Three Sacramento Kings Trade Targets Following De’Aaron Fox Trade

The dust has settled after the blockbuster trade sending De’Aaron Fox the San Antonio Spurs and Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, and while the Kings took down the Minnesota Timberwolves last night, the roster still needs some work.

Bringing in LaVine gives the Kings a scorer to replace Fox, but Sacramento’s issues from prior to the trade still persist. They continue to lack depth, scoring off the bench, and size. Add on that they lost Kevin Huerter, who was struggling, but was still a sizeable piece to the pre-trade rotation.

The Kings seem aware that they need to make more moves, and according to multiple sources, are still active in ongoing trade talks.

While Cam Johnson and John Collins are still on the table, pulling off trades for either of them will be difficult without Huerter’s contract. With that in mind, below are three options with lesser contracts that could help the Kings make a playoff run.

Season Stats: 16.1 PTS, 3.2 REB, 3.7 AST, 0.9 STL, 0.3 BLK, 41.2 FG%, 35.9 3P%

Contract: 2024-25: $14,092,577 | 2025-26: $14,285,714

Not only did the Kings trade their starting point guard, but they also traded one of their backup point guards, Jordan McLaughlin. They have guard depth but lack many true point guards.

That lack of point guard depth also coincides with a lack of scoring off the bench, which has been a problem even before Malik Monk joined the starting lineup.

A solution to both of those problems would be Jordan Clarkson.

Clarkson, a renowned sixth man, could take over Monk’s previous role to provide a scoring punch off the bench. He isn’t the most efficient scorer, but like Monk, has the ability to both facilitate and score as a reserve.

While he wouldn’t solve the Kings’ size issues, adding a consistent 15 points and 3 assists off the bench could go a long way to supplement the starters.

Season Stats: 11.5 PTS, 8.2 REB, 2.2 AST, 0.4 STL, 0.6 BLK, 54.7 FG%, 25.9 3P%

Contract: 2024-25: $9,900,000 | 2025-26: $10,395,000 | 2026-27: $10,000,000

The idea of adding Valančiūnas has been thrown around all season and seems like a better option now that Sabonis has proven he can knock down the three-ball.

Valančiūnas would give the Kings size and interior defense, and catapult them to one of the best rebounding teams in the league. He also would provide Sacramento with a lot of lineup versatility.

Valančiūnas would come off the bench, but could play in spurts with Sabonis in addition to spelling him. Sacramento has struggled when Sabonis sits all season, as their net rating goes from +4.6 when he plays to -6.1 when he sits.

A bench duo of Trey Lyles and Valančiūnas would be an instant upgrade to Sacramento’s front court.

Season Stats: 10.5 PTS, 4.3 REB, 0.6 AST, 0.5 STL, 0.6 BLK, 50.6 FG%, 37.5 3P%

Contract: 2024-25: $10,810,000

If Sacramento doesn’t want to commit to the long-term money of Valančiūnas, they could look at a rest of the season rental of Chris Boucher.

While Boucher doesn’t bring the sheer size and interior presence that Valančiūnas does, he has the ability to step out and hit the three at a high clip.

Boucher is more of a power forward than a true center, but standing at 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-4 wingspan, a lineup of him and Lyles has the size to make it work. The Kings could also run out a front court of Keegan Murray, Boucher, and Sabonis at times, giving them the size they’ve been lacking all season.

None of the above players are stars, but the Kings don’t need star players at this juncture of the season. They need to fix the holes in their roster in a small amount of cap space. All three players are on reasonable contracts that should easily fit into the Kings space, either in the newly created trade exception or their available mid-level exception that they’ve yet to use this season.

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