As Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes in his latest piece, most NBA teams avoid making trades in training camp, preferring to wait until at least December to give their rosters a chance to mesh. However, the Kings still have multiple trade candidates on its roster, and they don’t have much depth at point guard, so it’s not out of the question that the team could make a move within the next month or so.
Here are a few of the highlights from Jones:
- Currently, the Kings have 14 players on guaranteed salaries, and the team’s 15th man is expected to be a point guard — likely either Ty Lawson, Jordan Farmar, or Isaiah Cousins. According to Jones, the decision on which point guards make the regular-season roster could end up being tied to a possible Rudy Gay trade.
- Sacramento has made Ben McLemore available in trade discussions for months, but Jones suggests (via Twitter) that the coaching staff has really connected with the fourth-year guard and is excited to see how he performs this season. At one point it seemed like a lock that McLemore would be dealt, but he has impressed the Kings lately, says Jones.
- One another Kings veteran expected to be traded this summer was center Kosta Koufos, Jones notes. Koufos, whose name was connected to trade rumors in July and August, is fairly affordable at $8MM, given the free agent prices this offseason, but Sacramento has yet to find an acceptable deal.
Trade gay and boogie