Official Trade: Sacramento adds the former second-overall pick to their squad

In this pretend deal, Sacramento adds the former second-overall pick.

Among the numerous NBA teams that missed out on the postseason, the Sacramento Kings were arguably the most deserving. With 46 victories in the end, the Kings were only one victory away from winning the eighth seed in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament. Many supporters understand the importance of certain roster adjustments for Sacramento this summer, despite how close they were to making the playoffs.

The Kings have an unexpected opportunity this off-season thanks to hypothetical trades created by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes and Dan Favale for each team that missed the playoffs.

Hughes offered Sacramento a trade in which Harrison Barnes would be sent to the Chicago Bulls in return for Lonzo Ball.

Barnes, who will turn 32 this summer, has played for the Sacramento Kings for the previous five seasons, but many feel that his tenure there should come to an end. Even though the seasoned forward has had successful seasons, each year they keep him, his productivity decreases in value. His contract, which was re-signed to a three-year, $54 million deal last off-season, will be an excellent salary filler in any trade that may come along.

Since being selected in the 2017 NBA Draft, Ball, 26, has established himself as one of the league’s most gifted young point guards. Ball hasn’t touched an NBA court since January 2022 and hasn’t managed to play more than 63 games in a season since that time.

One of the saddest tales in recent NBA history is Ball’s string of injuries, since the gifted point guard is probably never going to realize his full potential. Even if Sacramento were to take a chance on him this off-season, they would need to be certain of his health, thus this player trade is not very smart.

Although Ball’s rehabilitation appears to be progressing as of March, Chicago’s point guard is still not approved for contact. Star De’Aaron Fox and excellent backup Davion Mitchell lead Sacramento’s point guard depth, so paying Ball $21.4 million to risk his health next season is not necessary.

Although trading for Ball is probably not the best course of action, many Kings supporters would support the concept of flipping Barnes for a possible upgrade.

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Next season, Fox is expected to reach new heights with his game, Kings.

Following Sacramento’s season-ending loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, guard De’Aaron Fox of the Kings speaks with the media.
The Kings didn’t mince words or offer an apology after their sad 2023–24 NBA season exit.

Instead, they’re soaking in the highs and lows of the season, learning from their mistakes, and prepared to improve and grow after finishing their first full season with realistic expectations.

Star point guard De’Aaron Fox is spearheading that drive, and even though he just had a career year, he realizes there’s still a lot of space for growth.

“Just keep getting better on the court in every way,” Fox stated on Monday during his season-ending farewell interview. “I want to keep improving as a player, so I’ll keep becoming a stronger, more athletic defender. I’ll keep doing everything my team asks of me in order to win games.

“Like I said, I think we took a little step backward as a team and we still have things that we can continue to get better at as a group. I wasn’t as good late in games this year as I was last year.”

During his first six seasons in the NBA, Fox had a 32.1 percent 3-point shooting percentage going into this season on 3.8 attempts per game. At the end of the season, he averaged 7.8 attempts at a 36.9% clip. He was making 40 percent of his shots from beyond the arc on 8.8 attempts when the year ended.

After the NBA All-Star break, his numbers somewhat declined at the same time that Sacramento’s defense started to gel.

While a large portion of success was attributable to the efforts of third-year guard Davion Mitchell and two-way player turned NBA starter Keon Ellis, Fox maintained a consistent defensive improvement throughout the season.

With an average of two thefts per game this season, Fox led the league in both steals (150) and deflections (269).

Although Fox displayed some defensive potential in his seventh NBA season, Kings coach Mike Brown noticed Fox’s skill on that end of the court during Fox’s high school career. In Brown’s opinion, Fox is only beginning to show his full potential as an NBA defender.

Although Fox has mentioned being considered for an NBA All-Defensive Team in passing, he spoke more directly to the question of if the award is something he aspires to receive in the future on Monday.

“Certainly,” Fox replied. And I believe that team defense plays a big part in that as well. All people benefit from that, so let’s just keep improving as a defensive unit. If something happens, it happens; if not, it doesn’t.

But for us, I want to play on a team that has strong defense every single night. Our goal is to keep strengthening our defenses. Therefore, if we want to be a team that challenges for championships, we need to be excellent on both sides of the floor.

Harrison Barnes, who spent nearly six of Fox’s seven NBA seasons playing alongside the All-Star guard, is the only person who has seen the progression of Fox’s game like Harrison Barnes.

Barnes agrees that his teammate’s potential is limitless.

Barnes declared on Monday, “I don’t think there’s any denying what Fox is capable of.” “He has that potential, and I’ve played with some of the best in this league—some of the best ever to do it.” Therefore, I believe that, quite honestly, his next step in development will just be to keep doing what he does and keep winning as the primary goal.

“I believe that the story surrounding him has changed significantly during the past two years. He’s always had the stats, but he needs to win more games and be mentioned in that context. In my opinion, the only things that separate him from some of the other players in his position during those discussions are his victories and playoff experience.

Two months from now, Fox will be 27 and begin his eighth season, 2024–25.

He has fulfilled the expectations of a team and organization for a star player—that is, to improve annually. And Fox is certain that he can elevate his game to a new level.

Without a doubt, Fox replied. I’ve been in the league for seven years, so I’m 26 years old. Why do I feel like my growth has stopped now, even though I feel like I’ve improved every year? There are still goals I can strive toward. There have been times when I’ve looked great and times when I haven’t. You will occasionally experience a slump.

“I practice my game. Every day, I improve my game. Whether it’s simply coming in to acquire pictures or coming in to go live, it doesn’t matter. I’m employed. Thus, I don’t think my development as a player is complete.

Fox is ready to take the Kings to the next level and is well on his way to become an NBA superstar.