I can't be the only one up at 3:30 AM before work tomorrow watching Zach Lavine highlights right? Both his numbers being excellent and his play-style being maybe the most aesthetically pleasing in the league right now have me very optimistic for the future. If he buys into Domas getting him easy shots this man can easily shoot like 55/45 given hes already 50/40 with some of the toughest average shot quality.

I don't think it's a stretch at ALL to say he's been better than Fox this year. LTB let's win a chip

I don’t think so, right?

Just figured I'd post a definitive quick summary of where the Kings cap situation stands in the wake of the Fox/LaVine trade, since I've seen some confusion on the sub. And to illustrate what kinds of moves the Kings could potentially still make, just a few random trade ideas.

Cap Situation

^(rough numbers)

Salary cap: $140.5m

Kings current allocations: $160.8m

---> Cap space: -$20.2m

1st Apron cap: $178.1m

---> 1st Apron space: $17.7m

Kings do not have any "cap space," meaning they cannot sign any players except to vet min contracts or using cap exceptions. They also are subjected to salary-matching rules in trades, limiting the amount of additional salary they can receive - but because they are below the 1st Apron, these rules are not exceptionally restrictive.

Kings are hard-capped at the 1st Apron due to the DeMar S&T, meaning they cannot go over this at all via trades.

Kings DO have two exceptions they have not used yet. Only one of these can be used and they cannot be combined. However, I believe the team CAN go over the 1st Apron if they use one of these to sign a player after any trades - but of course they would then be considered a 1st Apron team with all of the associated restrictions.

Non-Taxpayer MLE: $12.8m

Bi-Annual: $4.6m

Trade Math

If the Kings send out less than $7.5m in salary in a trade, they can only receive back salary equal to 200% of the salary they send plus $250k. For example, if they sent out $2m of contracts (basically one guy), they could receive back $4.25m.

If the Kings send out between $7.5m and $29m in salary in a trade, they can only receive back salary equal to the amount they send plus $7.5m. For example, if they sent out $10m of contracts (eg. Lyles + Len), they could receive back $17.5m.

"Tradeable" Contracts

For the most part, these are the contracts the Kings realistically have to work with to send out in a trade:

Trey Lyles       $8.0m  
Colby Jones      $2.1m
Doug McDermott   $2.0m
Alex Len         $2.0m
Sidy Cissoko*    $1.9m
Jae Crowder      $1.6m

and MAYBE

Devin Carter     $4.6m

* - Sidy Cissoko is not showing up on any trade machines or Spotrac, but supposedly the Kings got him back. Might be able to reroute him but unclear.

** - Isaac Jones, Isaiah Crawford, and Mason Jones are on 2-ways and count as $0 in a trade AFAIK.

I listed Devin Carter as a very tentative maybe because I think the recent trade makes him very important to keep. Kings traded away 2 PGs in the LaVine trade, making Carter the only available backup PG. Kings would 100% need to sign or trade for a backup PG in any scenario where Carter is traded. On top of that, I still think he's a very valuable piece that would only be worth trading in the case of acquiring a very high-level role player - eg. not a John Collins or Jonas Valanciunas.

(Some) Potential Targets

Here's a handful of potential players the Kings have either known to be targeting, are known to be available on the trade market, or would be a subjectively good pickup for the team and probably available, even if they haven't been officially shopped (just listed in descending order by contract):

John Collins        $26.5m
Kyle Kuzma          $23.5m
Cam Johnson         $22.5m
PJ Washington       $15.5m
Daniel Gafford      $13.3m
Obi Toppin          $12.9m
Bobby Portis        $12.5m
Jonas Valanciunas   $9.9m

Maybe Half-Decent FA Options

There aren't many, possible any, players that are currently free agents that might actually be worth relying on being a real rotation player. However, there might be a few to consider signing that could maybe play minutes in a pinch:

Markelle Fultz    PG   MLE target  
Cedi Osman        SF   BAE/partial-MLE target  
Jordan Nwora      SF   BAE target
Dennis Smith Jr   PG   BAE target
Oshae Brissett    SF   BAE/vet min target
Chimezie Metu     PF   BAE/vet min target
A. Pokusevski     PF   BAE/vet min target

Fultz or DSJ could be players to target in the event of a Carter trade that doesn't bring back a PG. Both were guys that showed flashes of fringe-star potential but could never find shooting consistency at the NBA level, but are still competent playmakers and relatively young.

Any of the other guys could just be useful forward depth that all have some ability to score the ball and get some rebounds, and either play okay defense and/or shoot some 3s.

Obviously none of these players are major needle-movers, however, they could all be relevant to simply add some fringe-playable depth pieces due to one final wrinkle: the 14-player roster minimum. Teams must field a minimum of 14 players on standard (not 2-way) contracts, and most trades the team can make would involve sending out potentially 2-4 more players than they get in return. This would put them potentially well below the 14-player minimum, and of their 2-way contracts (Isaac Jones, Isaiah Crawford, Mason Jones) probably only Isaac Jones has shown anything worth considering a standard contract at this point in time.

Example Theoretical Moves

I think the Kings biggest remaining needs are backup C and forward depth. As such I'll focus on some moves that work in theory and would probably be reasonable, just focusing on the contracts being moved and not anything else (such as picks). These are in arbitrary order so don't take that as necessarily what I think are the best moves, just kinda the order they popped into my head.

Cam Johnson trade

GET: Cam Johnson      $22.5m

TRD: Trey Lyles       $8.0m
     Devin Carter     $4.6m  ($12.6m)
     Doug McDermott   $2.0m  ($14.6m)
     Jae Crowder      $2.0m* ($16.6m)

$22.5m < $24.1m ($16.6m + $7.5m)

* - Crowder's contract counts as $2m in a trade, not entirely sure why, but I'll take Fanspo's word on it.

This is pretty much the biggest stretch the Kings can make and it would pretty much prevent any more moves, other than signings. If they can use Cissoko, they might be able to scrounge together ~$6m between him, Colby, and Len to go after a ~$10-12m player.

Kings have to give up Devin Carter to get any player in this salary range. The fact that they would be including him in a trade like this means two things: 1) imo you don't do this if you have to attach any more 1st-rounders; Carter is at least the equivalent to a 1st; 2) Kings would pretty much need to sign one of the aforementioned FA PGs.

Obi Toppin trade

GET: Obi Toppin       $12.9m

TRD: Trey Lyles       $8.0m
     Doug McDermott   $2.0m ($10.0m)

$12.9m < $17.5m ($10.0m + $7.5m)

Smaller swing than a trade like the above just to (in theory) upgrade on Trey Lyles. Kings would need to address backup big in a separate trade as Toppin is not a guy that's gonna play small-ball 5 like Lyles can sorta do. Otherwise, he's a much more athletic and just slightly better PF than Lyles. Obviously Kings would need to attach more additional assets here, but given the Pacers are supposedly actively shopping Toppin I don't think this is too much of a stretch.

Similar math would work for Bobby Portis from the Bucks, who is also supposedly being shopped, and I think Portis is a better player for damn sure. However, I feel like the Bucks are in a much more aggressive "win-now" position than the Pacers are, and may not be convinced to downgrade from Portis to Lyles simply for a mediocre 1st or whatever. Portis might still be a fringe possibility if the Kings could get a 3rd team involved, sending the above assets to said team, and that team sending the Bucks a quality rotation player in the $10-12m salary range. Might be a bit tight on time before the deadline for yet another 3-team trade, however.

Valanciunas trade

GET: Jonas Valanciunas   $9.9m

TRD: Colby Jones         $2.1m
     Alex Len            $2.0m  ($4.1m)
     Jae Crowder         $2.0m* ($6.1m)

$9.9m < $12.45m ($6.1m x2 + $250k)

This is a trade framework I think the Kings should be pursuing aggressively, regardless of what other moves they make. The Kings do not need to give up any real rotational contracts to bring back JV and get a very solid backup C that has existing chemistry with Domas from the Lithuanian national team and can comfortably eat up 10-15 minutes/game without the entire game plan unraveling. He has some shooting ability and is an excellent rebounder and post scorer.

The Wizards are in total rebuild mode and do not care one bit for keeping decent veteran rotation players, especially ones that play the same position as their #1 young potential franchise player. Attaching a couple seconds - or eg. the Hornets fake 1st rounder - would probably be enough draft comp to get this deal done, especially since the Wizards might even see some fringe positive value from a guy like Colby Jones that has torn up the G-League but simply hasn't been able to put it together at the NBA level.

#TL;DR

Kings are very very likely not entirely done making moves. I'm fairly certain there are no more blockbuster moves on the horizon, such as a DeRozan trade, but they do still have just enough assets and flexibility to potentially bring in 1-2 more solid rotational players that fill roster holes. Especially since they just got a decent handful of extra assets in the Fox trade.

Expect the team to probably make at least one more trade, even if it's just along the lines of the JV trade I outlined, and possibly sign a free agent using one of their remaining exceptions.

Wtf?!?! This is the worst part!

Spurs got WAY better, we are more or less the same (maybe better with LaVine's 3pt %?), and Bulls actually have a future.

But WHAT THE FUCK we couldn't get Atlanta's 1st round unprotected???? This is the only part of the deal that I'm mad at. Hornets PROTECTED draft pick? THEY SUCK OF COURSE THIS PICK ISN'T GOING TO MATERIALIZE.

Kinda feel like we got low-key fleeced. Again, I'm not mad! But...

He solidly fucked us over. He could have let us know over the summer or better yet right after last season that he was never going to sign a regular extension here and we could have quietly (tried) shopped him around and bang out a much better package. Instead he waited until his value dropped and his new team didnt even have to trade anything of value for a top 15-20 player!

He had his girl doing his bidding online trying to act like he didnt want to leave when he has probably been checked out since the day he hired that team wrecker Bitch Paul.

Yes we have an exciting team but if we are being real Lavine was a negative asset, many teams wouldnt take him for free last year. This is set to be a play in team as constructed at best that will eventually fizzle out in a year or two. A team like OKC understands that in mid market cities its best to stay away from diva players. They dont trade any of there war chest of picks, they just keep the development cycle going by using those picks. Sacrament could learn from them, we cannot afford to trade picks as a small market, we will never be gifted Luka.

A blow up over the summer would have been great we could have loaded up on picks/prospects and tanked for Flagg etc and also would not have done Demar/Malik dirty either. But this is more of a Vivek issue who is always trying to take shortcuts and is afraid of tanking properly.

No more posts honoring Fox. Thanks for the playoff run, but it will be all boos from me.

Zach LaVine will be 30 in March Demar DeRozan is 35 yrs old. Jae Crowder is 34 yrs old Doug McDermott is 33 yrs old. Alex Len is 31 yrs old.

I rather have young players.

This might be perfect, with Doug being from Seattle and lavine from Seattle, at least they already have a common connection, a common bond, might be better than what everyone thinks

The one hope I had for a trade would be that Monk would slide to the 1 and Keon could permanently start. The Kings best lineups all include Keon and he was single handedly winning us games when given the chance to play in crunch time and 30+ minutes.

Even if the Kings trade for a wing, I imagine DeRozans hold be shipped out.

In an effort to save face and stay competitive the Kings now add another guard and Lavine which leaves no room for Keon to ever get to the starting 5.

This will severely hinder his development. Even when they go into a full rebuild, Keon is a player that would have probably been kept. I'm not so sure he'll want to now.