry, man. Like we we’re not good. We’re not good. We’re not good with Zack Lavine out there playing 40 minutes. So, we’re going to try something different. He’s still going to play. He’s still going to play every night as long as he’s healthy, but we have to get our other guys out there to to to get some minutes and get some reps because this season feels lost for us. Well, in addition to that, Scott’s relationship with Rich Paul and agents around the league. I think truthfully one of the biggest benefits of having Scott Perry here in Sacramento is going to be navigating the the end of the short Zack Lavine era here in Sacramento because a day is coming where you and I on our programs are going to talk about the Kings traded De’Aran Fox for blank and it’s whatever Zack Lavine turns into or maybe it turns into Zack Lavine simply walking away and the Kings traded De’Arren Fox for whatever that was that experiment with Zack Lavine and the Kings organization is going to have to own that. But Scott Perry doesn’t. And Scott’s not tied to Lavine in that way. So Scott can do what needs to be done with Lavine without the conscience of, “Oh god, I gotta optically save a move that I made that I never should have made a year ago, which is what Monty McNair and by extension King’s ownership of Ecron Diva.” They’ll have to kind of live with that a little bit. But I I I do find as again I’m I’m fully expecting to have that episode where we’re just like, well, here’s what the DR Fox trade turned into and it’s doom and gloom. But at least the general manager currently is not basing his decision off of that aspect of I got to save face or I got to make this work in some way, shape, or form because I was the one who traded Dear and Fox for Lavine. Yeah, I’m I’m I’m I’m with you on that. He’s essentially kind of clean on this. He’s like, I I’m He can literally walk in and go, “Man, I’m the I’m the I I look, I I bought the house. I bought the house like as uh sight unseen. Like, I’ve got to clean up the mess that’s here. I’ve got, you know, plumbing that needs to be redone. The backyard needs to be fixed. Like, uh we’ve got integrity issues in the walls. Like, I’ve got to fix all of that.” But that was the circumstance in which I bought this house. And Zack Lavine, he’s the plumbing problem. Like he’s he is the massive expense that you have to fix uh when you buy buy a house with some with some issues with or you buy a house as is sight unseen. And yeah, he’s he and he has the ability to be like, “Hey, I didn’t I wasn’t a part of that deal, but I knew I had to get this deal correct.” And yeah, that’s the task ahead of him. Well, one thing Scott Perry will have to wear is what happens with Keon Ellis and DLO. We could do a whole podcast just off of this conversation alone. I’ll sneak it in at the end here. Uh Keon, I just I don’t know how a breakup or a departure is not inevitable at this point. I mean, you had Keon play last night. He was plus nine in the six-minute stretch that the Kings played really well in that first quarter and a little tiny bit in the start of the second quarter. didn’t come back in for the rest of the of the game. And a conversation about Keon really since Mike Brown was fired is how much does the organization value him? Mike certainly saw some things that limited Keon’s playing time. Although Mike would tell you I was the one that gave Keon his first opportunity. They sure will. And then and and here we are now. Doug Christie and and Scott Perry not only not giving Keon Ellis an extension this this offse or this past offseason for the reasons that he had. Now, Keon is still barely getting any sort of playing time. If I’m Keon Ellis, if I’m Keon Ellis’s adviser, I’m telling him, man, find your value in the open market this summer. Some team’s going to value you. We’ll see how much money they give you. I don’t know if it’s going to be 10 plus million dollars, but you could probably get more than the two million you’re making right now. And the other caveat to that conversation, DLO, is well, you don’t want to lose him for nothing, so try and trade him. But because he only makes $2 million, what can you trade him for? unless you’re adding him on top of a D Rozan or a Lavine or somebody else to sweeten the deal a little bit to get something back. So, it just feels like inevitable that’s that’s where we’re headed at this point. Yeah, I think above like the the Keon Ellis thing is very confusing. Um you wonder like why do multiple front offices and multiple coaches see him in a way that fans don’t? But more importantly, you ask why multiple front offices and multiple coaches uh seem to think differently than a lot of people around the league seem to think. Now, this could all just be talking. It could be posturing. It could ultimately mean nothing because when push comes to shove, how many of these organizations are going to offer Keon Ellis a contract? I know if I’m Keon and I know if I’m representing Keon, I’m out. Like there is no circumstance that I can think of if I’m Keon Ellis’s representative where I’m encouraging him to stay in Sacramento for a multitude of reasons. My brother, get your ass out of here. You have full control over what you can do this off season. Get out. Run fast away from this organization because it’s not now that’s not a knock on Scott Perry. It’s not to say that he can’t like fix this or do this, but they’ve they’ve they’ve they’ve set the tone. You talk about you talk about marks for Scott Perry, like in the way this thing went in the offseason with Keon Ellis. Scott’s got a couple of marks right now because the Dennis Rutder thing doesn’t look good in in in in relation, the Jonas Valenunis thing looks really really bad right now. True. And and so Scott’s first off season is a very firm F. M it’s not it’s not oh well no we’ll wait and see what happens with Keegan. No no no no no no it’s an F and he’s got a long way to go to improve that grade. We’re we’re we’re we’re we’re not nearing midterms or anything like that. Like he still has time to bring that grade up but his isolated grade for this past offseason and and part of that is we don’t really know what Nick is yet. you think Nick is a like Nick is a solid rotational player and it’s like great you have a you drafted a solid rotational player on on on a team that desperately needs guys to play on it. So, you know, he’s he’s got a lot of work to do and he needs to he needs to, you know, hit a couple of home runs, couple of triples, hit some RBI’s here. He needs to drive some runins to get that batting average up, man, because it is rough right now. But the the the Keon thing, regardless of how Sacramento feels about him, I think it’s gotten to the point where that doesn’t even matter. If I’m Keon Ellis or I’m Keon Ellis’s representatives, I’m gone. We’ll wrap up with this. The I have one like hypothetical dream positive scenario for Keon Ellis staying in in Sacramento. You said you don’t have any circumstance. I’ve got one and I need you to tell me if it’s just starry eyed fantasy land or not. Is there a scenario, DLO, where at the deadline they move Deamar or they move Lavine or multiple guys and now Perry and Doug can go to Ke and go, here’s your spot in the rotation. These minutes are freed up. Here’s 25 minutes a night plus now we can negotiate with you. Here’s $10 million a year. I have no idea if they’d pay that much, but I’m just throwing it out there. Money talks, too. So you put the bag in front of them right away and you say, “Now I have this playing time for you because these veterans that were in front of you, the log jam amateur position is loosened or is gone. Now do you want to commit to long-term in Sacramento?” If I’m Keon, I’m still looking around going, “This looks terrible, but money talk.” Like, is that realistic or is that like wishful thinking for a Keon Ellis fan who just wants to see him stay here? No. That to me, no, that’s not unrealistic. And that’s kind of how I felt at the beginning of the season where, you know, I I wondered if maybe there was a an an understanding. Not saying that Keon was happy with it, not saying that Keon was okay with it, just wondering if there was a scenario laid out where, hey, we’re trying to maintain a little flexibility this off season. We want you to be here. We want you to be a part of what we’re doing, but we can’t really we we can’t really offer you what you hope and what we want to right now. but if you just if you just stick with us, we’ll be able to get there. Then then the then playing time started happening. It’s like, okay, wait a minute. Like, he’s getting DNPs now. Like, he’s getting, you know, halves where he’s not playing. He’s getting like six six minutes in a game where you trailed for a lot of it. you you know you you you had that you you you kind of flipped the was it 17 to3 I think the run at the end of the third you kind of flipped the game there a little bit you gave the Golden one center a little bit of a little bit of hope in that one but ultimately like you never saw the floor again that’s where a lot of my questions because if I’m keon to be like hey man this is great I’m glad the minutes are there I’m glad the money’s there I have some questions about exactly what you expect of me moving forward and what I wasn’t doing Keon is far from a perfect player he does stuff regularly that absolutely drives me nuts. And admittedly, I’m a little hyperfocused on him right now because I’m not like I can understand like maybe Keon isn’t exactly what Kings fans think that he is, but he’s not a DNP guy. He’s not a guy who doesn’t deserve to play basketball, especially on this basketball team. So, his his his shortcomings or the or the things that he does that are a little frustrating to me, I feel like those are things that you can get through. But Sacramento appears to not. Or they just feel like they have to continue to ride Lavine and Demar through this thing. So, is your scenario possible? Sure. But in in that scenario, the exact way you presented it, I’m Keon and I’m his representatives. I’m asking some questions before I sign that contract and I’m making sure uh I know what the league has for me this summer. Those conversations will only get louder as we get closer to the February trade deadline. DLO and Casey are back after the Thanksgiving holiday breaks. You can check that out uh from noon to 4:00 on ESPN 1320. DLO, I appreciate you taking the time before a 4hour radio show to come here on the pod. Uh good luck and enjoy the conversation. We’ll try and make sense of whatever this mess is in in Sacramento. It’s December, baby. We made it this far. Yeah, it’s the be. We haven’t even made it to Christmas when the season really starts. I appreciate you, man. Thanks, man.

Matt George and ESPN 1320’s Damien Barling discuss how Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry should approach trade talks; with patience or ready to take whatever he can get for veteran players.

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Fire Sale or Patience? How the Sacramento Kings Should Approach Trade Talks
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