Kings View Key Guards As ‘Untouchables’ In Ben Simmons Trade

Sacramento Kings, NBA Trade Rumors
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With the Sacramento Kings moving on from head coach Luke Walton, many people are asking what is next for the franchise. Ownership’s goal is to still make the NBA postseason and snap a 15-year playoff drought.

The team’s performance to start the season has put them behind the eight-ball. They were 6-11 at the time of Walton’s firing and have gone 1-1 without him. They currently sit in the 11th spot in the Western Conference, 2.5 games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves for the last spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament.

The Kings are certainly going to have their hands full trying to climb into one of those playoff spots, as the Timberwolves have an identical record to the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies, while the Los Angeles Lakers are also .500 with a 10-10 record.

What will it take to get this team back on track? Alvin Gentry, who is taking over as interim head coach, will be tasked with getting De’Aaron Fox going again. While he isn’t known for his defensive principles, the Kings would find more success if they had better performances on that end of the court.

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The front office could look to shake up the roster via trade as well. Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III are two players that have a high likelihood of being on the move. Hield was nearly traded to the Lakers in the offseason before Los Angeles pivoted to acquiring Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards.

Bagley began the season out of the rotation, but he has played over 30 minutes combined in the two games with Gentry coaching so he may see his minutes uptick with the coaching change. It would certainly improve his trade value if he was out on the court playing well.

Two players that are not likely to be on the move are Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings were one of the teams in the running for Ben Simmons in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, but it sounds like a deal is unlikely as Fox and Haliburton, the two players the 76ers would have interest in, have been deemed untouchable.

“And despite strong preseason chatter that a slow start in Sacramento could lead to a potential Ben Simmons trade with Philadelphia, there remains no significant current discussion between the Sixers and Kings. Fox and Tyrese Halliburton are still deemed unavailable, and second-year standout Tyrese Maxey has emerged as a legitimate starting point guard in Philadelphia.”

There were some rumors a few weeks ago that De’Aaron Fox isn’t as comfortable playing alongside Tyrese Haliburton as the starting shooting guard. If that was the case, some assumed that the Kings would be more likely to make a Simmons deal by including one of their guards.

LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Three-Team Trade Sends 76ers’ Ben Simmons To Kings

But, it sounds like they are going to try and work things out and see how it goes. With a playoff spot as the goal, the team should be active on the trade market trying to upgrade the roster and bring in some more players capable of getting a stop on the defensive end.

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