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How chaotic is this week for you guys? How much do you read stuff and follow it all? Malik Monk: As much as you try not to see anything, you’re gonna see something. Especially for the guys that’s been traded—it’s a crazy, crazy week. You never know where you’re going to land at.
At media day, you talked about how you really put your roots into Sacramento this season. Does that change this deadline more for you? Malik Monk: Uh-huh. No, don’t change at all, man. Still here. Still got a few properties out here. So yeah, it ain’t gonna change.
Sam Amick: “RJ (Barrett) is definitely of interest to the Kings. The obstacle, like I wrote, is Jakob Poeltl. It’s an absolute non-starter for Sacramento—they’re not taking him on. He has a lot of money left; I think it’s around $103 million. So if you see Poeltl move somewhere else before the deadline—which is unlikely—that’s the only way this becomes more realistic. And honestly, I forgot to write this part: his back issues have kept him off the floor lately, which is another thing to monitor.”
Marc J. Spears: Sacramento Kings say forward Keegan Murray is progressing in his rehabilitation of a moderate left ankle sprain. Murray has been approved for on-court contact activities. He will be reevaluated in two weeks.
The Sacramento Kings are consistently mentioned as one of the few teams — if not the only one — that might decide to get into the Morant business before the Thursday deadline. As of today, I can relay, per team sources, that they have still not completely closed the door on that idea. That being said, the percentage chance of this actually happening was placed in the low-single-digits when I inquired about it pre-Jaren Jackson Jr. trade.
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The Kings’ minimal interest, for quite some time now, has been directly tied to the idea that Morant's price point might drop so low, they’d be crazy not to do it. Especially if it meant getting off of a contract — like, say, Zach LaVine’s — that has long since been deemed undesirable. (The Grizzlies' willingness, or potential lack thereof, to take LaVine back is unclear.)
Sam Amick on Cavaliers: They're the only second apron team in the league. My understanding is that the De’Andre Hunter deal, the three-team trade with the Kings and the Bulls, essentially the amount that they need to get out of the apron and to be able to do some of this stuff, that cut off about a third of it and they still have a ways to go and I don't I've not crunched all the numbers but if you find a new home for Jarrett Allen and get that salary off your books which that is something that would be appealing to a lot of teams out there, then it opens up these possibilities. Yes. you know, first and foremost, the the idea of them jumping into the Giannis sweep stakes, which is very unlikely given everything we're kind of laying out, but Giannis is one of those players that if you have any chance to go after him, you do. If it's not Giannis, I didn't write this part last night, but like they've shown interest in Domantas Sabonis in the past. I think doing something like that, is on their board, but it's just really tough to get there.
As I wrote late last week, the Toronto Raptors are indeed a serious suitor for the Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis. Yet as team and league sources shared on Monday, the Raptors need to find a new home for big man Jakob Poeltl — outside of Sacramento — if the Sabonis deal is going to happen.
Sticking with the Kings, a league source indicates that veteran guard Zach LaVine fully intends on picking up his player option for next season ($48.9 million).
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League sources tell The Stein Line — amid multiple reports about a potential Harden-for-Darius Garland swap with Cleveland — that discussions regarding such a trade have not yet reached an advanced stage. The most serious recent talks between the Clippers and Cavaliers, sources say, focused on players such as LA's John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanović in potential deal structures for De'Andre Hunter, who was traded to Sacramento instead.
I'm told that the Kings do, however, still see pathways for moving Domantas Sabonis before Thursday's 3 PM ET deadline. Sources say Toronto remains the team most sources with knowledge of the situation see as a viable suitor for the All-Star big man.
I've also been told that Morant would likely be reluctant to sign a contract extension in Sacramento … something that the Kings, sources say, are aware of us well.
Sam Amick: Could Hunter get moved again? Sure. But I’m not hearing that right now. And specifically, on the speculation about the Warriors and a possible Kuminga tie-in: the Warriors have made it really clear that they don’t want any money past this year. So, for folks who were wondering about that part, I don’t see it happening either.
