It was a long road, but the Sacramento Kings — particularly ownership — seems to understand this team was just not that good.
Said ownership was not happy with how things started last season, the team was 13-18 and losing a lot of close games, so coach Mike Brown was fired and replaced by organizational favorite Doug Christie. How that we t down left a bad taste in the mouth of De’Aaron Fox, who asked for a trade, a complex deal that brought back Zach LaVine to provide some scoring. The result of all that? A core of DeMar DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and LaVine, coached by Christie, which went 12-15 after the All-Star break and could not get out of the play-in. That led to GM Monte Morris being shown the door and Scott Perry being brought back from the Knicks to turn things around.
How does he turn things around? Possibly trade DeRozan, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reports.
The focus in the California capital shifts now to what sort of dealing we could see from the Kings’ new regime. There has been no shortage of rumbles, since the hiring of Scott Perry as general manager, that Sacramento is expected to gauge the trade market for veteran swingman DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan, 35, is still an efficient bucket getter, especially from the mid-range. He averaged 22.2 points and 4.4 assists per game last season. DeRozan will make $24.8 million next season and $25.7 million in the 2026-27 season, at which point he becomes a free agent.
The Kings may find the market for DeRozan limited, he is seen more as a floor raiser than a piece to add for a deep playoff run. While he can score points, he prefers to work in isolation and doesn’t shoot many 3-pointers, which means he’s not a natural fit on a lot of rosters. He’s also a minus defender.
For his part, DeRozan sounded like a guy resigned to the idea he might be on the move when speaking to the media after the end of the Kings’ season.
“You don’t have many opportunities left to give yourself a chance to compete in the playoffs. That’s all you kind of want at this stage of your career…” DeRozan said. “I’m not trying to play another five, six years. You’ve only got so many years. That window closes quick.”
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