The Kings would have several interested suitors if they decide to part with Domantas Sabonis, Sam Amick of the Athletic said during a recent appearance on SacTown Sports (YouTube link; hat tip to Real GM).
“So, as it relates to Sabonis, my understanding is there are at least a few teams that have raised their hand to say, ‘Yeah, he’s somebody we’d want to talk about,’” Amick told the hosts. “I’ve said it on your show before — I don’t have that sort of information about Zach (LaVine).”
Sabonis is currently making $42.3MM and still has two more seasons left on the four-year extension he signed in 2023. He’ll earn $45.5MM in 2026/27 and $48.6MM in 2027/28 before becoming a free agent in the summer of 2028.
Sabonis, 29, is a three-time All-Star who has led the league in rebounding the past three years. He’s gotten off to a slow start this season as his numbers are down across the board at 15.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists through nine games, but he’s still a highly valued big man.
The Kings have been an early disappointment at 3-9 and could be considering changes, either in an effort to salvage the season or to tank in hopes of landing a high pick in a strong draft.
As Amick indicates, it could be much easier to trade Sabonis than LaVine, who’s making $47.5MM and holds a $49MM player option for next season. The Bulls spent months trying to find a taker for LaVine before Sacramento agreed to acquire him as part of a three-team trade in February.
Amick also said the Kings were “comfortable” giving Keegan Murray a five-year rookie scale extension because “they not only valued him within their program, but they learned that he’s got a lot of value around the league.” Murray hasn’t played yet this season after undergoing thumb surgery in October.
Sabonis hasn’t developed the shooting that would’ve put him on the level of a contributor on a contender. Perfect fit for the kings. Any team that is showing interest would be trying to make the playoffs just to sell some tickets.
He would probably be the 3rd best player on a true championship contender, not the star but he could definitely be a contributor.
Trade Idea
Kuminga, Moody, Santos and filler for Sabonis
Three 23 years old players for Sabonis
Warriors Add 1 unprotected First if needed
Salary doesn’t match up at all. Use Spotrac trade machine in future
link to spotrac.com
I recall someone saying this was a site for RUMORS.
Justkidding: Is Sabonis better than Julius Randle in your opinion? He is in mine, and I would say Minnesota is already an outside championship level threat with Randle as a 2nd option.
Great question. If I was drafting an expansion team I would take Sabonis over Randle. However I think Minnesota would need an awful lot to go their way to win a Championship this year, and would say the same thing about Randle needs to be the 3rd best player on a championship team. We kind of saw the Knicks come to that same conclusion.
I know it’s ridiculous and not apples to apples but I’d hesitate to trade for somebody that has been traded twice and both times the returns helped catapult the OTHER team to the finals.
Trading for Lavine was such a Sacramento thing to do. Just like signing Schroeder and Derozan.
You would think DeRozan is the guy on teh trading blco more than Any of teh others. He has a moderate contract and if some contention need scoring he would be the guy to trade. Most likely a late round 1st round pick but to get rid of $25 million off teh payroll would be worth it.
Nobody want DeRozan he is a bench player at this point. Come off the bench and put up points. There’s no way he can win a championship unless he only takes 10 to 15 million which this generation of Superstars are selfish and more about the money than they are about actually winning.
Zach LaVine is pretty much untreatable into his contract ends.
If I was the Kings I would trade to sabonis and get the picks and young players. Gs and a few other teams could use him he is a good piece of used right with a point guard. Ride DeMar DeRozan and Levine unless a trade come.
However, all this is meaningless if they don’t know how to draft. This is probably one of the worst drafting teams over the last 20 years seeing how much they’ve been in the lottery and just squandered pick after pick after pic. I doubt the NBA would ever give them the first overall pic as of right now seeing how they squatted so many second old for all and third overall
DeRozan still have offense value. If a team is desperate for a playoff spot they might trade for him. Would n’t be a big asset haul for Kings just shredding payroll.
DeMar and Sabonis make GSW better. GSW does not need 2 Draymonds, they can get rid of Jimmy.
Lavine is overpaid but I think the hate for him is crazy. Nobody would have taken his contract a year or two ago because he was always hurt. Now he is staying relatively healthy and is an elite three level scorer. He is probably a 35 million dollar player in a normal market. There are much worse contracts out there.
Sabonis would be an answer to most of the Bulls problems if they could figure out a way to make the deal work in the NBA’s convoluted trade system. Maybe Coby, Collins and Williams? Sabonis plays the 4, Essengue gets more NBA time, I’d even toss in the Portland 1st round pick the Bulls have coming. Might work.
You could have something there if you take out Williams in the offer and put in Jalen Smith.
Mike, I would say no to this deal, simply because of Buzelis and Sabonis both play the 4 position. We need a rim protector. I believe it would be better off if we traded for Nick Claxton whose contract decreases the next two years and he is a board/rim protector/run the floor guy with athleticism. We need to get more athletic on the front line. That was the sole purpose of drafting Essengue and Buzelis. Sabonis is not an athletic freak by any standards.
Buzelis isn’t a 4. He’s a 3 and that’s where he should play with Okoro coming off the bench. That’s my plan.
Only a 3. But fact is he is yrs away. And Essengue is even more yrs away. Sabonis is not on their timeline.
What’s your offer for Clax, who btw has really elevated his game so far, with some real offense and is now getting to the line and hitting FTs..?
If you’re talking about the C from Brooklyn, His salary is 25 million I think? For me Coby and Jaylen Smith would get that done. And match up. Maybe the Bulls toss in Portlands pick for 2 second round picks to make it work better since that will probably end up being the result for he Bulls on that pick inevitably.
Nets don’t want Coby. They are in a lengthy rebuild.
Speak for yourself. The Nets have to start to compete by next szn bc the Rockets have FRP swap rights for the 27 pick.
I love Coby for the Nets but the problem is that he’s an UFA this summer. Otherwise I do that deal.
Again Nets don’t want anything to with Coby. Bulls have nothing Nets want. 2027 is a long way away. Plus they have options. And have nothing to do with Coby. Plus Why Bulls traded Coby now. He is finally starting to show.
AL-Because 1 the Bulls have no need for Coby and 2 until they show ANY interest at all in obtaining a C to replace Vujevic then I’ll be looking for 1 for them.
As of now Bulls seem happy with Vuc. You are assuming too much. Knowing their coach who just resigned. And their history under him. He is copying the so called new NBA. He already messed with Williams career trying to make him a 4. And is only drafting 3s with size. They weren’t sure about Giddey. Imo they don’t really want him but did not want to lose him for nothing. And now are reaping the rewards of that insecurity.
They could resign Vuc at reasonable price, tgree yrs. Cause their youth still needs to develop. Change for the sake of change is not true rebuilding. I still don’t see a true core on this team. IMO Bulls haven’t decided on a true core yet. Things look ok right now. But even when you throw up pieces on a board. A d see what sticks. It will stick for a while. I think this yr they will show their cards. And we will see who they are committing to. Cause it could even be Coby and Giddey. I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t get a woody over 15 gms. When it has been miss or hit since Billy came here. Building takes years but more importantly you must commit to a core. Even if that core is piling up draft picks.
So which is it, Nets wouldn’t want Coby or the Bulls shouldn’t trade him? Make up your mind.
That’s EXACTLY WHY the Bulls should have traded Coby at last years deadline or at worst at the draft in June. His value will never be higher than it is right now. That’s when you trade things you don’t need. They already made that mistake with LaVine. Can’t believe they are about to do the same thing again.
Reading comprehension
ShaqFoo
Realistically this would be my offer:
Claxton – $25,352,272
Mann -$ 15,500,000
Total going out $40M,852,272
Collins – $18,080,496 (expiring)
Huerter – $17,991,071- $(expiring)
Terry – $5,399,118 (Q/O for 2026-27 worth $7,661,349M)
Total coming in – $41,470,685M (excluding Terry’s $7.6M Q/O, which likely will never happen at this rate).
Draft pick compensation below:
2026 – Portland Trail Blazers 1st round pick – If Portland doesn’t make the playoffs this year (until 2028), then it becomes a 2nd round pick owed to Brooklyn.
2028 – Chicago Bulls pick swap – protected 1-10 though
Nets objective is to free up cap for future free agencies while not giving up any ground for draft compensation. Allowing $40M to come off the cap, gives them a more flexible chance to 1) go after FA and 2) Retain some of the kids they drafted last few years without maxing them out.
Bulls gets Mann who can shoot and would replace Terry off the bench. Affordable $15M for next year and $16M the year after that. Claxton – $23M next year and $20M the following year. Gives us a nucleus of Giddey/Buzelis/Essengue/Claxton. They would pay Ayo a good hefty deal and take their chances in the draft to acquire a 2 guard. Patrick Williams will be the death of me and we need another guy who can shoot and has a scorer’s mentality.
That would be my offer.
So, as a long suffering Nets fan, my issue has been that this group has failed to bring in/uncover any young players who are future rotation assets in all the deals where dumped veteran players. They’ve done fine at adding picks, but that’s it.
So if I’m calling the shots, I’m not trading any assets that doesn’t net a young player(s). The Nets already have more cap space next summer than most teams will have and with very few good options to spend it. So that package of players doesn’t interest me unless you include Essengue. And yeah, I’d love to get Coby but the Nets probably have a good shot at signing him next summer since he’s an UFA… unless someone trades for him and gets an extension done.
I get your point. It’s time to start acquiring players too, not just picks. You cannot give up Essengue just yet. He has not earned any accolades, what I mean by that is individual awards or merits. Giving up the 12th pick or something of that caliber for a guy who is a good player, but let’s stop pretending like we are talking about he’s the 2nd coming of Bill Russell or Nate Thurmond lol (rip). You could sign Coby, you are right about that, but you also could miss out on him as the suitors will be there for him in February. Coby is also turning 26 next year. So you have 3-4 years of him (if you can extend him). Claxton will be 27 by end of the season, and we know bigs don’t really age well as they get older.
I would pull the trigger on a deal that gets Coby to the Nets if he agrees to an extension. Their best shot is to roll forward with a core of Coby, MPJ, Dybantsa or Boozer and Demin and the others they just drafted. Plus they still have cap space to add. They pretty much have to end up with either Coby or Grimes (both UFAs next summer).. or Simons as a consolation I guess.
Simons…ugh lol Coby is a better all around fit and player than Simons who is just a chucker.
No doubt. That’s why I called that a consolation.
How does that get rid of Coby? And Williams isn’t worth 20 million a year but he has been serviceable so far. Yeah it surprises me too!
Mike,
Coby is more valuable to us than Clax is for Brooklyn. I would rather hold out and see if we can acquire a legitimate 4 for Coby if that’s the case you are building (trying to find even value for Coby’s game/contract), and realistically you won’t be able too, His 3/36M he signed a few years ago was really nice but right now it could be a curse for us as they might just roll the dice and make him a 150-200M player because we are desperate.
That’s not bad lol. But that has to be first rd pick not a second. Make that a guaranteed 1.
Be careful with Claxton. He gets fewer rebounds per 100 possessions than Vucevic, and by quite a margin. Particularly, defensive rebounds.
You can theoretically make it work, especially since Giddey can make up for some of it, but a player of that kind can be very frustrating to have when you give up one ORB after another. It’s one of the reasons Indiana fans (and likely their FO) had a love-hate relationship with Turner.
Check out the Indiana – Charlotte game box score from the other night. Turner grabbed 1 DRB in 29 minutes, while Kalkbrenner and Diabate had 12 ORBs between them, which was pretty much the deciding factor in the game. Milwaukee shot better, but Charlotte had more possessions, more shots, and won the game that way.
With Claxton, you’d ideally want at least 2 players who are above-average rebounders for their position. That would help, but not solve some other issues.
With a player like that at the 5, you will always seem small, since he’s not a big body who controls space around the rim, and that will invite drives, the opponents will crash O boards, etc. I see it every game with Sarr and Bagley. Yeah, they get blocks, yeah, they play with energy, but there’s no fear when other teams see them under the rim – our opponents drive, crowd the paint, get ORBs like crazy. And the games are lost that way.
He is a C that can cover on perimeter. So can play C in today’s game. He is solid to me as a double double guy. With solid big man D. Team building is all about fit. He fits next to a Sabonis, AD, JJ, Siakam, Banchero. Can even play in Warriors system. He is solid to me. Plus not expensive. He is not on Nets timeline. So I can see them moving him for picks or prospects.
If I can give you an earnest answer, and also for anyone else wondering about the convoluted trade system (you certainly aren’t wrong calling it that), Spotrac covers all the money side. It has no section for draft picks, but if you are trying to see if the money matches, try it out:
link to spotrac.com
@ Davey Fanspo craps on Spotrac.
Is it humanly possible for you to say anything nice or supportive to me on here? Ever heard of “yes, and” ???
Zach has a player option next year so no chance any team is trading for him unless its another bad contract. Sabonis being over a $40 million a year player is still not a easy contract to trade to get back a great package of a huge amount of top draft picks.
Sabonis is a phenomenal center and I agree that the Kings should blow it all up and rebuild. Take advantage of this great upcoming draft class
What makes this a great upcoming draft class, as people call it?
How many 2026 season Day 1 starters are out there playing college ball today?
Absolutely hilarious reasoning for the Murray extension. His perceived value around the league was tied to his contract situation being up in the air. You’ve effectively capped his value on the market by giving him a contract that he has yet to justify. He must now grow into the player this contract suggests for him to become a positive asset again. Any signs of struggle or indications that he can’t do that will immediately tank that value you saw “across the league” (which is a fat load of bs btw).
Not saying that extending Keegs was a bad move, even if the contract looks pretty bloated. I just love the logic this FO continues to use.
All young players do that today. First rd picks come in as 18-19 yr olds. By the time of their second contract have yet to developed. But still considered upside. So teams don’t want to lose their asset. So sign them to either trade them later or hopefully they level up and justify extension.
Look at Quickley. People lost their minds when Knicks traded him. Yet he still has not justified his 30 mill a yr yet.
I would say to most of you. Instead of always looking. At why a player isn’t worth his contract. Is think on why he was offered that in first place. The negative world most of you live in. Is not the NBA world. And yes money and contracts cause of cap rules. Does mean a lot. Competing and building is all about fit and chemistry. So teams will always weigh that and timelines over contracts.
For the Kings to trade Sabonis it would signal the blowing up of this team. Murray is not a great talent, he is talented. Sabonis is one of best 4s in NBA. At 29 yrs old he in his prime. Kings are just lost as far as building this team. Why did they move Fox. For three 1s and three 2nds and LaVine. Magic gave up more for Bane. You can build around Lavine and Sabonis. But Murray has to play. And you need a rim protector next to Sabonis. Trade DeM he still has plenty value. He has a very reasonable contract. Keep Zach where he is best , at SG. Zach is a scorer. So use his strength. Kings can build a decent playoff team now. Unfortunately they can’t decide on a core. So just keep going around in circles. Like a hamster on his wheel. Mitch would be a nice fit next to Sabonis. Allen or Claxton too. Kings problem is they can’t commit to a core.
DeM DeR has avg 34.7 mins over his career. He is one of best conditioned ballers ever. A first ballot HOFer. He is 36 yrs old and still on top of his game. He can help any contender. He has two yrs 25 mill a yr contract. Easily can be moved. He is one of best closers of his generation. You should learn to respect game if you consider yourself an NBA fan.
The reason Kings can move DeM. Is cause Zach is younger and harder to move. You just don’t give away DeM. Kings signed him as FA so what you get back is all upside. You gave up nothing.
Al,
What are you talking about demar DeRozan is not an NBA starter anymore. If he is starting you are not winning a championship. He is a bench player 6th man who can score and play make. What championship contender will he fit on and play in their system. This is why it’s important, not just to say a whole bunch of nothing. You gave a whole bunch of (best closer of this generation) No, he’s not. He’s actually one of the biggest chokers we’ve had in this generation and I would pick Paul George over top of him for there careers.
Now before you go on saying that I don’t think that he’s good. I think DeMar DeRozan was a good low-level All-Star which is one heck of a career. But if you actually watch basketball since you’re insulting other people, then you would see that his pace of play is very slow. He comes in and scores and can play. Make doesn’t play defense anymore and that’s okay because he’s old. He is no longer a starter in the NBA. His contract isn’t bad that’s why he can move but you’re not going to gain a crazy amount of assets for him because he pretty much doesn’t fit on any team except for the New York Knicks and they don’t have anything to give up to get them. He could come off the bench and get buckets for them a score (Clarkson role).
The reason the kings can move Levine is because of his contract. If you’re paying a guy that much money, you’re expecting him to be your second best player or your best player on a team. He’s incapable of carrying a team and his contract is too high to be a third option. Somebody else said he’s a three level scorer. He’s actually pretty inconsistent as a third option. Yes because he can have her somewhere between 19 and 23 points as your third option and that would be amazing, but we’ve seen time and time again that they don’t put up any type of wins.
Gs does not need DeRozan. They have Jimmy Butler. He wouldn’t fit in Denver because they moved the ball and the ball sticks in his hand. OKC definitely doesn’t need him so those are three of your top contenders right there. There’s not enough balls to go around so he wouldn’t fit in the Lakers. He would just be another old man on the clippers. So pretty much you have the Knicks who don’t really have much to give up to get them or the cap space and you have Milwaukee are pretty much the only teams that could use him. All the other teams are not a threat for the championship. O I forgot the cavs. That’s probably the best case scenario. Maybe he could play in the backcourt with Donovan Mitchell, but then you would have two players who can’t play defense and I feel he could come off the bench and play a pretty decent role.
Dude DeM can start fir any tean. He is a better defender than Luka right now. Do you know what 35 mins a game for a CAREER is. He’s playing almost 34 mins now. Nobody cares if you don’t like him. Facts say he can play. Do you ever fact check. Cause you don’t know his numbers.
Really you claim to know basketball What teams can he star for since you can start for any team that is a playoff contender? How is he going to contribute to that team? How does he play? You said I don’t watch games yet I was live for two games for sac and watch them. I happen to train two people who played against Sacramento and showed up for support.
So give the analysis on what he bring to start? He can’t start on any playoff team. I just said what his role is and you’re reply involve no game analysis just he can start for any team. Then you talked about his conditioning as if that’s going to make you start on a team or play starter minutes. What about defense? What about rebounding? What about cutting without the ball? A whole bunch of other things shooting threes and you’re talking about conditioning. Come on man. Make it make sense
He plays on a terrible teams. You didn’t even read my original post. As I said, he had a pretty good low-level All-Star career which is a great career. Playing 34 min for the Sacramento Kings does not make you starter material for playoff team. Everybody is literally telling your team to blow it up and he played on the bulls. Guess what they weren’t a playoff team. Played for the raptors got swept in the conference final and never made it to the NBA finals with that grade team that he had didn’t trade him for Leonard and you literally win a championship. Never got out of the first round with San Antonio. You’re acting like we didn’t watch his career. He is a good player and with a good low-level All-Star nobody denying that the guy he could carry it tweak. He’s never been that guy
I doubt you watch games man. You know who plays and doesn’t playF. You who is finished and who isn’t. On all 30 teams. I guess you follow all 30 teams and all pkayers. Yet you don’t know DeM is one of best conditioned player ever.
It’s the Warriors. The other reports said “a rival California team”. Lakers maybe, but the Warriors are further along in “win now mode” than they are. Clippers have nothing of substance to offer.
Being that for us predictors, the money matching is more important than number of draft picks, so Spotrac trade machine works best here for figuring out what matches. Here is what they have as “passing” (again, this is Spotrac’s work, not mine, please do not criticize me personally for these, all I am saying is they work, money-wise, draft picks are going to be involved, but they are not included here):
1. Domantas Sabonis + Devin Carter for Jimmy Butler
2. Domantas Sabonis for Jonathan Kuminga + Moses Moody + Buddy Hield
3. Domantas Sabonis + DeMar DeRozan for Draymond Green + Jonathan Kuminga + Moses Moody + Buddy Hield
4. Domantas Sabonis + Malik Monk for Jimmy Butler + Moses Moody + Brandin Podziemski
5. Domantas Sabonis + Malik Monk + Devin Carter + Keon Ellis for Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga
What do we think of these? Keep in mind, the cap space is the most important aspect of these, and these are all feasible based off cap space.
Kings want young players
Take out all Draymond and Butler
Bot, did you not read the part about salary matching? Get better please. Kings can easily flip the older guys to another team. So sick of these poorly-thought out replies on here…learn to read…
It feels like a Sabonis trade (if there is one) will end up with the Kings getting either Ja or Zion.
I wouldn’t disagree there, but the reports say it’s a CA team.
Ja for Zion seems more likely.
Sac Kings have a knack to keeping themselves in the lottery while not actually getting the #1 pick. They seem to draft ok but trade away their best for scraps
Miami makes a lot of sense
Ware – jovic – wiggins and a 1 st
I can squint and see it if the Kings are into Ware and Jovic (who have potential but are far from sure things), otherwise I think they pass. I believe they’ll aim for either a bigger name (like ShaqFoo said) or more in the way of draft capital.
Sabonis is a 4. I firmly believe that he is. Dallas gets White Saboinis AD Goes to Chicago Sac gets picks and vuc Christie.
If bulls trade for AD I will boycott the team
@ Benji….dont blame you. If Boston traded for Ant. I’m the newest bandwagon laker fan and I hate everything about the Lakers.
Kings should try this before blowing it up. Build around Sabonis, Zach, Murray. Sabonis is one of best players in the game. Show him respect. In two years Zach is off the books. Clifford, Carter should be ready. Raynaud could be a nice find.
PG — Schroder, Russ ……..
Devin Carter
SG — Zach. ………
Monk, Clifford
SF — Murray ………
Ellis, McDermont
PF — Sabonis
Eubanks
C — ????? Allen ??
Raynaud
You trade DeM for a real C. A rim protector rebounder. This is better team building. And you let the young guys develop on this team Carter, Clifford, Raynaud, Ellis. And you make sure you hit on your picks in 2026 one 1st and two 2nds. And 2027 two 1st and two 2nds. You can add a future pick to DeM to get a nice player back now.
DeM, Precious, 2029 Kings #1pick to Cavs
Hunter, Cavs 2nd rd pick, Kings 2nd rd pick to Nets
Claxton to Cavs ……
Allen to Kings ….
Sabonis and Monk for Anthony Davis
Of course everyone must want Sabonis, he is easily a top 10 center in the last 40 years, players don’t come much better than him!
Does Sabonis for LeBron work, lol.
@Buying buckets ….. a d all others.
Please show me who is better than this ….
mins 33.5, pts 19.2, reb 3.4, ast 3.3, 1 stl,
FT .85%, 2pt .503%, 3pt .400%
Yeah …. Hunter who is 27 yrs old is not putting up those link to basketball-reference.com