The San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings have had dramatically different offseasons. The Spurs improved their already impressive young roster by adding veterans and even two lottery picks to their team.
Meanwhile, the Kings have done little to improve and appear stuck with a lackluster roster that has little chance of making the playoffs next season. Considering the Kings have largely been irrelevant over the last 20 years and have few building blocks to retool around, they have one of the bleakest futures among NBA teams.
Unfortunately for the Kings and luckily for the Spurs, Sacramento owes San Antonio an unprotected 2031 first-round pick swap. That was a byproduct of the misguided DeMar DeRozan sign and trade last summer.
That move saw the Kings trade Harrison Barnes to the Spurs in a three-team swap while also giving up a pick swap in the process. Not only did DeRozan fail to help the Kings make the playoffs last season, but Barnes is a key piece on an up-and-coming Spurs team.
He emerged as a perfect starting power forward to play alongside star Victor Wembanyama due to his shooting a blistering 43% from three. Add in the pick swap and DeRozan depreciating value, and it’s already looking like an awful move for the Kings and a great one for the Spurs.
The De’Aaron Fox trade cost the Kings in more ways than one
Even after making another trade with the Spurs to send De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio, the Kings not getting their own pick back will come back to haunt them. They had the perfect opportunity to demand the Spurs give them their pick back.
Instead, the Kings blew that chance, giving up a likely future lottery pick, in addition to Fox, trading him for less than his market value. What’s going on in Sacramento?
In six years, the Kings’ best player, Domantas Sabonis, will be 35 years old, and he may not even be on the team by then. More than likely, they will be in a rebuild by then and picking in the NBA draft lottery.
Meanwhile, the Spurs could be contending with superstar Victor Wembanyama being just 27 by then. That could mean that the Spurs could end up with a high lottery pick while the Kings pick in the 20s.
The Sacramento Kings’ future is tied to the San Antonio Spurs
Given how expensive NBA salaries have become and how restrictive the new collective bargaining agreement is, San Antonio potentially ending up with a high lottery pick could be a game changer. Especially for a possible perennial contender. It could serve as a big trade chip or give them a shot of young talent that is both cheap and has plenty of upside.
That makes the Kings decision to trade a future pick swap all the more confusing, especially since the DeRozan deal is already looking like a disastrous move.
All in all, the Kings decision to trade a 2031 pick swap to the Spurs to salary dump Barnes could come back to bite them big time. The Spurs certainly hope so since they could end up with a high lottery pick when they are possibly contending in the next six years.
