Kings Eye Kevin Martin

The Kings are high on Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports (Twitter link). This comes on the heels of the overnight report from Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press that Minnesota has made Martin available in trade discussions. The Wolves are reportedly looking to free up more minutes to aid in the development of Andrew Wiggins, Shabazz Muhammad and Zach LaVine, according to Krawczynski.

This isn’t the first time that Sacramento has shown interest in the 32-year-old shooting guard. Last winter the Kings were mentioned as part of a series of reports identifying them along with the Mavericks, Wizards, Bulls and Rockets as interested parties for Martin’s services. No deal was struck, obviously, due to late Wolves coach/executive Flip Saundersapparent unwillingness to trade Martin or arrange for a buyout at the time. Martin played for the Kings from 2004-2010, though his time in Sacramento ended years before owner Vivek Ranadive bought the team and later installed Vlade Divac atop the basketball operations department.

Sacramento could certainly use some help at shooting guard, with neither former lottery pick Ben McLemore nor offseason signee Marco Belinelli playing particularly well thus far in 2015/16. The Kings are currently over the salary cap and without a trade exception, so Sacramento would need to send back matching salary to Minnesota in any deal. Martin is making $7.085MM this season with a player option for nearly $7.378MM next year.

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